De viris illustribus
Encyclopedia
De viris illustribus, meaning "On Illustrious / Famous Men", represents a trope of ancient Roman exemplary literature that was revived during the Italian Renaissance
and inspired the assembly or commissioning of series of portraits of outstanding men— and sometimes, by the sixteenth century, of outstanding women as well— with a high didactic purpose.
With its inception in the circle of Cicero
, various works bear the titles De viris illustribus or De hominibus illustribus. From Cornelius Nepos
' De Viris Illustribus Aulus Gellius
draws an anecdote of Cato the Elder
; Cornelius Nepos also produced a Liber De Excellentibus Ducibus Gentium (Lives of Eminent Commanders). Suetonius' fragmentary Lives include grammarians, rhetoricians, historians, and poets. An anonymous De Viris Illustribus probably dating to the first half of the 4th century is a compilation of 86 brief biographies of individuals important to Roman history, from the legendary Alban king
Proca
to Cleopatra. Jerome
's collection of Christian biographies, De Viris Illustribus
contains 135 brief notices. Jerome's work was continued by Gennadius of Massilia
's De Viris Illustribus.
During the Middle Ages the inspirational series took two paths: the specifically Christian models were enshrined in hagiography
, in which miracle
s attracted the attention, but the qualities exemplified by martyr
s were those of fortitude, faith and obedience. On the secular side, the worldly models, emulated by aristocrats alone, were contracted and codified in the "Nine Worthies
" who were chivalric
exemplars of valiant courtoisie, the instructive models of aristocratic courtly behavior. The library of literary portraits was figured forth in visual reminders, in illuminated manuscript
s, and in tapestry
, among other media.
With the very first beginnings of the revival of classical learning in Italian Renaissance
, a broader, carefully select group of men of renown from the distant and the recent past outstanding for their statecraft or their learning "emerged almost simultaneously in such diverse Italian centers as Milan
, Naples
, Siena
, Padua
, Foligno
, Florence
, Venice
, Perugia
and Urbino
.". In literature, the notion was a Petrarchan one, expressed in his De Viris Illustribus
,a collection of 36 short biographies On Famous Men and Boccaccio, inspired to emulation, wrote De Casibus Virorum Illustrium
, a collection of 56 biographies On the Fates of Famous Men. Boccacio also wrote a complement to it, De mulieribus claris
, a collection of 106 biographies On Famous Women. Leonardo Bruni
published translations of Plutarch
's Lives.
These literary examples of viri illustres preceded the visual ones, based on literary documents rather than surviving Roman series, as the humanist
Poggio Bracciolini wrote in his essay De nobilitate liber, the Romans should be emulated, "for they believed that the images of men who had excelled in the pursuit of glory and wisdom, if placed before the eyes, would help enoble and stir up the soul." A series of instructive uomini illustri painted for Azzo Visconti in Milan. which was mentioned by Giorgio Vasari
. and a series in Naples are both lost, but important early series of portraits of famous men survive in the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena
. and in the Sala Virorum Illustrium, Padua.
The Giovio Series
of portraits of literary figures, rulers, statesmen and other dignitaries, many of which were done from life, assembled by Renaissance historian and biographer Paolo Giovio
(1483–1552) but subsequently lost, is represented today by the set of copies made for Cosimo I de' Medici in the Uffizi Gallery.
The trope continues strongly today, not so much in universal biographical dictionaries
, which verge on prosopography
, but in specifically instructive collections of inspirational vita
e, such as Profiles in Courage
, and is reflected in the ironic title to portraits of all-but-anonymous sharecroppers in the American South, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
, which is drawn from a passage in the Wisdom of Sirach that begins, "Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us."
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...
and inspired the assembly or commissioning of series of portraits of outstanding men— and sometimes, by the sixteenth century, of outstanding women as well— with a high didactic purpose.
With its inception in the circle of Cicero
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
, various works bear the titles De viris illustribus or De hominibus illustribus. From Cornelius Nepos
Cornelius Nepos
Cornelius Nepos was a Roman biographer. He was born at Hostilia, a village in Cisalpine Gaul not far from Verona. His Gallic origin is attested by Ausonius, and Pliny the Elder calls him Padi accola...
