BOCCACCINO. 214 BOCCACCIO. BOCCACCINO, bok'i-clie'nu. Boccaccio ( 1460- C.1518). An Italian painter. He was born in Cremona, and was either a pupil or co-disciple of Domenico Panetti. Few facts of his life are known. Influenced by -Mantcgiia, lie painted a series of frescoes in Sant' Agostino, Cremona (1497), and afterwards kept a school in his native city, where Benvenuto Garofalo was one of his pupils. His most celebrated work is the frieze in the Cathedral of Cremona, representing the "Birth of the Virgin" and some subjects from her life. His remaining works, which include the "^Marriage of Saint Catharine" (Venice Aeademv), the "Virgin and Child with Four Saints"" (Venice, San Giuliano), the "Virgin and Two Saints" (Cremona, San Quirilo), and the "Holy Family" (Paris, Louvre), are consid- ered by Lanzi remarkable for richness of drapery, variety of color, spirit and grace of attitude, and harmony of landscape. Several works formerly attributed to Perugino, Pinturicchio, and Van- nucci are now ascribed to Boccaceino. BOCCACCIO, bok-ka'cha, Giovanni (1313- 75). The third great figure in Itjilian litera- ture, who, lacking the inspiration of Dante and the perfect form of Petrarch, is remembered in the history of culture as the creator of a classic Italian prose, and, through the Decnmeroii. as the father of the modern novel. In spite of re- cent critical studies, many det^vils of his life are still obscure. It seems, however, generally con- ceded that he was the natural son of a Floren- tine merchant, Boccaccio di Chellino, and that he was born about 1313, in Paris, where his father was temporarily residing. Of his French mother little is known beyond the bare name, Giannina, which still survives in that of her son. His earlv boyhood was passed in Florence, but at fifteen he was already living in Naples, placed there, some say, with a mercantile firm by his father, who meant to make a merchant of him, like himself. But the gay life and natural beauty of the city only strengthened the lad's distaste for commerce, which he finally abandoned for the study of canon law at the Neapolitan University: but this proved scarcely more con- genial, ileanwhile he wa.s unconsciously laying the foundations of that knowledge of life and human nature which was to inspire his future ork. Naples, under King Robert., had already become a centre of culture and learning, and Boccaccio, who seems to have had abundant pecuniary means at this time, soon formed valu- able frieudsliips with Niecolo Aceia.juoli, who was later Grand Seneschal of the kingdom ; with Paolo Perugino, the King's librarian, who taught him a.stronomy, and with many others, ilany women also influenced his life in these early, im- pressionable years. Galla, Panipinea. Abrocomia, are some of the names which found a lasting record in his writings. But his one serious pas- sion was that inspired by Maria, daughter of King Robert and wife of a gentleman of the Court circle, but celebrated by B<ic<accio under the name of 'Fiammetta.' Unlike the loves of Dante and Petrarch, this passion was not des- tined to be an abiding influence in Boccaccio's life. Fiammettii (juickly proved to be of a far less obdurate nature than Beatrice or Laura, and seems as quickly to have wearied of him and to have transferred her favors elsewhere. Vet she certainly influenced his literary career. Ilia earliest work, the Filocopo, was written for her amusement: Ameto and Fiammetta both celebrate her charms: while some critics find much significance in the fact that the close of his activity as an imaginative writer coincides with the supposed date of her death. In 1340 he was recalled to Florence by liis father, after which the scanty records give fugitive glimpses of him, first in one place and theu another. In 1340 he is in Ravenna; in 1348 in Forli: then possibly back again in Naples : but at all events not in Florence during the terrible year of the I)lague, of v.hich he has painted such a gi'im picture from hearsay. The loss of his father the following year devolved upon him the care of a yoimger brother, and the death of Fiam- metta, which conjecturally soon followed, effec- tually closed the period of youthful indiscretion. A strong infhicnce for good, which at this time came into his life, was the friendship of Pe- trarch, whom it fell to his lot to entertain when the poet visited Florence in 1350: and the first of a series of public missions intrusted to Boc- caccio by the city had for its object to petition Petrarch to make Florence his home. During this period he was deeply interested in human- istic studies. He busied himself with making copies of manuscripts of Terence and Apuleius, and resumed the study of Greek under Leonzio Pilato, for whom he secured a professorship at the University of Florence, At this time the revenues of the small estate left by Boccaccio's father failed to meet his necessities, and he went once more to Naples, dravn thither by the rose- ate promises of NiccolO Acciajuoli, now Grand Seneschal; but the promises were not fulfilled, and, giving ear to the exhortations of a dying priest, he returned to Florence, fully intent upon taking religious orders and retiring from the world, but was effectually dissuaded by Petrarch. In 1373 he received the last and most fitting lionor that Florence was destined to confer ipon him in the form of a charge to expound the Com- media in a series of public readings, for which lie was to receive the yearly sura of 100 golden florins. It was practically the establislmicnt of the first chair at any university for the study of Dante, and could not have been bestowed nuu'e worthily. The course was begun in October, but was soon interrupted, owing to failing health. Boccaccio retired to his small estate at Certaldo, where he died December 21, 1375. Aside from the Decameron, Boccaccio's writ- ings include: (1) The Filocopo (1338), his first and longest work of fiction, which may perhaps have fulfilled its purpose of anuising the Prin- cess !Maria. but which modern taste finds sadly tedious. Vet its curious and naive conglomera- tion of pagan and chivalric legends, of classic mythology and mediaeval Christianity, is at least amusing. It is also interesting as forming the transition from the metrical romance to the l)rose novel. (2) The Filostrato (about 1338) and (3) the Tcscidc (about 1341), two poems in the octave stanza, interesting to English read- ers as having formed the basis of Chaucer's Kiiifiht'x Tale and Troilus. (4) .4nie/o (1341- 42), tlic earliest modern example of the pasto- ral romance, in which a number of shepherd- esses, Fiammetta among them, successively relate their adventures. (5) Fiammetta (about 1343), which is partially autobiographic, and really contains the first genu of the mo<Iern psycho- logical novel. HiK'caccio, however, has reversed
