Giuseppe Artale | |
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Born | |
Died | 11 February 1679 | (aged 50)
Resting place | San Diego all'Ospedaletto, Naples |
Occupations |
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Parent(s) | Antonino Artale Angela Artale |
Honours | Constantinian Order of Saint George |
Writing career | |
Language | Italian, Latin |
Literary movement |
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Notable works | Enciclopedia Poetica Cordimarte |
Giuseppe Artale (Catania, 29 August 1628 – Naples, 11 February 1679) was a Sicilian poet, novelist, and duelist, known for his Marinist works. He was also a knight of the Constantinian Order of Saint George.[1]
Giuseppe Artale was born at Catania, in 1628.[2][1] He was descended from an ancient Aragonese family.[1] At fifteen, he made a hurried departure from his native city, where he had killed a rival in a duel.[3] He entered the army soon after, and rendered himself conspicuous by his bravery. For a time, he served as Captain of the Guard to the palatine Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and was highly esteemed by the emperor Leopold. He distinguished himself in the Cretan War against the Ottoman Empire, and was made a knight of the Constantinian Order of Saint George, with permission to add the imperial eagle, or Double-headed eagle, to his family arms.[4] As a swordsman he was unrivalled, and was commonly known by the appellation of the sanguinary knight, conferred upon him for his success as a well-practised duelist. He died at Naples in 1679, worn out by excess.
Artale was a member of the principal academies of Italy, and enjoyed a considerable reputation as a poet. He is best known today for his heroic romance Cordimarte (1660), and his Enciclopedia poetica (1658-1664), recognised as the last flowering of the pessimistic vein of Neapolitan Marinism.[5] The Enciclopedia poetica, one of the most remarkable Italian poetry collections of the Baroque period, pushes conceptismo to its most extreme forms.[3] The Cordimarte, written in an elaborate rhetorical style, is one of the last and most conspicuous examples of Italian Baroque chivalric romance.[3]