' De Viris Illustribus Aulus Gellius
Aulus Gellius
Aulus Gellius , was a Latin author and grammarian, who was probably born and certainly brought up in Rome. He was educated in Athens, after which he returned to Rome, where he held a judicial office...
draws an anecdote of Cato the Elder
Cato the Elder
Marcus Porcius Cato was a Roman statesman, commonly referred to as Censorius , Sapiens , Priscus , or Major, Cato the Elder, or Cato the Censor, to distinguish him from his great-grandson, Cato the Younger.He came of an ancient Plebeian family who all were noted for some...
; Cornelius Nepos also produced a Liber De Excellentibus Ducibus Gentium (Lives of Eminent Commanders). Suetonius' fragmentary Lives include grammarians, rhetoricians, historians, and poets. An anonymous De Viris Illustribus probably dating to the first half of the 4th century is a compilation of 86 brief biographies of individuals important to Roman history, from the legendary Alban king
Latin kings of Alba Longa
The Latin kings of Alba Longa, also referred to as the Latin kings of Rome or Alban kings of Rome, are a series of legendary kings of Latium ruling mainly from Alba Longa. In the mythic tradition of the founding of Rome, they fill the 400-year gap between the settlement of Aeneas in Italy and the...
Proca
Procas
Procas or Proca was one of the Latin kings of Alba Longa in the mythic tradition of the founding of Rome. He was the father of Amulius and Numitor.-The name:...
to Cleopatra. Jerome
Jerome
Saint Jerome was a Roman Christian priest, confessor, theologian and historian, and who became a Doctor of the Church. He was the son of Eusebius, of the city of Stridon, which was on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia...
's collection of Christian biographies, De Viris Illustribus
De Viris Illustribus (Jerome)
De viris illustribus is a collection of short biographies of 135 authors, written in Latin, by the 4th century Latin Church Father Jerome. He completed this work at Bethlehem in 392-3 CE. The work consists of a prologue plus 135 chapters, each consisting of a brief biography. Jerome himself is...
contains 135 brief notices. Jerome's work was continued by Gennadius of Massilia
Gennadius of Massilia
Gennadius of Massilia , also known as Gennadius Scholasticus or Gennadius of Marseille, was a 5th century Christian priest and historian....
's De Viris Illustribus.
During the Middle Ages the inspirational series took two paths: the specifically Christian models were enshrined in hagiography
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
, in which miracle
Miracle
A miracle often denotes an event attributed to divine intervention. Alternatively, it may be an event attributed to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. Others suggest that a god may work with the laws...
s attracted the attention, but the qualities exemplified by martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
s were those of fortitude, faith and obedience. On the secular side, the worldly models, emulated by aristocrats alone, were contracted and codified in the "Nine Worthies
Nine Worthies
The Nine Worthies are nine historical, scriptural and legendary personages who personify the ideals of chivalry as were established in the Middle Ages. All are commonly referred to as 'Princes' in their own right, despite whatever true titles each man may have held...
" who were chivalric
Chivalry
Chivalry is a term related to the medieval institution of knighthood which has an aristocratic military origin of individual training and service to others. Chivalry was also the term used to refer to a group of mounted men-at-arms as well as to martial valour...
exemplars of valiant courtoisie, the instructive models of aristocratic courtly behavior. The library of literary portraits was figured forth in visual reminders, in illuminated manuscript
Illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniature illustrations...
s, and in tapestry
Tapestry
Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven on a vertical loom, however it can also be woven on a floor loom as well. It is composed of two sets of interlaced threads, those running parallel to the length and those parallel to the width ; the warp threads are set up under tension on a...
, among other media.
With the very first beginnings of the revival of classical learning in Italian Renaissance
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...
, a broader, carefully select group of men of renown from the distant and the recent past outstanding for their statecraft or their learning "emerged almost simultaneously in such diverse Italian centers as Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, Siena
Siena
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...
, Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
, Foligno
Foligno
Foligno is an ancient town of Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the Topino river where it leaves the Apennines and enters the wide plain of the Clitunno river system...
, Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, Perugia
Perugia
Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....
and Urbino
Urbino
Urbino is a walled city in the Marche region of Italy, south-west of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially under the patronage of Federico da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino from 1444 to 1482...
