LANDINO, CRISTOFORO. - Born at Pratovecchio in 1424, died in Florence in 1498. He pursued his early studies in Volterra and later became a master at the Florentine Studium, secretary of the Guelph party, and chancellor of the Signoria.
A distinguished humanist, he held a prominent place among the Latin poets of the 15th century, marking the transition from the rough forms of Marsuppini to the refined elegance of Poliziano with his collection of poems, *Xandra*.
Landini, Gaspare - Portrait of A. Canova (1806). Rome, Galleria Borghese.
In his *Disputationes Camaldulenses*, presented over four days, he appears as a pleasant expositor, reconciling classical theories with Christianity through arguments drawn from Cicero, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Ficino (who is one of the interlocutors along with Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici, Donato Acciaiuoli, L. Battista Alberti, and others). The work discusses the active and contemplative life, the supreme good—God—in whom resides man’s highest happiness. In *De vera nobilitate*, he expounds the humanistic concept that nobility derives from deeds, while the dialogues *De nobilitate animae* connect to physical theories, upholding, against the adversaries, the divine nobility of the human soul. He greatly advanced Dante studies with his commentary on the *Divine Comedy*, published in 1481 and illustrated by Botticelli.
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