223
Homer's Odyssey and the Image of Penelope in Renaissance Art Giancarlo FIORENZA
The epic heroine Penelope captured the Renaissance literary and artistic imagination, beginning with Petrarch and the recovery of Homer's poetry through its translation into Latin. Only a very small number of humanists in the 14'h century were able to read Homer in the Greek original, and Petrarch's friend Leontius Pilatus produced for him long-awaited Latin translations of the Iliad 1 and Odyssey in the 1360s • Profoundly moved by his ability to finally compre hend the two epics (albeit in translation), Petrarch composed a remarkable letter addressed to Homer in which he compares himself to Penelope: "Your Penelope cannot have waited longer nor with more eager expectation for her Ulysses than I did for you. At last, though, my hope was fading gradually away. Except for a few of the opening lines of certain books, from which there seemed to flash upon me the face of a friend whom I had been longing to behold, a momen tary glimpse, dim through the distance, or, rather, the sight of his streaming hair, as he vanished from my view- except for this no hint of a Latin Homer had come to me, and I had no hope of being able ever to see you face to face"'.
The themes of anticipation and fulfillment, and longing and return that are associated with the figure of Penelope coincide with the rediscovery of ancient texts. To encounter Homer for the first time in a language with which one was 3 familiar was as much a personal as a literary experience • As Nancy Struever observes, Petrarch's Le Familiari, a collection of letters addressed to contemporary friends and ancient authors, values friendship and intimate exchange because 4 it leads to knowledge and affective reward • Books on their own (Le Familiari, XII, 6) constituted surrogate friends with whom Petrarch could correspond, con verse, exchange ideas, and share his affections. He goes on to say in his address to Homer that with the new Latin translation, "we are now beginning to enjoy not only the treasures of wisdom that are stored away in your divine poems but 5 also the sweetness and charm of your speech" , Recognizing the eloquent and affective power of Homer is fundamental to understanding the reception of epic poetry in the Renaissance and its impact on visual representations of mythic sub 6 ject matter • By concentrating on the portrayal of Penelope in Renaissance art in Italy and France from about 1435 to 1560, this essay will investigate the experien tial texture of Homer's Odyssey in visual terms. Although paintings of Penelope 224 ,I II
from this period are rela ti vely sca rce, and thi s essay does no t cla im to provide an exha usti ve s urvey, Petrarch's emo ti onal affinity w ith h er, as expressed in h is desire to unders tand Homer, opens up new avenues for interpretin g on e of th e 7 most compellin g fema le characters o f th e Odyssey . Traditionally, Pene lope ha s s tood as a paradig m of m a rital chastity and fidelity. Who would not be impressed by her wai ting dutifuJJy for her husband , the Greek hero Odysseus (U lysses), to return home to Itha ca after battling th e Trojan s and enduring years of s ubseq ue nt tribul a tion s? During hi s absence, Penelope kept he r arrogant s uitors at bay by promising to marry the mos t promi nent of the Achaeans after she fini shed "weaving a web", (actuaJJy a funerar y shroud for her aged fath er-in-law, La e rtes) "- With characteristi c cunning, she secre tly unraveled a t night what she wove every d ay. When Ulysses fin all y returns hom e, after twenty years, he slau ghters the s uitors, revea ls hi s tru e id en tity, and reunites with hi s wife. To a ce rtain ex tent, Pliny th e Elder's Nntuml History, an inva luable tex t for Renai ss " Pe ne lope, daughter o f King lcarius, was th e w ife o f Ulysses, a man of grea t ac tiv ity: for marri ed women s he is the mos t sac red and lastin g exa mpl e of untarnished honor and undefil ed purity" (ntque iuleul emle pudicitie 11111/rauis exe/llp/u/11 Slll! cli,;,;i 11111111 et ete r111.1111) "' A hos t of other tex ts, from Petrarc h's Trionfi to Ludovi co Ariosto's Orlnn rlo Furioso, extol Penelope's feminine v irtue by e mphasizi ng he r marital ch as tity " Due in part to these writings, his torians of Renai ssa nce art ha ve focused almos t exclusively on Penelope as exemp la r- as a mod el of faithfuln ess and d om es tic ity and an astute mana ge r of her husband's es tate. The apartments of Elea nora of Toledo, wife of Duke Cosim o I d e' Medici, in the Pala zzo Vecchio of Florence, which ce lebrate exe mpl a ry women from Greek mythology, the O ld Tes tament, and Roman and Flo rentine histo ry, prov id e a rele vant exa mple. From 1561 to 1562, the Flemish artist known as Giovann i Stradano executed the d eco ration for the Sa la di Penelope, with its central tondo on th e cei l ing showing Penelope at her loom (fig.l). Ins tead of illu s tratin g any one particu lar epi sod e from the Od yssey, Stradano portrays Pe n e lope's in dus tr y to underscore her virtue and fid elity. Ri ck A. Scorza sees Penelope in thi s v.rork as representing fortitude and temperan ce for havin g resis ted the suitors' incessa nt 12 flattery and havin g endured her hus band 's absence • As th e wife of the lord of Ithaca she provides a perfect model for Elea nora's nobility. Given the medieval did ac tic trea tment of ancient tex ts that assigned mora l alle gories to mythic personalities and episodes, rea din g Penelope as a personification 1 I, I ., , / '1/tl. II I 225 1. G iovanni Stradano, Pcne!OJ'C ather Loo111, 1561- "1562. Florence, Palazzo Vecc hio. of marital chastity is highly jus tifiable, but the Odyssey proved to be a versatile tex t that served a wide range of litera ry and artistic purposes, one that could both accep t and resist overarch.i.ng allegorical interpretations "· For exa mple, Petrarch's letter to Homer exhibits a highly personal feeling of nostalgia: a longing for things past, for the recuperation of ancient wisdom that parallels Penelope's lon ging for Ulysses. Penelope herself is celebrated as intelligent (n6os) and thoughtful in the Odyssey (XIX, 349-352) ''. Since antiquity her character represented wisdom an d logic, frequently in association with her repeated weaving and wu·aveling, charac teristics that were commented