DOI Artikel:
Kilian, Joanna: Locus amoenus, Delightful Place: the courtly return to nature in sixteenth century Northern Italian painting
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18947#0038
performed in 1528 in the villa of Alvise Cornaro in Codevigo. Cornaro
mentions that writers, architects, musicians, painters, sculptors, farmers and
dilettantes were among his guests - educated experts in all the aforementioned
fields; his villa is referred to as the “Accademia ideale di uomini di bel
inteletto.”
The basie architectonic design of the Cinąuecento villa had remained
unchanged sińce Roman times.ly Venice, never having been conąuered by the
barbarians, supposedly preserved the spirit of ancient Romę in its laws and in
the blood of its aristocrats. Roman civilisation, based on agriculture, naturally
created the villa, and together with it the ideał of uilleggiatura.
The ancient idea of otium and negotium was embodied in the culture of
the 16th century villa. The villa rustica (country seat) represented a place of otium,
a place of rest from the tumult of life in the city. Otium was peace, calm,
and inactivity, free time devoted to private enjoyments, particularly literary
endeavours. Otia were the fruits of free time, literary and artistic creation.
Otium was also identified with the ideał of the vita contemplatiua, while
negotium were everyday obligations, the vita attiua. Horace, Lucretius,
Catullus and Pliny had all addressed the theme of rejection of honours, military
successes, politics and crowds, in favor of devotion to dulce otium, sweet
otium.10
The ancient form of otium acąuired new meanmg in the second half of the
15rh century, re-born as santa agricoltura (the holy work of agriculture) and
felicita di vita campestre (the happiness of country life). These concepts
combmed in the Renaissance idea of uilleggiatura as the realisation of loeus
amoenus. They reconciled otium with negotium, refined intellectual play with
the practical aspect of didactic agricultural work. The humanistic ideał of
the villa lmked the concept of the active life with the philosophy of the
contemplative life. Yet this new genre of treatises about uilleggiatura was not
the only kmd of new writing which referred to ancient literaturę. Classical
authors were the inspiration for Renaissance poets who published in Yenice,
19 Cf. L. Puppi, “Patronage on the Venetian Mainland”, in The Genius ofVenice, 1500-1600,
exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy of Art, London 1983, pp. 21-23; Ruprecht, op. cit,
pp. 229-239; Muraro, op. cit.-, Ackerman, op. cit.-, L. H. Heydenrich, “La Villa. Genesi e sviluppi
fino al Palladio”, Bollettino dell’ C. I. S. A, XI, 1969, pp. 11-22; D. Beltrami, La penetrazione
economica dei Veneziani in terraferma, Venezia 1961; J. Woolf, Venice and the Terraferma.
Problems ofthe Change from Commercial to LandedAcstivities in Crisis and Change in the Venetian
Economy, ed. by B. Pullan, London 1968, pp. 175-203; T. Comito, The Idea of Garden in the
Renaissance, New Brunswick 1978, p. 51.
20 Cf. J. Andre, Lotium dans la vie morale et intellectualle romaine, Paris 1966; L. Puppi, “II lungo
contesto”, in 7/ giardino veneto. Storia e consewazione, ed. by M. Azzi-Visentini, Milan 1988,
pp. 193-209; J. S. Ackermann in, The Villa. Form and Ideology ofthe Country House, Washington
1990, pp. 37-42; A. Frazer, “The Roman Yilla and the Pastorał Ideał in the Pastorał Landscape”,
Studies in the History of Art, 36, 1992, pp. 49-59; L. Puppi, 7/ Giardino della Yilla Veneta dal
400’ al 700’, Universita di Padova. Istituto di storia dełł Arte, Storia dell’ Architettura e dell’
Urbanistica, Anno Accademico 1971-72, Yenice 1972, pp. 3-54.
32
mentions that writers, architects, musicians, painters, sculptors, farmers and
dilettantes were among his guests - educated experts in all the aforementioned
fields; his villa is referred to as the “Accademia ideale di uomini di bel
inteletto.”
The basie architectonic design of the Cinąuecento villa had remained
unchanged sińce Roman times.ly Venice, never having been conąuered by the
barbarians, supposedly preserved the spirit of ancient Romę in its laws and in
the blood of its aristocrats. Roman civilisation, based on agriculture, naturally
created the villa, and together with it the ideał of uilleggiatura.
The ancient idea of otium and negotium was embodied in the culture of
the 16th century villa. The villa rustica (country seat) represented a place of otium,
a place of rest from the tumult of life in the city. Otium was peace, calm,
and inactivity, free time devoted to private enjoyments, particularly literary
endeavours. Otia were the fruits of free time, literary and artistic creation.
Otium was also identified with the ideał of the vita contemplatiua, while
negotium were everyday obligations, the vita attiua. Horace, Lucretius,
Catullus and Pliny had all addressed the theme of rejection of honours, military
successes, politics and crowds, in favor of devotion to dulce otium, sweet
otium.10
The ancient form of otium acąuired new meanmg in the second half of the
15rh century, re-born as santa agricoltura (the holy work of agriculture) and
felicita di vita campestre (the happiness of country life). These concepts
combmed in the Renaissance idea of uilleggiatura as the realisation of loeus
amoenus. They reconciled otium with negotium, refined intellectual play with
the practical aspect of didactic agricultural work. The humanistic ideał of
the villa lmked the concept of the active life with the philosophy of the
contemplative life. Yet this new genre of treatises about uilleggiatura was not
the only kmd of new writing which referred to ancient literaturę. Classical
authors were the inspiration for Renaissance poets who published in Yenice,
19 Cf. L. Puppi, “Patronage on the Venetian Mainland”, in The Genius ofVenice, 1500-1600,
exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy of Art, London 1983, pp. 21-23; Ruprecht, op. cit,
pp. 229-239; Muraro, op. cit.-, Ackerman, op. cit.-, L. H. Heydenrich, “La Villa. Genesi e sviluppi
fino al Palladio”, Bollettino dell’ C. I. S. A, XI, 1969, pp. 11-22; D. Beltrami, La penetrazione
economica dei Veneziani in terraferma, Venezia 1961; J. Woolf, Venice and the Terraferma.
Problems ofthe Change from Commercial to LandedAcstivities in Crisis and Change in the Venetian
Economy, ed. by B. Pullan, London 1968, pp. 175-203; T. Comito, The Idea of Garden in the
Renaissance, New Brunswick 1978, p. 51.
20 Cf. J. Andre, Lotium dans la vie morale et intellectualle romaine, Paris 1966; L. Puppi, “II lungo
contesto”, in 7/ giardino veneto. Storia e consewazione, ed. by M. Azzi-Visentini, Milan 1988,
pp. 193-209; J. S. Ackermann in, The Villa. Form and Ideology ofthe Country House, Washington
1990, pp. 37-42; A. Frazer, “The Roman Yilla and the Pastorał Ideał in the Pastorał Landscape”,
Studies in the History of Art, 36, 1992, pp. 49-59; L. Puppi, 7/ Giardino della Yilla Veneta dal
400’ al 700’, Universita di Padova. Istituto di storia dełł Arte, Storia dell’ Architettura e dell’
Urbanistica, Anno Accademico 1971-72, Yenice 1972, pp. 3-54.
32