Giambattista Andreini (9 February 1576 – 7 June 1654) was an Italian actor and the most important Italian
playwright of the 17th century.
Life
Born in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
to stage stars
Isabella Andreini and
Francesco Andreini
Francesco Andreini (c. 1548 – 1624) was an Italian actor mainly of commedia dell'arte plays. He began his career playing the role of the unsophisticated love-stricken young man. Later he played the role of Capitan Spavento ("Captain Fright ...
, he had a great success as a
comedian in Paris under the name of Leylio. He was a favourite with
Louis XIII
Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...
, and also with the public, especially as the young lover.
His wife
Virginia Ramponi-Andreini
Virginia Ramponi-Andreini, also known by her stage name "La Florinda" (1583 – c.1630) was a celebrated Italian actress and singer. She was known for her performances in ''commedia dell'arte'' plays, many of them written for her by her husband ...
, whom he married in 1601, was also a celebrated actress and singer.
[Snyder 2007, p. 37.]
Works
He left a number of plays full of extravagant imagination. The best known are ''L'Adamo'' (Milan, 1613),'' The Penitent Magdalene'' (Mantua, 1617), and ''The Centaur'' (Paris, 1622). From the first of these three volumes, which are extremely rare, Italians have often asserted that
Milton, travelling at that time in their country, took the idea of ''
Paradise Lost''.
Notes
Bibliography
*
* Katritzky, M. A. (2006)
''The Art of Commedia: A Study in the Commedia Dell'Arte 1560-1620'', p. 245 Rodopi.
* Snyder, Jon (2007). "Giovan Battista Andreini", vol. 1, pp. 36–38, in ''Encyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies'', edited by Gaetana Marrone. New York/London: Routledge. .
External links
*
1576 births
1654 deaths
17th-century Italian male actors
17th-century Italian writers
17th-century Italian dramatists and playwrights
Italian male stage actors
Italian dramatists and playwrights
Actors from Florence
Writers from Florence
Commedia dell'arte
Expatriates of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in France
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