on and developed in the writings of Renaissance humanists. Ovid's Heroides, a series of heroic epistles written from the female per s pective that offered Re naissance readers another mean s of ind entifying with Penelope on a more personal and individual level, is also relevant. Renaissa nce lyrics in imitation of Ovid's elegiac lov e letter "Penelope Uli xi" ("Penelope to Ulysses") challenge the centrality of the male ethos to the ep ic by showcasing the passionate voice of the abandoned female, often within an anti-war context. An increasingly sensual response to Homeric personaliti es was further brought about by the moderni za tion of the ep ic genre, d emonstra ted in such vernacular poems as Ariosto's Orlando Furioso and its comm entaries. This essay analyzes the inter section of image and text as it concerns select representations of Penelope in the hopes of providing a foil to standard allegorical interpreta tions and with the goal of defining Renaissan ce works of art as more affective, deliberative, and above all, 15 sensitive to a variety of literary genres • 226 P ENELOPE B ETWEEN H O MER'S OD YSSEY AND OviD'S H EIW IDES Some of the earlies t images of Pe ne lope in Rena issa nce painting appear on cassone panels. Cnsson i, "large ches ts" d es igned in the contex t of a marriage to be para ded throug h the s treets and placed wi thin the brid e's new home w hen she joined her hu sband, a fforded viewers in many in s tan ces a n intim a te encmmter w ith m ythologica l subjec t matte r. An ea rly exa m p le, the front panel of a cnsson t! painted by the Florentine artis t Apollonio d i Giovan n i and datab le to c. 1435 1445, hi ghlights in a con tinuou s narra ti ve th e adventures of Ulysses w hile Penelope works s teadfa stl y at her loom (fig. 2) '". Another cnssone, painted by the Sienese arti st Guidoccio Cozzarelli a nd databl e to 1480-1481, sh ows the momen t of Ulysses's departure together w ith sce nes of Pe ne lope weav in g a nd unrave ling 17 her web (fig.3l • Al though the orig ina l patrons of these two cnssoni are unknown, such images of ancient h e roes a nd heroines have been inte rpre ted as "c haris matic s tand-ins for the bodi es of th e bride and bridegroom [ ... ] ex ho rtin g the married pair~ especia lly the brid e, to adhere to mos tly unwritten codes of behav ior that stressed wifely submi ssion, patriarchal mi ght, a nd famili al domina nce" '' . Mythic imagery co uld also enco urage lea rnj ng associa ted wi th a ncient fab le. The hum anist Ugolino Verino (1438-1516) la bels Apo ll onio th e "Tusca n Apell es" and celebrates hi s d epicti ons of th e adventures of th e G reeks a nd Troja ns. Verino claims that Apollonio d id not ju s t illus tra te, but im proved on the w ritin gs of Hom er and Virgil: "Apollonio now painted burning Troy bette r fo r us," from th e "wrath of iniquitous Jtmo" to the "unhappy Did o"'''. Tlci s co mpe titi on between painting and poe try is impor ta nt, as Verino s tresses th e e motional dimen sion of Apo llonio's ar t, how affect informs mea nin g. ln hi s trea ti se De pictum (1435) , Leon Batti sta Alberti also e mphasizes th a t th e prima ry va lu e of painting, like poetry, lies in the emotions that it ca n provoke. Albe rti advises painte rs on h ow to d irect figures in a historin to convey a nd incite prope r e mo tion s. Albe rti cites Homer and also commend s Lu cia n's ekplimsis of Apell es's painting of Ca lumny as a worthy invention (inventio), by whi ch he mea ns th e d iscove ry o f a th e me or a rgum ent fundam ental to th e c rea ti on of a historin: "If th is liistorin seizes the imagination w hen d escribed in words, how much bea uty and p leas ure do you think it presented in th e actu a l painting of th a t exce ll ent a rti s t?" "'. Alb erti's appea l to poetics is not so much iconographic as he rm e ne uti c, seeing it as a gen erative process of di scovery that co rrobora tes Boccncc io's la te-fourtee nth -century 2. Apollonio di Giovanni, 7/w Advmturrs of Ulysses, c. ·1435- 1445. C hi c n ~o, The Art Institute of C hi c.1gn. 227 3. G uidocc io Cozzarel li , Til ~ Ocpn rflln' the same period, a nd even uses Niccolo as a poe tic ch arac ter in hi s La tin verses. In paired epi s tles that im itate Heroides 16-21 , Te ba ld eo has N iccolo a nd his poetic lady Beatrice exchange letters d eclaring th eir long ing for one ano ther an d ex pressing the p a in of aband onment in tim e o f w;w ''. The charac ter N icco lo praises Beatrice's le tte r th a t implores him to return from ba ttle, professing he is a "ca ptor" of her eloquence, which riva ls tha t o f Pe n e l op e ~ ' . Niccolo and Tebaldeo offer new ways of loo kin g at H om er throu gh the filter of Ovid, infusing epic personalities with hi ghly dramatic and emo ti o nal sen ti 11 ments and g ivin g voi ce and power to th e a ba ndoned fe m a le fi gure . Correspondingly, the ima gery of Cozza relli's cnssoue focuses on the nature of love and the human condition, appeal i11g to the viewer 's sentiments. Brid e and groo m can identify with the epic chara cters in personal, politica l, and rhetori cal terms, and not solely see th em as exe mplars of sociall y prescribed codes of beh av ior regardin g husbands and wi ves (or in Penelope's case, a presumed wid ow) '' . Apollonio, on th e o ther hand, le ts view e rs o f hi s cnssone judge Pe ne lope's resili ency and fidelity in light of her hu sband 's infid eliti es w ith wome n w ho either aid or attempt to curtail hi s journ ey home through their seducti ve charm s: Circe, th e Sirens, Leucothea (labeled "Inaco" on the pane l), and Nausicaa . N ud ity, both male and female, abounds in sec ti ons, w hereas Pene lop e, regally dressed, remain s fi xed at her loom whil e he r s uitors w a it outs id e th e palace in va in . Constancy is ju xtaposed to emmt b e h a vim~ and Apo lloni o's visual s tra tegies are 33 both ironic and chall enging to mal e a uth ority • These tw o cnssoui provid e a visual complement to the s ubj ecti ve exp erience found in Pe tra rch's le tter to H omer, which identifies and "domestica tes" ancient litera ture, pe rsona li zing it a nd ass im ilating it into his own tim e and cultural contex t " . P ENELOPE' S W EB Many Renaissa nce d epictions of Penelope, s uch as the exa mpl es disc ussed above, connect her inex tri cab ly to her loo