{"product_id":"castiglione-baldassarre-2","title":"CASTIGLIONE, Baldassarre","description":"\u003cp\u003eA very good, fresh copy of the first edition of a work which shaped and changed the culture of the European upper classes in the Renaissance. This edition is the  first and most sought after  (Brunet I, 1628),  handsome and rare  (Renouard 105:3). Of noble origins, Baldassarre Castiglione (1478-1529) studied  literae humaniores  at Milan and was at the service of the Sforza and Gonzaga before moving to the court of the Duke of Urbino. He spent the last few years of his life as Apostolic nuncio in Spain, where he died of the plague in 1529. It was the year before his death that the first edition of  Il libro del Cortegiano  appeared in print; its success was foreseen by Aldus who obtained a 10-year monopoly. The work celebrates the characteristics of the ideal aristocrat and  has remained the perfect definition of a gentleman ever since  (PMM 59). It was inspired by Castiglione s time at Urbino and his social interaction with influential personalities including courtiers, aristocrats and literati, by then mostly deceased. It was thus intended also as a celebration of their achievements since, as Castiglione said in the preface, the  loss of so many friends  had left him in a  painful solitude . In this dialogue, refined courtiers discuss the virtues (e.g., honesty, magnanimity and good manners) and social skills (e.g., foreign language proficiency, dancing and fencing) a perfect courtier should have, often inspired by classical antiquity, as well as the  sprezzatura  a fundamental nonchalance or  carelessness  guiding his every action. The resulting idea of  self-fashioning , or the crafting of a public persona following received standards, influenced, thanks to numerous translations, the behaviour of the European aristocracy for decades, especially in England where C16 literature and drama were imbued with the Italian ideals of the  cortegiano .\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CASTIGLIONE, Baldassarre","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816163352911,"sku":"L3112","price":32500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_7384-scaled.jpg?v=1781794887","url":"https:\/\/sokol-books-ltd.myshopify.com\/products\/castiglione-baldassarre-2","provider":"Sokol Books Ltd","version":"1.0","type":"link"}