What is “sprezzatura”?

Sprezzatura is a word of Italian origin, created by Baldassare Castiglione in his work The Courtier . It refers to the particular way in which an aristocrat should behave in society. Mainly, it consists of maintaining your composure and showing a dignified and almost indifferent attitude, without affectation.

Who was Baldassare Castiglione

Baldassare Castiglione (1478-1529), Count of Novellata, was a courtier, diplomat, and writer who was born in Mantua, Italy. His parents were Cristóforo Catiglione and Luigia Gonzaga.

Throughout his life he was at the service of different men of power, such as the Marquis Francesco Gonzaga and Carlos V, and carried out different diplomatic missions. He also lived at the Urbino court, which was considered to be the most refined in Italy.

In 1516 he married Ippolita Torelli, with whom he had three children. After the death of his wife four years later, he devoted himself to ecclesiastical life, serving as nuncio to Pope Clement VII.

Among his works stood out the poem Alcon (1506); the elegy Ad puellam in litore ambulantem (1513), and the book The Courtier (1528), or Il Cortegiano in Italian, a treatise on life at court.

In 1529 he died of the black plague in the Spanish city of Toledo, at the age of fifty. He was buried in Mantua, his native city, in 1530.

About the work The Courtier

The Courtier is the most important work of Baldassare Castiglione. It was published in Venice in 1528, edited by Marcantonio Flaminio. Juan Boscán translated it into Spanish in 1534. It is believed that it took Castiglione almost twenty years to write this book.

The courtier was immediately successful and became the model of the ideal courtier and an example of etiquette and social protocol to follow.

In this work, the author describes how a gentleman or a lady should be, and presents an archetype that responds to the vision of the world and the customs of the time. For example, the perfect gentleman had to be an expert in weapons but also in letters; he should know how to talk and treat his peers, especially the ladies. It was also important that he knew how to play a musical instrument.

Through his instructions, Castiglione intended to instruct the nobles on proper behavior and manners, and for this it was necessary to cultivate an elegant style that, at the same time, seemed natural, be it in the way of dressing, in the dance or in the speech.

As for its literary characteristics, The courtier follows the decorous style of the Renaissance and has the structure of Ciceronian dialogue, that is, it contains long expositions on moral and philosophical themes. Divided into four books, it features dialogues held over four nights by various characters, including: a Duchess, a Princess, a Cardinal, Cesare Gonzaga, the poet Pietro Bembo, Ludovico di Canossa, Federico Fregoso, Giuliano di Medici , and the Aretino.

The conversation between the characters arises from a game suggested by Federico Fregoso to define the qualities and attitudes that a person must have in order to be a perfect courtier. In the first game, the characters debate the circumstances of the knight’s birth and upbringing; in the second, about his behavior in society; in the third, about how a lady should be, and in the fourth, about the interaction of the courtier with the prince. The book ends with a dissertation by Pietro Bembo on platonic love.

Meaning and origin of sprezzatura

The term sprezzatura is of Italian origin and is not a recent trend, but an idea that emerged in the fifteenth century AD It is precisely in The Courtier , where the concept of sprezzatura appeared for the first time, associated with the qualities of a gentleman. .

The word sprezzatura literally means “disdain” and derives from sprezzante , which means “distant.” However, Castiglione used it to indicate a particular characteristic of ideal courtly behavior. According to him, sprezzatura is the art of hiding art. That is, it is the ability to hide or disguise the effort involved in doing something, to make it seem simple. This can be applied to the personality, gestures, clothing and any other characteristic of the person.

In his manual, Castiglione also stated that an aristocrat or courtier should maintain his composure in all circumstances, even in the most difficult. Also, when he was surrounded by other people, he was to carry himself with unaffected indifference and effortless dignity. This disdain or casual attitude without affectation he called sprezzatura .

Castiglione also describes sprezzatura as an essential quality of every prince or courtier that consists in not showing any affectation, but rather in having a sprezzante or distant attitude. Some examples of sprezzatura could be seen at the court of the Medici, an important family in Florence, and the Gonzaga, a renowned family in Mantua.

In other words, sprezzatura is the ease and security with which a gentleman gracefully conceals a feeling or attitude. Sprezzatura is achieved through effort, self-control, repetition, and habit . By getting used to something, whether by habit or discipline, an indifference and naturalness arises that seem spontaneous but are not really. The more habitual something is, and the less importance is given to it, the more natural it will seem to others.

Some authors, however, consider that the sprezzatura also has a negative side. First, because the person appears to be something that in reality is not. On the other hand, it makes something difficult seem effortless, which creates a distorted idea of ​​the actual difficulty. Furthermore, in practice, sprezzatura is a way of deceiving others. In some cases, it can even deny or underestimate the nature of a person and make them lose themselves.

Sprezzatura in art and music

Although at first the concept of sprezzatura was mainly related to the behavior of a courtier, centuries later it expanded to other fields such as art, music and literature.

The sprezzatura was frequently reflected in Baroque painting and decoration of churches or palaces. Some authors even defined with their own words what they considered as sprezzatura . For example, the Italian artist Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) understood sprezzatura as a kind of “intentional negligence”; he also included grace, as another similar aesthetic quality.

In 1536, the Spanish musician and composer Luis Milán (1500-1561) published El maestro , a book dedicated to the vihuela, where one can see references to the sprezzatura of Italian court culture. In 1561 he published a version of The Courtier, based on the Valencian court.

In literature, sprezzatura refers to when a writer creates a sentence or paragraph and goes through it several times, until they find the right and simple way to convey their message, making it seem effortless.

The same is true in dance and theater: dancers and actors seek to make their movements and performances, respectively, as natural as possible, despite the difficulties involved.

sprezzatura in fashion

With the passage of time, the concept of sprezzatura was transferred to fashion. One of the first celebrities to wear the sprezzatura was the Englishman George Bryan “Beau” Brummell (1778-1840), one of the most influential figures in English fashion of his time. Brummel would spend hours in front of the mirror arranging his outfit so that it looked effortless.

In the following centuries, the sprezzatura gave rise to the dandy, a type of man who is characterized by refined clothing and who was very popular from the 18th century on. It also became a common feature in Italian, French and English tailoring fashion.

One of the benchmarks of modern Italian sprezzatura was Gianni Agnelli (1921-2003), an Italian businessman and aristocrat who consciously and carefully cultivated some customs that seemed strange but became his personal style. For example, Agnelli wore his watch on his shirt sleeve and not under it.

Currently, sprezzatura can be defined as the casual elegance of a person, something that differentiates them from others and that gives them their particular style, without any affectation. Generally, this refers to clothing, footwear and accessories such as glasses, watches and bags, among others.

Although the goal is to achieve the maximum naturalness possible in an outfit, avoiding the superfluous, there are also some trends that are based on a different concept of sprezzatura , which actually goes against the essence of this term. This can be seen in some fashion collections with excessive use of colors, accessories, and decorations.

Bibliography

• Castiglione, B. The Courtier. (2020). Spain. Editorial Alliance.
• Godoy Ladrero, S. (2015, September 3). What happened to the sprezzatura? sinabrochar.com. Available at: http://www.sinabrochar.com/que-ha-sido-de-la-sprezzatura/