m, which ta kes on a role beyo nd a mere attribute. The fir st Italian verna cular translation of Boccaccio's De llllllierilm s clari ~ (Veni ce, 1506) includes a wood cu t illus trati on o f Pene lope a t h e r loom (fig. 4) ·" . Boccaccio s tresses th a t it was with "divine inspiration" (divi uo pro fec to illustmte ifflllille) and " feminin e cu1111ing " (fe111ineo nstu) that Penelope d ece iv e d h e r s uitors b y sec re t ly unravelin g h e r web "'. Th e loom is th e in s trum e nt w ith w hic h she weaves her wi les whi le perfo rmin g her d omestic duty. H om e r labels th e 4. Penelope, in G iova nn i Boccacc io, De lllllfieriblJS loom Penelo pe's divine ly ins pired claris, V. Bag li (tran s.), Ve ni ce, '1506. s tra ta gem :"! weave my own wiles", I, II 229 she exclaims (Odyssey, XIX, 137). In terms of intelligence (n6os), Penelope equals Ulysses, the ma ster of disguise and verbal trickery whose s tori es serve as a model of th e poe t' s own cra ft. While Athena he lp s Uly sses "weave" wiles throughout the epic, she equally protects Penelope who, throu gh her litera l weaving, enjoys the "masculine" ability to fabricate 37 stratagems • Perhaps the mos t immed ia te associa tion with Pe n e lop e's loom comes in the form of another literary genre popular in the Renai ssa nce: the adage. Erasmus compiled a nd fir s t published his book of adages in Paris in 1500, with the first Itali an ed ition, much expanded, appearing in Venice in 1508. As Erasmus explain s, the a d age Penelopes telnlll retexere (To unravel Penelope's web) mea ns "to take up a useless task, and then undo 30 what has been done" • While acknowl edging the cleverness of Penelope's ruse and powers of d ece ption, 5. Domenico Beccafu mi , Pcllelopc, c. 15'14. Veni ce, Erasmu s defines th e adage as an Seminario Patri arcale. emblem of faulty dialectic. Eras mus led the charge aga inst dialec tic, es pe cia lly as it evolv ed within m ed ieval schola s tici sm, seeing it as ri go rous and repellent, a circular form of logic and argumentation based on refutation s and contradictory assertions th a t destroy any wisdom ga ined . Variations of this ada ge appear in Mario Equicola's trea tise on love, Libra de nntum de a11rore (1525), and in Pietro Bembo's Gli Asolnni (1505; French translation 1545) "'· The adage lends an added rhetorical dimen sion to images of Penelope at her loom . Consider Domeni co Beccafumi's painting Penelope (c.1514) (fig.S). Despite the lack of docum entary information, it has been argued that the vertical panel was "undoubtedly one of a trio of panel paintings of virtuous women, of the type that enjoyed popularity in Siena at the end of the fifteenth century and the first 40 two decades of the six teenth century" • Such decorative progra ms were designed for domestic interiors and nuptial chambers and have accordingly been seen as promoting humanis t lea rning as well as perso nal and civic values revolving arotmd cha stity and marital fidelity. A strong case can also be made for interpret ing Beccaftuni' s painting as an ind ependent work whose meaning transgresses conventional moral associations. Penelope stares at and embraces her loom, resting 230 II 6. Bernardo Pintur icchio, Pcuelope wit II til e Suitors, c. ·1509. London, N~t i o n ~ l C ~ ll c r y. her scissors, the in s trument used to cut and undo he r work, on its sid e. Sh e appears poised and s toic, and the attention she gives her loom ca lls to mind both her deceptive nature and the twisted log ic of the adage as discussed by Era smus. More proverbial than allegorical, Beccafumi's pai11ting may have been designed to prompt viewers, male and female, to avoid dialectical proofs while enco uraging new opporttmities for intelli gent discovery in familial or social discourse . The loom itself cou ld also s tand as a physica l and ornamental object in painted images. Bernardo Pinturicchio's fresco Penelope wit!t the Suitors (c. 1509) is a case in point (fig.6) . The fresco was origina lly one of eig ht subj ec ts commis sioned by Pandolfo Petrucci for the "ca mera bella" of the Pa lazzo del Magnifico in Siena, as part of a suite of rooms d esigned for the marriage of his son Borghese to Vittoria Piccolomini " · Here, the great floor loom serves as a defensive struc ture, a protective barrier be tw ee n Penelope and her suitors, who are d eni ed access to her body by the imposing construction. With its horizontal and vertical wood beams and tightly stretched threads, the loom mediates Penelope's interac tion s with the men in th e room. Wha t is more, her domestic performance opposes the masculine pastime of huntin g, exemplified by the suitor holding the falcon . In Ovid's J-leroides, Penelope states that she is a "wife without power", 2 and that she, her son, and her father-in-law are "unwarlike" ·' , ye t her feminin e arts trump conventional weapons. The loom not on ly encloses Penelope and 231 crea tes a protec tive arena, but Ulysses's bow and quiver are suspend ed on the loom 's crossbea m ju s t be hind he r h ea d .u. O ne of Penelope's tes ts to pro ve her .husband's identity was to devise the contes t of the bow (Odyssey, Book XXI), w hi ch on ly Ulysses could bend. By juxtaposing loom and bow in the painting, Pinturicchio s tru c tures a relation s hip be tw ee n Pen e lope's s trata ge ms and Ulysses's strength to foresh adow the elimi11ation of their enemies•·•. Penelope's cra ftin ess ca n also be judged in re lati on to the lures and temptations of the Sire ns and Circe, shown in the backgro und. Circe and Penelope are both expert weavers 15 a nd the two di strac t men with their bea uty, voice, and feminine arts • H om e r equates weaving with intell ectual as well as poetic ac tivity a nd an tiquity stron g ly associated weaving with the crea tion of music, poe tr y, and 6 a rt ·' . The portra yal of the loom was also a demons tra tion of arti stic virtuosit y. Philos tratu s the Elde r 's l11rngines, a third-century text which d esc rib es ancie nt paintings th e author claims to have see n in a gallery in Naples, praises an "excellent paintin g" of Penelope's ma gnificent loom, "complete in all its parts and it is s tre tched ti ght with the warp, and lint ga thers und er the thread s, and 17 th e shuttl e all but sings" ' • The popularity of the I11rngin es in Renai ssance Italy nee d not be reh ea rse