Enciclopedia Cattolica Vol. VIII, 1952 Literature

Niccolini, Giambattista

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Also known as: Italian: Gianbattista Niccolini, Giovanni Battista Niccolini

NICCOLINI, GIAMBATTISTA. - Man of letters, b. at Bagni di S. Giuliano (Pisa) on 29 Oct. 1782, d. at Florence on 20 Sept. 1861.

He was a member of the Accademia della Crusca. A republican in politics, he accepted the monarchy when he saw that the unity of Italy depended on it; but, faithful to a lay liberalism, he regarded the Neo-Guelph idea as utopian. His anti-papal attitude is summed up in Arnaldo da Brescia (1837), his masterpiece, which nevertheless lacks any historical foundation. N. owes his fame less to the posthumous works Storia della Cosa di Svezia in Italia (1873) and Il Vespro Siciliano (1882) than to his tragedies, for which he drew his verse from classical models (Polissena, Edipo nel bosco delle Eumenidi, Agamemone, Medea), from history (Antonio Foscarini, Giovanni da Procida, Lodovico Sforza, Arnaldo da Brescia, Filippo Strozzi), and from romantic or sentimental episodes (Matilde, Beatrice Cenci). N.'s theater is more alive through the gravity and solemnity of its diction than through any intimate dramatic quality. Arnaldo da Brescia was placed on the Index (decree of 15 Jan. 1844).

Bibliography6 works
BIBL.: ed.: Opere di G. B. N., 8 vols., Milan 1860-80. Studies: A. Vannucci, Ricordi della vita e delle opere di G. B. N., Florence 1886; M. Ostermann, Il pensiero politico di G. B. N. nelle tragedie e nelle opere minori, Milan 1900; P. Arcari, G. B. N. e la sua opera drammatica, ibid. 1901; R. Guastalla, La vita e le opere di G. B. N., Livorno 1917; B. Croce, Fu poeta G. B. N., in Conversazioni critiche, III, Bari 1923, pp. 334-37; G. Mazzoni, L'Ottocento, Milan 1938, part 2, pp. 829-34 and passim.

Manaceto Lombardi-Lotti

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By Mansueto Lombardi Lotti

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Translated from the Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VIII (1952), col. 1817.

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Chicago

Lombardi, Lotti Mansueto. “Niccolini, giambattista.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VIII, col. 1817. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952. https://azioneromana.com/article/niccolini-giambattista.

MLA

Lombardi, Lotti Mansueto. “Niccolini, giambattista.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VIII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952, col. 1817. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/niccolini-giambattista.

BibTeX

@incollection{ec8_niccolini_giambattista,
  author    = {Lombardi, Lotti Mansueto},
  title     = {Niccolini, giambattista},
  booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
  volume    = {VIII},
  pages     = {1817},
  note      = {Cited by column},
  publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
  address   = {Città del Vaticano},
  year      = {1952},
  url       = {https://azioneromana.com/article/niccolini-giambattista}
}

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