Artists and Knowledge in Sixteenth Century Milan: the Case of Lomazzo’s Accademia de la Val di Blenio

Abstract

Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo’s writings (most notably the Trattato dell’Arte) provide striking illustrations of the tendency of writers on art in sixteenth-century Italy to consider theoretical knowledge as essential for artists. As both practitioner and theorist, Lomazzo embodies the need felt by Italian painters to gain a literary education and to be part of the intellectual life of the period. Focusing on Lomazzo’s activity as an academician, the article analyses the case of the Accademia de la Val di Blenio, where artists and artisans were well-received and held central roles. The main source on this academy is the peculiar book Rabisch (Arabesques), a collection of poems written by various members and published in 1589. The institution was characterised by the originality of its language as well as its structure and by the heterogeneity of its members. It offered to Milanese artists and artisans an environment where they could share opinions and write poems on different subjects.