d h e re, sa ve for the numbe r of paintings its ekphrn sis inspired as artis ts sough t to co mpete w ith Phil ostratus in producing emotion al as well as physica l se nsa tions in audiences throu gh vivid description. It is likely that Pinturicchio, who drew parallels be tw een painting and poetry in legal pro ceedings in Siena in 1507, wished to call attention to his own eloquent artifice by depicting s uch an imposing loom in his fresco ". P ENE LOPE AS OBJECT OF D ESIRE AT FONTAIN EBLEAU Ima ges of Penelope associated with the court of Fontainebleau in the 16'" century emerge out of the burgeoni11g interest in Homer and the mod erni za tion of th e epic ge nre in French lite rary culture. French commentators on Hom e 1~ as Philip Ford ha s d emons trated, tended to seek out hidden truth s in the epics, emphasizing allusions to Clu·istianity and promoting moral or ethica l interpreta ti o ns a s th ey re late to human p sych o logy. In his De transitu Hel/ enis 11ri ad Christinnismum, libri tres (1535), for instance, Guillaume Bud e interprets the ety mology of the na me Odysseus to mea n " traveler-philosopher" ''', seeing the hero as co ncerned with sa lvation, desiring also the happiness of returning to hi s home land. As royal poe t and interpreter (poete et interprete royal) , Jea n Dm·a t's (1508 1588) views on m y thology circulated widely in co urt circl es so Dorat read s Odysseus fi guratively, as a man who is "desirou s of true wisdom and happin ess 51 [sapientiae ac felicitates] (for one is Penelope, the other Ithaca)" • The ancient notion o f nostalgia is likewise in operation here. Dou glas Frame arg ues that the myth of return is d ee ply embedd ed in the Odyssey and that there is a fundam ental connec ti on between th e words for "mind" and "returning home", wh ereby Ulysses's intelligence (n6os) is e tymologica ll y linked to and defined by hi s d es tin y, his re turn home (n6stos) " . In other words, Ulysses's homesickness (nostalgia) and his 232 1/ I 11 desire for Penelope and Ithaca, coup led by hi s s ub sequent homecoming, is a process akin to a return to consciousness. I wou ld a rg ue that in ce rtai11 cases these ancient and allegorical themes are marri ed to more subjec tive, elegiac sentim ents with regard to the portra ya l of Pe nelope in sixtee nth-century France. The infusion of the elegiac with the he roi c is most co mpell ing ly displayed in Francesco Primaticcio's Ulysses and Penelope (c.l560), n ow in the Toledo Museum 53 of Art (fig. 7) • The canvas shows an episod e from Book XXIII of the Odyssey, after Ulysses and Penelope re Lmite and enjoy their mari tal bed. Hom er writes: "When Pene lo p e and Odysseus had enj oyed the ir lovemaking, they took th ei r pl easure in ta lking, each one telling hi s s tory, Sh e, s hinin g among women, to ld of a ll s he had endured in th e pa lace, as s he watched the s uitors, a ra ve nin g co mpa ny, w ho on h er account were s laughte rin g man y oxe n and fat shee p, and much wine was bein g drawn from the wine jars. But s hinin g Odysseus to ld o f a ll th e ca res he infli cted on other men, a nd told too of a ll that in his mi se ry he toil ed through. She li s tened to him wi th d e li g ht, not did any sleep fall upon he r eyes until he had tol d everything" (XXIII, 300-309). 7. Francesco Primaticcio, Ulysses n/1(1 Pw elope, c. l 560. Toledo, To ledo Museum of Art. I .!•f I: Jl !{ ' I J{l J/ 8. Thcodor va n Thu lden (a fte r Fm ncesco Primaticcio), Ulysses all(/ Pellelvpc l~t'CO IIIII Tl1eir !ldvclllllrcs, c. 163 1. Vi en na , Albertina. This endearing episod e is a rare subject in the hi story of art, and the paint il1g differs significantly from the text. In the first place, it portrays Penelope, not Ulysses, in the act of narration, enumerating with her fingers the sui tors she d eceived. She occupies the central axis of the composition and is afforded a privileged status. Primaticcio shows Ulysses as spellbound by th e bea uty and virtue of his wife, the reby reversing Homer's description of th e scene as well as the male protagonis t's symbolic centrality. Ulysses interrupts Penelope's speech as he turns h er head and lovingly crad les her chin in a ges ture of compassion and affection, a fresh invention that has no place in the poem. Primaticcio originally d epicted the scene alongside 59 others from the Odyssey (c. 1541-1560), in a seri es of frescoes in the Ga le ri e d'Ulysse (now destroyed) at the royal court of Fontainebleau, but the imagery of hi s Toledo ca nvas departs from the lost fresco de picting the same e pi so d e ~ '. It is helpfu l to compa re th e Toledo picture to a later drawing recording th e 48 mura l at Fontainebleau by the Flemish artist Theodor van Thulden (1606-1669) recording the 48'h mural in the Fontainebleau cycle (he later engraved the entire cycle in 1. 633, which was published as a morali zed album) (fig. B). The lost mural showed Ulysses motioning towards Penelope as if he were spea king, not holding her chin, and appears to have been exceptionally attentive to the tex t; ma idens dance in cele bration of the couple's reunion, as the Odyssey relates (XXIII, 298). In a previous study, I interpreted Ulysses's gesture in the Toledo canvas as denoting reve rsa l and recognition, or peripetein and nnngnorisis, which, according 55 to Aristotle's Poetics, are "the mos t powerful elements of attraction in Tragedy" . The Odyssey, and in particular the episodes involving Ulysses and Penelope, has been long appreciated for employing a complex combination of disguise, decep tion, and discovery. Furthermore, Ulysses's "chin-chuck" was a codified gesture, a formal sign of entreaty or erotic solicitation in ancient Greece because the chin was considered sacred - an extension of the immortal part of the soul"'. In the 46'h mural of the Galerie d'Ulysse, which shows the earlier episode of the couple's reunion, Penelope caresses the chin of Ulysses. By contrast, Ulysses's gesture in the Toledo canvas reverses the narrative action of the Odyssey and shifts the focus of the scene to Penelope. Several episodes in the Odyssey in which Ulysses is impressed with his wife's wisdom and wit beyond his expectations spring to mind. In Book XIX, when Ulysses first returns home disguised as a beggar, he encounters Penelope, who relates how she tricked her suitors with her loom and