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Article Dans Une Revue Lettere italiane Année : 2018

Neoclassicism in Darkness: Alessandro Verri’s Nocturnes

Un néoclassicisme de l’ombre : les nocturnes d’Alessandro Verri

Pierre Musitelli

Résumé

Neoclassicism is sometimes summed up as an aspiration towards regularity of lines and clarity of figure, as if it were based solely on an equivalence between light and beauty. Yet, far from fleeing or fearing the shadows, European neoclassicism, rich in variants and contradictions, has confronted them and, in some cases, has welcomed them into its figurative system. The revaluation of night is of interest to many artists and writers for whom darkness is a matrix endowed with a creative function. From Piranesi to Hubert Robert, the depths of Rome, its underground passages and catacombs, stimulate the poetic and artistic imagination. In Italy, Alessandro Verri was able to combine the cult of classical beauty and a night scenography in his novels Le Avventure di Saffo (1782) and Le Notti romane (1792-1804). His writing was nurtured by the advance of Antiquarian culture of his time and influenced by Catholic apologetic. It hybridizes images and motifs in the contention that certain truths long forgotten by the worshippers of reason and clarity can only emerge through the contemplation of darkness. This essay attempts to draw the contours of Verri’s experimental neoclassicism in his mature works and to place it in the context of the development of literature and the fine arts in Italy and Europe at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Il neoclassicismo è talvolta assunto come un’aspirazione alla regolarità delle linee e alla chiarezza della figura, come se fossero basate unicamente sull’equivalenza tra luce e bellezza. Tuttavia, lungi dal fuggire o dal temere le ombre, il neoclassicismo europeo le ha, in alcuni casi, accolte nel suo sistema figurativo. La rivalutazione della notte diviene una funzione creativa da Piranesi a Hubert Robert. In Italia, Alessandro Verri unisce il culto della bellezza classica e le scenografie notturne nei suoi romanzi Le Avventure di Saffo (1782) e Le Notti romane (1792-1804), la cui scrittura riflette la cultura antiquaria del tempo ed è influenzata dall’apologetica cattolica. Questo saggio intende tracciare i contorni del neoclassicismo sperimentale di Verri nelle sue opere mature, collocandolo nel contesto dello sviluppo di letteratura e Belle Arti in Italia e in Europa tra il XVIII e il XIX secolo.
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Dates et versions

hal-02433153 , version 1 (08-01-2020)

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  • HAL Id : hal-02433153 , version 1

Citer

Pierre Musitelli. Un néoclassicisme de l’ombre : les nocturnes d’Alessandro Verri. Lettere italiane, 2018, 2018/3 - a. 70, pp.504-533. ⟨hal-02433153⟩
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