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Cultural Clientelism and Brokerage Networks in EarlyModern Florence and Rome: New Correspondence between the Barberiniand Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Janie Cole
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Abstract

This study draws on the unpublished correspondence between Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger, a Florentine poet and grandnephew of the artist, and the Barberini family, in an attempt to examine the wider concepts of cultural clientelism and brokerage networks in the early modern process of cultural dissemination (in the areas of literature, music, theater, painting, architecture, and science) in Florence and Rome. Reconsidering the definition and role of a Seicento cultural broker added to the traditional model of patron and client, it analyzes Michelangelo the Younger’s activity as broker, patron-broker, and broker-client in connection with such significant figures as Maffeo Barberini (the future Urban VIII), Galileo, and the painter Lodovico Cigoli, exploring the ways in which these roles supported his personal commitment to promote his family’s social status and revealing the fluidity of roles in the patronage system. By obtaining Barberini patronage for his theatrical works and public recognition of the mythology of his illustrious forebear, Buonarroti’s cultural brokerage supported these dynastic ambitions. Spanning nearly half a century, this archival documentation casts new light on a little-known, but significant, area of Italian social relations and suggests directions for further research on other Seicento cultural brokers and new definitions for a broader concept of cultural brokerage in early modern Italy.

Type
Research Article
Information
Renaissance Quarterly , Volume 60 , Issue 3 , Fall 2007 , pp. 729 - 788
Copyright
Copyright © 2007 Renaissance Society of America

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Footnotes

*

This article was written during my year as a Fellow at Villa I Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies in Florence. I am particularly indebted to Tim Carter, Louis Waldman, Marco Gentile, Massimiliano Rossi, and Kathryn Bosi for reading early drafts of this study and for providing valuable comments and suggestions. Moreover, I thankfully acknowledge the constructive criticism of the anonymous readers who reviewed the manuscript for RQ. Joseph Connors, Alison Frazier, Eve Borsook, Sara Galletti, Darrel Rutkin, Cosimo Mazzoni, Monica Azzolini, Giovanni Pagliarulo, Pina Ragionieri, Lorenzo Grassi, and the staff of the Biblioteca and Fototeca Berenson at Villa I Tatti also have my gratitude for their expert assistance and support. The following abbreviations are used: I:Fb=Florence, Casa Buonarroti; AB=Archivio Buonarroti, in I:Fb; I:Fm=Florence, Biblioteca Marucelliana; I:Fn=Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale; I:Fr=Florence, Biblioteca Riccardiana e Moreniana; I:Fuf=Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi; I:Rvat=Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana; Barb.Lat.=Fondo Barberini Latini, in I:Rvat; GB:Lbl=London, British Library. All documents presented follow the original text throughout, although I have expanded intelligible abbreviations and contractions tacitly, except for the most common, such as titles of address. I have normalized the letters u/v and i/j according to modern usage, as well as the use of accents and upper and lower case. However, I have adhered to the original punctuation, syntax, and spelling, and have not corrected the innumerable orthographic inconsistencies found in the original manuscripts. Where the text was particularly difficult to read (due to damage or illegibility), I have given an approximate transcription in angled brackets. Totally illegible passages are indicated by ellipses. All dates follow the sources, combining, where necessary, Florentine and stile comune dating in a single formula. The new concept of cultural brokerage as explored in this article, is developed at length in the wider context of traditional patronage studies on music, theater, and literature in my forthcoming monograph.

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