her tales. Although Ulysses at first intends to encourage Penelope into believing that her spouse is still alive, he unexpectedly discovers that the wife he left behind served as a surrogate king, stating: "Lady ... your fame goes up into the wide heaven, as of some king who, as a blameless man and god-fearing, upholds the way of good government" (Odyssey, XIX, 107-111). This is the moment Primaticcio captures in the couple's bedtime recollections: Ulysses's recognition of Penelope's kingly nature, or perhaps the apotheosis of Penelope - as the 57 master of strategy • Despite the absence of the loom, Primaticcio nevertheless allows his audience to read into the figure of Penelope a series of metaphors or categories of performance by carefully applying rosy tints to her hands and fin gers, still sore from working the loom, thereby referring to her weaving and her artful deception of the suitors. Primaticcio offers a unique meditation on the form and character of epic pictorial language, a revision of the heroic energy found in his earlier frescoes at Fontainebleau. Through the use of gesture and gaze, the artist converts epic energy into lyric sentiment, amplifying the warm emotional response of the lovers to one another with a naturalness and force equal to Homer's diction. Primaticcio's figures also combine the new stylistic advancements found in the work of Michelangelo, Parmigianino, and Rosso Fiorentino. It is significant that these narrative and stylistic choices coincide with the modernization of the epic genre in French and Italian literary theory and practice of the period. Two trea tises help us appreciate Primaticcio's endeavor: Joachim Du Bellay's La Dejje11cc, et illustration de Ia langue frmz~oyse (1549), a polemic written in an effort to demon strate that French could rival ancient Greek and Latin in poetic excellence; and Giovanbattista Giraldi Cinzio's Discorso intomo a/ comporrc dei rommzzi (1554), the express aim of which was to define the romance as a distinct modern genre. In questioning whether the heroic spirit of antiquity could be revived in contempo rary French writing, Du Bellay naturally considers Homer and Virgil as models, but he also cites Ariosto, whose romance epic Orlando Furioso (final edition 1532; French translation 1543) served as a vernacular example of what could be 5 achieved in French literature ". Ariosto's poem is important for studying Primaticcio's canvas, especially for the way the text revises the continuity and ( ~ j .I 235 generic unity of the epic with abrupt transitions and lengthy digressions involv ing love and private passions. Giraldi Cinzio argued that Ariosto's digressions often comprise the most marvelous events and display the author's expressive energies outside the formal confines of epic narrative sequence revolving around 9 a single action or hero 5 • He commends the Odyssey in light of Ariosto's poem 60 because the ancient text introduces episodes of love that ornament the tragedy • Primaticcio's Toledo canvas also finds a literary equivalent in the tender passions expressed in Ovid's Heroides and its Renaissance imitators. The Heroides, as Paul White establishes, was immensely popular in Renaissance France, with partial or entire translations published by Octavien de Saint-Gelais, 1 Joachim Du Bellay, and Charles Fontaine in the first half of the 16'h century" • In their commentaries, Du Bellay and Fontaine argued over whether French trans lators should preserve the genius of Ovid's text or attempt to imitate the elo quence of his style in modern French. Regardless of the debate, it was the impact of Ovid on literary practice and the refashioning of Homeric myth that is instructive here. With the publication in 1549 of his Recueil de poesie, dedicated to Marguerite de France, sister of King Henri II, Du Bellay employs the figure of Penelope as a symbol of France awaiting the felicitous return of Cardinal Jean Du Bellay (1492-1560), his cousin, who was in Rome from July 1547 until September 1549. In Ode VII of the collection, "L'avant retour en France de Monseigneur Reverendiss. Cardinal Du Bellay", Joachim compares Penelope, "Sa chaste epouze", to France, longing for the cardinal and filled with happiness 62 at his arrival • Like Petrarch before him, Du Bellay uses an analogy with Penelope to express feelings of longing and return. Turning to Primaticcio's Ulysses and Penelope in Toledo, even though the original context of the work is unclear, the artist's portrayal of the highly personal nffetti (the passions and affectations expressed by the figures) could have evoked or recalled similar feel ings of nostalgia in the viewer. The silent admiration of the protagonists in the canvas is an expansion on "the emotional effect on those who have returned 63 home, and the sympathy which unites them" • By isolating the reunion of Ulysses and Penelope, and the re-consummation of their marriage after twenty years, the artist expands the human spirit of his epic personalities. The foregoing analysis of Primaticcio's Toledo canvas, read in conjunction with the contemporary updating of ancient literary genres, does not exclude the Christian moral and ethical interpretations of Bude and Dorat regarding Homer's epic. By obtaining his object of desire, Ulysses achieves what the suit 61 ors of Penelope could not: wisdom and happiness • The seventeenth-century moral assigned to van Thulden's engraving after the Fontainebleau fresco com 65 plements this reading by emphasizing the tranquility of the scene • At Fontainebleau, the figure Penelope can be read as a personification of sacred 66 love • Yet Primaticcio's Toledo canvas cannot be explained exclusively by means of a standard allegorical index. Identifying with Penelope in art and liter ature goes to the heart of what Homer stood for in the Renaissance imagination: the power of eloquence associated with ancient myth and literary genres, an elo quence that leads to poetic fervor and ethical inquiry. 236 1fuJ/!~'( 1 ' !I !u /~1'/!lli.: ·!!!It·~- Notes et lzistoriae, 53, 2006, p. 57 -88; and for an overview of the myth of Ulysses and Penelope 1. See Ph. FORD, "Homer in the French in Italy, see M. LORANDI, II milo di U/isse Renaissance", Rwaissmzce Quarterly, 59, 2006, nella pittum a fresco del Cincpzecezzto italicmo, p.1-28, esp. p.l-2; and G. TANTURLI, "La cui Milan, 1995, p. 399-413. lura fiorentina volgare del Quattrocento 8. The Odyssey of Homer, R. LATTIMORE (trans.), davanti ai nuovi testi greci", Medioevo e New York, 1965, II, 94-95. All translations Rinascimenlo, 2, 1988, p. 217-243. are from this edition. 