.". In literature, the notion was a Petrarchan one, expressed in his De Viris Illustribus
De Viris Illustribus (Petrarch)
De viris illustribus is an unfinished collection of biographies, written in Latin, by the 14th century Italian author Francesco Petrarca. These biographies are a set of Lives similar in idea to Plutarch's Parallel Lives. The works were unfinished however he was famous enough for these and other...
,a collection of 36 short biographies On Famous Men and Boccaccio, inspired to emulation, wrote De Casibus Virorum Illustrium
De Casibus Virorum Illustrium
De Casibus Virorum Illustrium is a work of 56 biographies in Latin prose composed by the Florentine poet Giovanni Boccaccio of Certaldo in the form of moral stories of the falls of famous people, similar to his work of 106 biographies On Famous Women.-Overview:De Casibus is an encyclopedia of...
, a collection of 56 biographies On the Fates of Famous Men. Boccacio also wrote a complement to it, De mulieribus claris
De mulieribus claris
De mulieribus claris is a collection of biographies of historical and mythological women by the Florentine author Giovanni Boccaccio, first published in 1374. It is notable as the first collection devoted exclusively to biographies of women in Western literature...
, a collection of 106 biographies On Famous Women. Leonardo Bruni
Leonardo Bruni
Leonardo Bruni was an Italian humanist, historian and statesman. He has been called the first modern historian.-Biography:...
published translations of Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
's Lives.
These literary examples of viri illustres preceded the visual ones, based on literary documents rather than surviving Roman series, as the humanist
Renaissance humanism
Renaissance humanism was an activity of cultural and educational reform engaged by scholars, writers, and civic leaders who are today known as Renaissance humanists. It developed during the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth centuries, and was a response to the challenge of Mediæval...
Poggio Bracciolini wrote in his essay De nobilitate liber, the Romans should be emulated, "for they believed that the images of men who had excelled in the pursuit of glory and wisdom, if placed before the eyes, would help enoble and stir up the soul." A series of instructive uomini illustri painted for Azzo Visconti in Milan. which was mentioned by Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari was an Italian painter, writer, historian, and architect, who is famous today for his biographies of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing.-Biography:...
. and a series in Naples are both lost, but important early series of portraits of famous men survive in the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena
Palazzo Pubblico
The Palazzo Pubblico is a palace in Siena, Tuscany, central Italy. Construction began in 1297 and its original purpose was to house the republican government, consisting of the Podestà and Council of Nine....
. and in the Sala Virorum Illustrium, Padua.
The Giovio Series
Giovio Series
The Giovio Series, also known as the Giovio Collection or Giovio Portraits, is a series of 484 portraits assembled by the 16th century Italian Renaissance historian and biographer Paolo Giovio. It includes portraits of literary figures, rulers, statesmen and other dignitaries, many of which were...
of portraits of literary figures, rulers, statesmen and other dignitaries, many of which were done from life, assembled by Renaissance historian and biographer Paolo Giovio
Paolo Giovio
thumb|Paolo Giovio.thumb|Monument to Paolo Giovo by [[Francesco da Sangallo]], in [[San Lorenzo di Firenze|San Lorenzo]] Basilica, [[Florence]].Paolo Giovio was an Italian physician, historian and biographer, and prelate.He is chiefly known as the author of a celebrated work of...
(1483–1552) but subsequently lost, is represented today by the set of copies made for Cosimo I de' Medici in the Uffizi Gallery.
The trope continues strongly today, not so much in universal biographical dictionaries
Biographical dictionary
Biographical dictionaries – a type of encyclopedic dictionary limited to biographical information – have been written in many languages. Many attempt to cover the major personalities of a country...
, which verge on prosopography
Prosopography
In historical studies, prosopography is an investigation of the common characteristics of a historical group, whose individual biographies may be largely untraceable, by means of a collective study of their lives, in multiple career-line analysis...
, but in specifically instructive collections of inspirational vita
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
e, such as Profiles in Courage
Profiles in Courage
Profiles in Courage is a 1955 Pulitzer Prize-winning biography describing acts of bravery and integrity by eight United States Senators throughout the Senate's history. The book profiles senators who crossed party lines and/or defied the public opinion of their constituents to do what they felt was...
, and is reflected in the ironic title to portraits of all-but-anonymous sharecroppers in the American South, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men is a book with text by American writer James Agee and photographs by American photographer Walker Evans first published in 1941 in the United States...
, which is drawn from a passage in the Wisdom of Sirach that begins, "Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us."