SYMONDS, JOHN ADDINGTON. – English aesthete, b. in Bristol on 5 October 1840, d. in Rome on 19 April 1893.
He lived for a long time in Italy for health reasons, and devoted his work to Italian art and poetry. His
History of the Renaissance in Italy (1875–86), unlike Burckhardt’s work, is not a systematic book, but is appreciable for the quality of its style. He published his own translation of Cellini’s Vita in 1888 and translated sonnets by Michelangelo and Campanella. Other works of his include: Studies of the greek poets (1873), biographies of Michelangelo, Sidney, and Shelley, essays on Whitman and on Shakespeare’s predecessors. He also loved the Italian landscape and left verses inspired by II.
BIBL.: V. W. Brook, A biographical study of J. A. S., London 1914. Augusto Guidi