2. F. PETRARCA, Le Fami/iari, V. Rossi (ed.), 9. PLINY TilE ELDER, Natural History, (Edizione 11azionale delle Opere di Francesco H. RACKMAN (trans.), Cambridge, 1952; Petrarca; 13), Florence, 1942, p. 254 (XXIV, XXXV, xxxvi, 63. 12): "Unus vir nostro te latinum seclo reve 10. G. IloCCACCIO, Fanwlls Women, V. IlROWN hit; non hercle avidius neque diutius Ulixem (ed. and trans.), Cambridge, 2001, p.l58-159. tuum sua Penelope expectavit quam te ego. 11. Ariosto judges Penelope's chastity Iamque michi sensim spes abibat; preter as important as Ulysses's character; see enim aliquot tuorum principia librorum, in L. ARIOSTO, Orlando Furioso, C. SEGRE (ed.), quibus velut exoptati amici supercilium Milan, 1976, XIII, lx, 7-8: "Sol perche casta procul arnbiguum et raptirn vibrans seu visse, I Penelope non fu minor d'Ulisse". See f!uctuantis come apicern intuebar, Iatini also H. P. FOLEY, "Penelope as Moral Agent", nichil obtigerat, nichil denique sperabatur in Tile Distaff Side: Representing tlze Fe111a/e ubi te cominus conternplarcr". J. HARVEY izz Homer's Odyssey, Il. CollEN (ed.), Oxford, ROillNSON (trans. and ed.), Petrarch: The First 1995, p. 93-115. Modem Scholar and Man of Letters, New York, 12. These observations are made by R. A. 1898, p. 253-254. SCORZA, "A 'modello' by Stradanus for the 3. On the sensual appeal of books both as 'Sala di Penelope' in the Palazzo Vecchio", texts and as physical objects in the Renais Burlington Magazine, 126, 1984, p.433-437. See sance, see A. GRAFTON, Commerce with the also M. LORANDI, II milo di Ulisse .. . , op. cit., Classics: A11cierzt books and Renaissance Readers, p.408-410. Ann Arbor, 1997, p.ll-52. 13. According to G. TESKEY, Allegory and 4. N. STRUEVER, Theory as Practice: Ethical Violence, Ithaca I London, 1996, the revival Inquiry in the Renaissance, Chicago I London, of mythic personalities in art frequently 1992, p.14-23. elicited continual allegorical interpretation 5. F. PETRARCA, Le Familiari .. ., op. cit., p. 254: as its primary aesthetic effect. His insistence "et iarn cepit, ut non modo divinorurn fructu on allegory as a prevailing interpretive key operurn eximio, sed tuarurn quoque confabu tends to deny the poetic and affective dimen lationurn illecebris perfruarnur". Translation sions of Renaissance art. For a critique of by J. HARVEY ROlliNSON, Petrarch ... , op. cit., Teskey's thesis, sec S. CAMPBELL, Tile Cabinet p.254. of Eros: Renaissance Mytlzological Painting and 6. For a comprehensive list of publications tile Studiolo ofIsabella d'Este (with an appendix of Horner's epics and their commentaries in by C. IlROWN), New Haven I London, 2006. the Renaissance, see Ph. FORD, "Horner... ", 14. Penelope, like Ulysses, is characterized op. cit., p. 3-8. The editio princeps of the Greek as "polutropos" (very intelligent; wily) in works of Horner appeared in Florence in the Odyssey; see P. MARQUARDT, "Penelope 1488, with a Latin translation of the Iliad first 'Polutropos"', Tile A111erican foumal of published in 1474, and that of the Odyssey Philology, 106, 1985, p. 32-48. in 1510. 15. On the emergence of an "affective 7. For an insightful historical and iconographic beholder" in the Renaissance, see E. CROPPER, study of representations of the Odyssey in "T11c Place of Ileauty in the High Renaissance Italy, see J. MIZIOLEK, "T11e 'Odyssey' Cassone and its Displacement in the History of Art", Panels from the Lanckoror\ski Collection: in Place and Displacel/lent izz tlze Renaisscmcc, On the Origins of Depicting Horner's Epic A. Vos (ed.), Ilinghamton, 1995, p. 159-205, in the Art of the Italian Renaissance", Artibus with further bibliography. 16. On this casso11e, see C. LLOYD, Italian Studies, 8, 1999, p. 37-68; and C. DEMPSEY, Paintings before 1600 in the Art I11stitute of "Response: Historia and Anachronism in Chicago, Chicago, 1993, p. 6-9; E. CALLMANN, Renaissance Art", The Art Bulletin, 87, 2005, Apollonio di Giovanni, Oxford, 1974, p.16-19; p. 416-421, who notes Alberti's debt to p. 53. Apollonio's Chicago casso11e is one of Byzantine rhetoric for his usage of the term several versions to survive showing Ulysses histo ria. and Penelope in similar narrative scenes. 21. G. BoCCACCIO, Genealogie deonmz gentil For an assessment of the versions in The iunz libri, V. ROMANO (ed.), Bari, 1951, vol. 2, Frick Art Museum, Pittsburg, and the Royal p. 699. Translation by C. OSGOOD, Boccaccio Wawel Castle, Krakow, see]. MIZIOLEK, "The on Poetry: Being the Preface and the Fourteenth 'Odyssey' Cassone Panels ... ", op. cit. and Fijtee11tlz Books of Boccaccio's "Gezzealogia 17. On this cassone, see Les Casso11i pcints du deorum gezztilium", Indianapolis I New York, Musce National de Ia Renaissmzce, Paris, 2004, 1956, p. 39. p. 36-41. See also the cassone The Retum of 22. C. L. BASKINS, Cassone Painti11g .. ., op. cit., Ulysses by an unidentified Tuscan artist in p. 63, demonstrates that "the patrician the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. women recipients of historiated cassoni 18. A. RANDOLPH, "Unpacking Cassani: were, in fact, likely to be literate and conver Marriage, Ritual, Memory", in The 'D-iumph of sant with the classics, even if they read them Marriage: Painted Cassani of the Rmaissmzcc, in vernacular versions rather than Latin Pittsburgh, 2008, p. 23. C. L. BASKINS, Cassone texts or heard about them in domestic read Pai11ting, Hzmumism, and Gender in Early ings and conversations". Modem Italy, Cambridge, 1998, has reframed 23. On the political situation in northern important issues regarding the making and Italy in this period, see M. MALLETT, "The reception of cassoni in the Renaissance. Northern Italian States", in Tlze New 19. The epigram "De Apollonio Pictore Cambridge Medieval History, C.ALLMAND (ed.), insigni" is included in Verina's collection of Cambridge, 2005, vol. 7, p. 547-570; and for poems entitled Flametta, the original text of the Venetian-Ferrarese wm~ see C. ROSENBERG, which is reprinted, translated, and dis Tlze Este Monuments a11d Urba11 Developme11t in cussed by E. GOMIJRICH, "A Florentine cas Renaissmzce Ferrara, Cambridge, 1997, p.123 sone workshop seen through the eyes of a 128; and M. MALLETT, "Venice and the War of humanist poet", Joumal of t/ze Warburg n11d Ferrara, 1482-1484", in D.S. 0-IAMilERS (et alii) Courtnuld I11stitutes, 18, 1955, p. 16-34; and (ed.), War, Culture a11d Society in Renaissa11ce see C. L. BASKINS, Cassone Painti11g ... , op. cit., Venice: Essays in Honor of Joluz Hale, London, p.51. 