SYMONDS, JOHN ADDINGTON. - English aesthete, b. in Bristol on 5 Oct. 1840, d. in Rome on 19 Apr. 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) is not, unlike Burckhardt’s work, a systematic book, but is appreciated for the quality of its style. He published his own translation of Cellini’s Life in 1888 and translated sonnets by Michelangelo and Campanella. Other works of his include: Studies of the Greek Poets (1873), biographies of Michelangelo, Sidney, Shelley, essays on Whitman and 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