Filippo Picinelli

Little is known about the life of Picinelli. The main source of information on this author is the short biography that Picinelli himself includes in his Ateneo dei Letterati Milanesi, a bio-bibliographical dictionary of Milanese authors.{{cite book |first=Filippo|last=Picinelli|title=Ateneo dei letterati milanesi |date=1670 |publisher=Vigone |location=Milan |pages=192–4}} He was born in Milan, Italy in November 1604.{{sfn|Orlandi|2004|p=221}} At baptism he was named Carlo Francesco, but upon his entrance into the Augustinian Order (1614), his name was changed to Filippo. He studied philosophy in Cremona and theology in Piacenza, where he probably graduated.{{cite book|title=Applied Emblems in the Cathedral of Lugo. European Sources for a Spanish Cycle Addressed to the Virgin Mary|first=Carme|last=López Calderón|year=2021|isbn=978-9004447684|page=50|publisher=BRILL }} Once ordained a priest, he devoted himself to teaching in the colleges of his order; he also acquired a considerable reputation as a preacher. His preaching skills won him favour with several bishops, including Paolo Arese, bishop of Tortona, who encouraged Picinelli to publish his works. Later in his life, Picinelli was appointed abbot of Santa Maria della Passione in Milan. He died in Milan in 1686.{{sfn|Mínguez|2001|p=101}}

Picinelli published several works, in Latin and Italian, among which the following stand out: Applausi festivi o siano Panegirici varii (Venice, 1649), Foeminarum sacrae scripturae elogia (Milan, 1657), Lumi, e riflessi (Milan, 1667), Ateneo dei litterati milanesi, an important biographical source book for Milanese writers and artists (Milan, 1670), and Fatiche apostoliche (Milan, 1672-1674).

File:Mondo simbolico - o sia vniversita d'imprese scelte, spiegate, ed' illvstrate con sentenze, ed eruditioni sacre, e profane (1653) (14750941645).jpg

Picinelli believed that the world of God's creation could be read as a symbolic book.{{Cite web|url=http://www.olmsonline.de/no_cache/en/dms/met/?IDDOC=31457|title=Filippo Picinelli: Mudus Symbolicus|website=Olms-Weidmann}} In 1653 he published his Mondo simbolico (Symbolic World), an encyclopaedia of emblems useful for scholars as a reference book.A modern edition of Mundus Symbolicus was published by Garland Publications, New York, 1976. A Spanish-language edition of Picinelli's work is being carried out by the Centro de Estudios de las Tradiciones of the College of Michoacán, Mexico. Picinelli's work was exceedingly popular among the intellectual elite of the Baroque era and went through several editions.

Picinelli's work is the culmination of a life-time's erudition, drawing on many Renaissance emblem books and medieval encyclopedias and bestiaries.{{cite book

| last = Daly

| first = Peter M.

| date = 2005

| title = Emblem Scholarship: Directions and Developments: a Tribute to Gabriel Hornstein

| chapter = The Pelican-in-her-Piety

| editor = Peter Maurice Daly

| location = Turnhout

| publisher = Brepols

| page = 86

| isbn = 978-2503517360

}} It was intended for "orators, preachers, academicians, and poets," and contained many examples drawn from the works of his predecessors, particularly Alciato and Valeriano.{{cite book

| last = Volkmann

| first = Ludwig

| author-link =

| date = 2018

| title = Hieroglyph, Emblem, and Renaissance Pictography

| location = Leiden

| publisher = Brill Publishers

| page = 235

| isbn = 978-9004367593

}} For the material for his encyclopaedic survey of symbols, Picinelli drew also on old manuscripts, some of them unpublished, from Italian monasteries.

Picinelli's Mondo simbolico is divided into two parts, one devoted to natural objects (Corpora Naturalia), and the other to artifacts (Corpora Artificialia).{{sfn|Manning|2004|p=122}}

Picinelli's work was translated into Latin by the Augustinian monk Augustinus Erath (1648-1729), and in the process also expanded. This expanded Latin edition (first published in Cologne in 1681) went through several new editions and can be regarded as the most comprehensive emblem encyclopedia of the seventeenth century.{{cite book|title=Companion to Emblem Studies|year=2008|isbn=978-0404637200|publisher=AMS Press|location=New York|page=213|editor=Peter M. Daly}} The comprehensiveness of Picinelli's work made it a model for subsequent scholars, including Claude-François Ménestrier, Johannes Michael von der Ketten, Arthur Henkel and Albrecht Schöne.{{sfn|Manning|2004|p=127}}