1993, p. 56-72. 20. L. B. ALilERTI, On Painting mzd Sculpture: 24. OVID, Heroides, G. SI-IOWERMJ\N (trans.), The Latill Texts of "De Pictzmz" a11d "De Statua", G. Goow (rev. by), Cambridge, 1977, I, 12: C. GRAYSON (trans. and ed.), London, 1972, "res est solliciti plena timoris amor". p. 96-97, "Quae plane historia etiam si dum 25. The relevant excerpt from the commen recitatur animos tenet, quantum censes earn taries is cited in P. WHITE, Renaissazzce gratiae et amoenitatis ex ipsa pictura eximii Postscripts: Responding to Ovid's Heroides in pictoris exhibuisse?". A GRAFI'ON, Leo11 Sixteentlz-Ce11tury Fm11ce, Columbus, 2009, Battista Alberti: Master Builder of the Jtalia11 p. 71. On Penelope's letter in the Heroides, Renaissance, Cambridge, 2000, p. 133, notes see D. F. KENNEDY, "The epistolary mode that Alberti "saw myth and history as equally and the first of Ovid's Heroides", Classical appropriate subjects for a painted historia; Quarterly, 34, 1984, p. 413-422. indeed[ ... ] his exemplary historia came 26. See P. WHITE, Renaissn11ce Postscripts ... , from the realm of myth. No one had more op. cit., p. 73. strongly underlined the supremacy of emo 27. The relevant poems are briefly discussed tion - and, more generally, effective expres by P. PH!LLII'I'Y, "'Altera Dido': the model of sion- in defining either oratory or painting". Ovid's Heroides in the poems of Gaspara See further A.GRAFION, "Historia and Istoria: Stampa a11d Veronica Franco", Italica, 69, 1992, Alberti's Terminology in Context", ITatti p.l-18. 28. N. DA CORREGGIO, Opere, A. TISSONI the subject mistakenly pull words and ideas BENVENUTI (ed.), Bari, 1969, p. 308-310. out of context from ancient authorities. In Niccolo fought in the battle of Ferrara and order to find the proper definition of volup was imprisoned at Argenta in November /as, Equicola alerts his reuders that he will 1482. He composed a series of poems in unravel and reweave his argument in the which he expresses nostalgia for sweeter, manner of Penelope: "se retexero Ia tela ia gentler times. facta come fcce Penelope". In this way, he 29. S. PASQUAZI (ed.), Poeti estensi del can fabricate a new definition of voluptas- a Rilzascinzento, Florence, 1966, p.42-45. new web of discourse that he claims will 30. Ibid., p. 44, lines 25-28: Dat calamum tibi rival the fabrications of Arachne or Minerva; doctus Amor, tibi verba ministrant, I M. EQUICOLA, La redazio11e ma1zoscritta del Scribentemque regit sedulous ille manum. I "Libra de natura de anwre" di Mario Equicola, Talia Penelope si scripta dedisset Ulixi, I L. RICCI (ed.), Rome, 1999, p. 511. And sec Liquisset celery Dorica castra fuga. P. 13EMilO, Gli Asolani, G. DILEMMI (ed.), 31. K. MCKINLEY, Reading the Ovidian Heroine: Florence, 1991, p. 138. Metamorphoses Commentaries 1100-1618, 40. N. EuwARDS, entry in Art and Love in Leiden, 2001, p. 64, argues that, with regard Renaissance Italy, A. 13AYER (ed.), New York, to the reception of the Heroides in the 2008, p. 311-312. See also, P. Duuus, Domenico Renaissance, "rhetoric offered a means to proj 13eccafumi, Paris, 1999, p. 30-32. ect an alternative view of the feminine: one 41. On the decoration as a whole, sec linking feminine speech with acts of delibera P. JACKSON, entry in Renaissance Siena: Art for tion, judgment, and fine discrimination". aCity, London, 2007, p. 270-27--l; and V. TATR·\I, 32. On the humanist promotion of female "Gli affreschi del Palazzo Petrucci a Siena. oratory in the context of art and politics, see Una precisazione iconografica e un ipotesi V. Cox, "Gender and Eloquence in Ercole sui programma", Acta ilistoriae atrium, 24, de' Roberti's Portia and Brutus", Renaissance 1978, p.177-183. Quarterly, 62 (2009), p. 61-101. 42. OviD, Heroidcs, op. cit., I, 97: Il·es SIIIIIIIS 33. Pietro Bembo congratulates Penelope in inbelles 1111111ero, sine viribus uxor. his Rime for her pudicizia (chasteness) while 43. The bird perched on the loom may repre criticizing Ulysses for wandering from woman sent Athena in her transformed state, keep to woman during his voyage home; sec stan ing a watchful eye on Penelope, according zas XXXVII and XXXVIII in Prose e Rime di to the Odyssey (XXIII, 239-240). This is Pietro Bembo, C. DIONISOlTI (ed.), Turin, 1966. suggested by P. RoVIK, "The Odyssey Fresco 34. See R. Couu, The Resources of Kind. by Pinturicchio", Australian Art Joumal, 7, Genre-Theory in the Renaissance, Berkeley I (1988), p.68. Los Angeles I London, 1973, p.13, observes 44. The bow is an important motif in the dec that Petrarch, in his letters, was "obsessed oration. Luca Signorelli's companion fresco, with domesticating ancient literature" for Tile Triumph of Chastity; Love Disarmed and educational purposes. Bound, depicts an episode from Pctrarch's 35. G. BoccACCIO, L'opera de miser Giovanni Trionfi and shows Penelope and Lucretia Boccacio de mulieribus c/m·is, V. 13AGLI (trans.), breaking Cupid's bow and pulling out his Venice, 1506. wings. Sec P. jACKSON, [{enaissancc Siena ... , 36. G. BoccACCIO, Famous Women ... , op. cit., op. cit., p. 272. p. 160-161. 45. The similarities between Circe and 37. J. MCINWSIISNYDER, "The Web of Song: Penelope in the Odyssey have been acknowl Weaving Imagery in Homer and the Lyric edged since antiquity, as testified by Horace Poets", Tile Classical Joumal, 76,1981, p.193-196. (Odes, I, xvii, 17-20). 