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30 november 2004
Petrarca
Francesco Petrarca by Andrea del Castagno
From the Cycle of Famous Men and Women. c. 1450.
Detached fresco 247 x 153 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy
Francesco Petrarca (1304-74) is an Italian poet and scholar. He was born into the family of an exiled Florentine notary, who settled in Arezzo in 1302. In 1312 the family moved to Avignon, and later to Bologna, where young Francesco enthusiastically studied the classics. After his father’s death Petrarch returned to Avignon (1326).
He became a churchman. It was at this period (1327) that he first met Laura (possibly Laure de Noves, married in 1325 to Hugo de Sade; she died, the mother of eleven children, in 1348). She inspired him with a passion that has become proverbial for its constancy and purity.
Posted by willy at 30 november 2004 21:29 to 44 - Poet | the Arts | Comments (0)