• {{cite book

| date = 1670

| title = Ateneo dei letterati milanesi

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Pp5bAAAAcAAJ

| location = Milan

| publisher = Vigone

| access-date = 30 November 2024

}}

• {{cite book

| date = 1694

| title = Foeminarum S. Scripturae Elogia: Centuria Singularis

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yrZMAAAAcAAJ

| location = Nuremberg

| publisher = Ziegerus

| access-date = 30 November 2024

}}

• {{cite book

| date = 1711

| title = Labores Apostolici

| volume = 1

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oZJCAAAAcAAJ

| location = Augsburg

| publisher = Wohler

| access-date = 30 November 2024

}}

• {{cite book

| date = 1702

| orig-date = 1667

| title = Lumina reflexa

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FZACLhEt9LAC

| location = Frankfurt

| publisher = sumptibus societatis

| access-date = 30 November 2024

}}

• {{cite book

| date = 1681

| orig-date = 1653

| title = Mundus Symbolicus

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=l89KAAAAcAAJ

| volume = 1

| location = Cologne

| publisher = Hermann Demen

| access-date = 30 November 2024

}}

• {{cite book

| date = 1687

| orig-date = 1653

| title = Mundus Symbolicus

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ajZ28aeaGTUC

| volume = 2

| location = Cologne

| publisher = Hermann Demen

| access-date = 30 November 2024

}}

• {{cite book

| date = 1696

| title = Sacrarum religionum maximae

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9bSxrq3sulQC

| location = Augsburg

| publisher = sumptibus Laurentii Kronigeri et Haeredum Theophili Goebelii

| access-date = 30 November 2024

}}

• {{cite book

| date = 1694

| title = Symbola virginea

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=DzS2rcxI740C

| location = Augsburg

| publisher = sumpt. Laur. Kronigeri & Haered. Theophilli Goebelii

| access-date = 30 November 2024

}}

• {{cite book

| date = 1697

| title = Tributa encomiorum

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vSaV4RfBvr4C

| location = Kempten

| publisher = impensis Laurentij Kronigeri & Haeredum Theophili Goebelij

| access-date = 30 November 2024

}}

{{reflist}}

{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}

• {{cite book

| last = López Poza

| first = Sagrario

| date = 2000

| title = Emblemata Aurea. La emblemática en el arte y la literatura del Siglo de Oro

| chapter = Los libros de emblemas como tesoros de erudición auxiliares de la inventio

| editor1 = Rafael Zafra

| editor2 = José Javier Azanza

| location = Madrid

| publisher = Ediciones Akal

| pages = 263–279

| isbn = 978-84-460-1490-4

}}

• {{cite book

| last = Mínguez

| first = Víctor

| date = 2001

| title = Los reyes solares: iconografía astral de la monarquía hispánica

| chapter = El Sol y los astros en el Mundo Simbólico de Filippo Picinelli

| editor =

| location = Castelló de la plana

| publisher = Universitat Jaume I

| pages = 99–108

| isbn =

}}

• {{cite book

| last = Skinfill Nogal

| first = Bárbara

| date = 2002

| title = Los días del Alción. Emblemas, Literatura y Arte del Siglo de Oro

| chapter = Similitudo y exemplum senecanos en el Mundus Symbolicus de Filippo Picinelli

| editor1 = Antonio Bernat Vistarini

| editor2 = John Cull

| location = Palma de Mallorca

| publisher = José J. de Olañeta

| pages = 521–531

| isbn = 978-84-9716-173-2

}}

• Picinelli, Filippo (1997-2006). El mundo simbólico. Eloy Gómez Bravo; Rosa Lucas González; Bárbara Skinfill Nogal (eds.). Zamora (México): El Colegio de Michoacán.
• {{cite book

| last = Lucas González

| first = Rosa

| date = 2002

| title = Las dimensiones del arte emblemático

| chapter = Presencia de Séneca en Picinelli

| editor1 = Bárbara Skinfill Nogal

| editor2 = Eloy Gómez Bravo

| location = México

| publisher = El Colegio de Michoacán y Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología

| pages = 103–110

| isbn = 978-97-0679-097-2

}}

• {{cite book

| last = Rueda Smithers

| first = Salvador

| date = 2002

| title = Las dimensiones del arte emblemático

| chapter = El alimento de los sentidos. Notas sobre la lectura de emblemas y el Mundus symbolicus de Filippo Picinelli

| editor1 = Bárbara Skinfill Nogal

| editor2 = Eloy Gómez Bravo

| location = México

| publisher = El Colegio de Michoacán y Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología

| pages = 111–121

| isbn = 978-97-0679-097-2

}}

• {{cite book|title=The Emblem|location=London|publisher=Reaktion Books|first=John|last=Manning|year=2004|page=127|isbn=978-1861891983}}
• {{cite book

| last = Michelacci

| first = Lara

| date = 2018

| title = L'animal et l'homme dans leurs représentations. Ponts et frontiéres

| chapter = Animaux et hommes dans Le Mondo Simbolico (1653) de Filippo Picinelli

| editor1 = Fernando Copello

| editor2 = Sandra Contamina

| location = Rennes

| publisher = Presses Universitaires de Rennes

| pages = 109–121

| isbn = 978-2753574274

}}

{{refend}}

{{commons category}}

• {{cite journal

| first = Antonella

| last = Orlandi

| date = 2004

| title = La «Bibliotheca» di Filippo Picinelli: L'«Ateneo» dei letterati milanesi

| journal = Studi secenteschi

| volume = 45

| pages = 217–251

| doi = 10.1400/48250

}}

• {{cite journal

| first = Genoveffa

| last = Palumbo

| date = 2011

| title = Mondo reale e mondo ideale nel frontespizio del Mondo Simbolico di Filippo Picinelli

| journal = Emblemática trascendente

| publisher = Sociedad Española de Emblemática/Universidad de Navarra

| location = Pamplona

| url = https://www.studiolum.com/congreso/anejos_imago/anejos-1/Palumbo_Genoveffa_Mondo_reale_e_mondo_ideale_nel_frontespizio_del_Mondo_simbolico_di_Filippo_Picinelli.pdf

| pages = 619–638

}}

• {{cite journal|title=Animali e Uomini Nel Mondo Simbolico (1653) di Filippo Picinelli|first=Lara|last=Michelacci|journal=Lettere Italiane|volume=70|issue=1|year=2018|pages=169–180|jstor=26563003}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Picinelli, Filippo}}

Category:1604 births

Category:1686 deaths

Category:Writers from Milan

Category:Italian Baroque people

Category:Augustinian canons

Category:17th-century Italian Roman Catholic theologians