Feo Belcari
Feo Belcari (1410 – 1484) was an Italian poet and playwright.
Biography
Feo Belcari was born in Florence. A Prior as well as a member of the Arte della Lana, he found his greatest expression in the Florentine piazzas where he performed his "Sacred Performances" often derived from the dramatic lauds of the thirteenth century. Among his most successful were The Annunciation, The Day of Judgment, St. John in the Desert, St. George and especially, in 1449, Abram and Isaac (Sacred Representation of Abraham and Isaac [1449]), in which he knew how to infuse not only moralism but also the realistic atmosphere of the world around him.
His stories generally began with a prologue and closed with a declaimed admonition in print addressed to the audience.
His written compositions include moralising sonnets and vernacular writings such as: Life of Friar Aegidius, Life of Blessed Giovanni Colombini; the latter is distinguished by a particular originality and the search for a critical spirit immersed in a hagiographic structure.
He also produced several Lauds, full of gracefulness despite their prolixity.
References
- Ceccarelli, Jacopo (1906). Feo Belcari e le Sue Opere. Siena: Tip. Sordomuti di L. Lazzeri.
- Chiarini, Rodolfo (1904). Feo Belcari e la Sua Vita del Beato Colombini. Arezzo: Stab. Tip. Lit. Ettore Sinatti.
- Corbari, Eliana (2013). Vernacular Theology. Domincan Sermons and Audience in Late Medieval Italy. Berlin–Boston: de Gruyter.
- Dolci, Giulio (1930). "Belcari, Feo." In: Enciclopedia Italiana. Roma: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana.
- Gaspary, Adolf (1888). Geschichte der italienischen Literatur, Vol. 2. Berlin: Oppenheim.
- Marti, Mario (1970). "Belcari, Feo." In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Vol. 7. Roma: Istituto del'Enciclopedia Italiana.
- Verdon, Timothy; John Henderson (1990). Christianity and the Renaissance: Image and Religious Imagination in the Quattrocento. Syracuse, N. Y.: Syracuse University Press.
