Castiglione, Baldassare

(1478-1529)

   Italian author and diplomat, best known for his Il cortegiano The Courtier, first published in Venice in 1528, a work that greatly influenced Renaissance culture. Castiglione was born in Casàtico, near Mantua, where his family served as soldiers and administrators to the Mantuan court. After completing his humanistic education, he entered in the service of Ludovico "il Moro" Sforza, ruler of Milan, where he remained until 1499, the year his father died. He returned to Mantua briefly to work for Francesco Gonzaga, but soon moved to the court of Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino. In 1513, Guidobaldo's successor, Francesco Maria della Rovere made Castiglione a count and sent him to Rome as his ambassador. It is there that he met Raphael who in 1516 painted Castiglione's famed portrait (Paris, Louvre). In 1524, Pope Clement VII sent Castiglione to Spain to the court of Charles V, but when in 1527 Charles' troops sacked Rome and imprisoned the pope, the mortified Castiglione's health deteriorated and he died in Toledo two years later. Written in the form of a philosophical discussion, Il cortegiano presents a portrayal of the court of Urbino and offers advice on the proper conduct of courtiers. For Renaissance readers, it became the standard manual for aristocratic manners. For the modern reader, it offers a glimpse of Renaissance court life.