38. ERASMUS, Adages, M. MANN PHILLIPS 46. ]. MCINTOSII SNYlJEI\, "The Web of Song...", (trans.), in Collected Works of Erasmus, Toronto, op. cit. Furthermore, Uoccaccio observes 1982, vol. 31, p. 352-353 (I, iv, 42). the etymological link between textile and 39. For example, in his discussion of voluptas, text; sec G. UOCCACCIO, Gencalogic .. . , op. cit., Equicola argues that numerous writers on p.699. R.A.SCORZA, "A 'modello'...", op. cit., II ',I J,l 239 p. 434, notes that the Sala dei Mesi in the S. BEGUIN, J. GUILLAUME, A. ROY, La Galerie Palazzo Schifanoia in Ferrara (painted c.1470) d'Ulysse n Fontainebleau, Paris, 1985; shows male poets and female weavers on C. MIGNOT, "Fontainebleau rivisite: Ia galerie either side of Minerva's ceremonial float in d'Ulysse", Revue de l'art, 82, 1988, p. 9-18; the March fresco. I-1. ZERNER, Renaissance Art i11 France: Tile 47. PHILOSTRATUS TilE ELDER, l11111gi11es, Invention of Classicism, D. OUSINBERRE, A. FAIRBANKS (trans.), Cambridge, 1931, I!, 28. S. WILSON, and H.ZERNER (trans.), Paris, 2003, 48. In 1507, the artist sought exemptions p. 112-114; and D. CORDELLIEr~, Prinwtice... , from paying taxes in Siena, claiming that the op. cit., p. 292-357. The decoration of the Romans believed painting to be "similar to vaults and lateral walls of the gallery date the liberal arts, and concurrent with poetry"; roughly from 1541 to 1560 (with later modi cited in F. AMES-LEWIS, Tile Intellectual Life of fications), and came primarily under the tile Early Re11aissance Artist, New Haven I patronage of King Francis I (t 1547) and his London, 2000, p. 166. successor Henri II (t 1559). Tragically, the 49. Ph. FoRD, "Classical myth and its inter entire gallery was demolished in 1739 after pretation in Sixteenth-Century France", in years of neglect and decay. Tile Classical Heritage in Fm11ce, Leiden, 2002, 55. G. FIOI{ENZA, "Penelope's Web ... ", op. cit.; p.338-339: "ego vero ab etymologia nominis and ARISTOTLE, Poetics, !. BYWATER (trans.), coniecturam faciens, viatoris nomen esse New York, 1954, 1450a. See further, T. CAVE, philosophi censeo, de salute sua bene in via R.ecognitio11s. 1\ Study ill Poetics, Oxford, socionunque merentis". See furthe1~ Ph. FORD, 1988; and N. RICIIAIWSON, "Recognition "Homer... ", op. cit., p.8-13; and the chapter Scenes in the Odyssey and Ancient Literary "How Guillaume Bude Read His Homer" Criticism", Papers of t/1c Liverpool Lati11 inA. GRAFION, Commerce... , op. cit., p.135-183. Scmillar, 4, 1983, p. 219-235. 50. Ph. FORD, "Classical Myth... ", op. cit., 56. On the gesture, see L. STEINBERG, The p. 337-347; id., "Homer... ", op. cit., p.l4-18; Sexuality of Christ in I\waissallce Art a11d and id., "Jean Dorat and the Reception of ill Modem Oblivi011, Chicago I London, 1996, Homer in Renaissance France", I11temati01wl p. 3-11; p.ll0-118. The gesture also calls to Journal of tile Classical Tradition, 2 (1995), mind the first book of Homer's Iliad, when p.265-274. Thetis visits Zeus and cups his chin "in sup 51. Ph. FORD, "Classical Myth ... ", op. cit., plication" before she makes her appeal p. 338; and id., "Homer ...", op. cit., p. 17. on behalf of Achilles. Sec Jean-Auguste 52. D. FRAME, Tl1e Myth of retum in early Greek Dominique Ingres's Jupiter 1111d Thetis of 1811, epic, New Haven I London, 1978, p. IX-XII; now in the Musee Granct, Aix-en-Provcnce. p. 73-80. 57. Recognition comes not through external 53. See G. FIORENZA, "Penelope's Web: or physical signs, such as the various Francesco Primaticcio's Epic Revision at episodes involving Ulysses's scar or the Fontainebleau", R.e11aissance Q11arterly, 59, hero's description of his marital bed, but 2006, p. 795-827; and D. CoRDELLIEI{, entry in through memory. For Aristotle, recognition Primatice: Maitre de Fontaineblea11, Paris, 2004, by memory in the Homeric epic is especially p. 336-337, which reviews the major assess dramatic because the "great surprise" often ments of the work. For a recent analysis of produces a more intense emotional impact: Penelope at Fontainebleau, see L. CAPODIECI, pity, fem~ wonder. Sec ARIS'IOTLE, Poetics ... , "Circe, Calypso, et Penelope. Allegorese op. cit., 1455a; N. RICHARDSON, "Recognition homerique et parabole platonicie1me dans Ia Scenes ... ," op. cit., p. 223. Por an outline of galerie d'Ulysse a Fontainebleau", in Le Aristotle's taxonomy of recognitions, sec noyau et l'ccorce. Les arts de l'allegorie XV"- XVII" T. CAVE, Recog11itiolls .. ., op. cit., p. 37-40. siec/es, C. NAnYEL (ed.), Rome I Paris, 2009, 58. J. DU BELLA¥, CEuvres compli!tcs, F. GoYEl; p. 209-231. 0. MILLET (ed.), Paris, 2003, p. 56-59; Poetry & 54. On the Galerie d'Ulysse, see L. DIMIER, LaHguage i11 Sixteelltlt-Ccntury Frallce: Du Le Prinwtice, peintre, sculpte11r et arcl!itecte des Be/lay, I\ollSilrd, Se/Jillet, L. WILLETT (trans.), rois de Fmnce, Paris, 1900, p. 91-108; p. 289-300; Toronto, 2003, vol. 1, p. 72-74. Por Du !3cllay's 240 1luJI!!'t~' u !u l~•'l!!ti .. dil~ ~· project in relation to the development of the between 1500 and 1550; Charles Fontaine epic genre in France, see further, J. BRAYBROOK, retranslated the first ten epistles in 1551; and "The Epic in Sixteenth-Century France", in Joachim du Bellay published a version of The Classical Heritage ... , op. cit., p. 351-391; Dido's letter to Aeneas (Heroidcs, VII) in 1552. and D. MASKELL, The Historical Epic in France 62. For Du Bellay's allegory of a French 1500-1700, London, 1973. homecoming, see G. DEMERSON, La mythologie 59. G. B. GiRALDJ C!NZIO, Discorso intomo c/assique dans /'a:uvre lyrique de Ia "P/eiade", a/ comporre dei romanzi, in Scritti Critici, Geneva, 1972, p.155-156. C. GUERRIERI CROCETTI (ed.), Milan, 1973, 63. N. RICHARDSON, "Recognition Scenes ... ", p. 68-69. On the critical reception of the op. cit., p. 225. romance as a genre in the 16'" century, see 64. Plutarch went so far as to align Penelope D. JAVITCH, Proclaiming a Classic: The metaphorically with Lady Philosophy. Canonization of "Orlando Furioso", Princeton, Following the allegorical reading of the 1991; and M. BOUCHARD, "Utilite et diversite Odyssey by Bion, Plutarch argues that du 'romanzo': Giraldi Cinzio ct le context the suitors, unable to win the hand of fran~ais", Renaissa11ce and Reformation, Penelope, represent stand-ins for students 27, 2003, p. 65-75. See further, B. WEINBERG, unsuccessful in their study and pursuit of A History of Literary Criticism in the Italian philosophy; see W. E. HELLEMAN, "Penelope Renaissance, 2 vol., Chicago, 1963. as Lady Philosophy", Plwenix49 (1995), 60. G. B. GJRALDI C!NZIO, Discorso .. ., op. cit., p. 283-302. p.57. 65. S. BtGUIN (et alii), La Galerie ... , op. cit., 61. P. WHITE, Renaissance Postscripts ... , op. cit., p. 114: "Qu'il y a plaisir a s'entretenir de Ia p.144-186. Octavien de Saint-Gelais trans tempeste quand on se void dans le cal me". lated the whole of the Heroides, which 66. See L. CAPODIECI, "Circe, Calypso, et enjoyed at least nineteen editions published Penelope... ", op. cit., p. 222-227.