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LEONARDO BRUNI ARETINO, 1370? - 1444
Vita di Dante e Petrarca
On paper
Florence (?), 15th century (after 1441)
MS 329, ff. 8v-9r
Petrarch’s lofty place in the development of humanism
in the urban vernacular context is illustrated in MS 329,
which begins with Leonardo Bruni's life of Petrarch (together
with that of Dante); the Italian translation of Petrarch’s
letter to Niccolò Acciaiuoli appears later in the
manuscript. The Petrarch-centered texts are joined by
numerous other letters and public speeches by various
authors, forming an anthology to extol civic honor and
responsibility. All the texts are translated into Italian,
and they are mainly focused on civic life in Florence.
A number of other 15th-century manuscripts, including
the Beinecke Library’s Marston MS 247 (also in this
exhibit) contain the same or similar texts, in Italian,
showing how the Latin humanistic tradition spread into
the vernacular (Italian) world of the 15th century.
Bruni’s life of Petrarch begins on f. 9r, with the
title (in red): “[C]omincia la vita di messere Francescho
Petrarcha.” |
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