«Del gran Corrado il nome alto risuona». Sulla fortuna letteraria di Corrado Giaquinto: due iniziative poetiche per gli affreschi di Cesena | «Del gran Corrado il nome alto risuona». On the Litterature Fortune of Corrado Giaquinto: Two Poetics Iniziatives

Abstract

The article examines two booklets published in 1752, immediately after the completion of the complex cycle of paintings executed by Corrado Giaquinto in the dome of the Cappella del Popolo in the Cathedral of Cesena. These booklets are Francesco Aguselli’s poems: Canto per lo scoprimento dell’insigne cupola dipinta dal celebre pennello del Sig. Corrado Giaquinto di Molfetta nella cappella dedicata alla Santissima Vergine del Popolo nella Cattedrale di Cesena l’anno 1752 and the poetry collection: Componimenti poetici per lo scoprimento della cappella della Beatissima Vergine del Popolo nella Cattedrale di Cesena dipinta dal sig. Corrado Giaquinti. Based on new reflections about the personality of its author, and in light of a careful analysis of the text, the first volume is placed within the tradition of iconographic and/or iconological descriptions of major painted cycles. The second work, of which a single copy has been traced, preserved at the Biblioteca Malatestiana in Cesena, allows instead to formulate new observations and hypotheses regarding the cultural context of mid-18th-century Cesena and the role played by the Accademia Riformata – connected to Cardinal Ottoboni – in choosing Corrado Giaquinto for painting the cycle placed in the Cathedral of Cesena. The article concludes with the complete transcription of the poetic compositions included in the collection.