Painting, Music, and Letters: Theoretical Debates in Ficino and in Spain

• In Event: Ficino III: Ficino on Language, Names, and Art

Abstract

Ficino’s theoretical remarks on the arts and artists have been studied as expressions related to creative genius, to melancholy, and to aesthetics. How the Italian philosopher’s opinions on painting, music and letters are received, debated and transformed by Spanish authors in the late sixteenth century will be the focus of this paper, with particular attention to the writings of Miguel de Cervantes and Baltasar Gracián.

Author

• Susan Byrne, University of Nevada, Las Vegas