Omnipotent Views: "Cosmo Magno" and La Fiera in Print and Performance

• In Event: Vision and Its Instruments in Early Modern Literature II

Abstract

In 1619, a few years after Galileo dedicated the Sidereus Nuncius to Cosimo II de Medici and named Jupiter’s four moons the “Medician Stars” in honor of his patron, Jacques Callot’s print, The Fair at Impruneta and Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger’s play, La Fiera were presented to the Duke. Both works have Cosimo II as the prime spectator and incorporate Galileo’s prospect of the universe into a panoramic narrative to demonstrate the scope of Cosimo II’s realm. Both works also include the device of the telescope as a metaphor for omnipotent sight and the attentive spectator. This paper will examine the tensions between the omnipotent gaze of the Duke and the pressured view of the spectator as both Callot and Buonarroti participate in a post-Galilean, telescopic view of the world.

Author

• Kyna Hamill, Boston University