PAOLO GIOVIO (Como, April 1483 – Florence, 11 December 1552; Latin: Paulus Jovius or Iovius) was an Italian historian and humanist, a bishop of the Church, and a medical doctor, as well as a collector, especially of portraits of important men. His family was from the Isola Comacina of Lake Como. Little is known of Giovio's youth. Following the early death of his father, a notary, Giovio’s education was entrusted to his brother, Benedetto, a humanist and historian. Although interested in literature, Giovio trained as a physician in Padua and Pavia.
He practiced medicine first in his native Como and then in Milan, and he was devoted to the cultural patrimony of Como, in particular to its historians, the elder and younger Plinys.
Giovio soon began to travel in Italy and Europe, and, by 1512, he was in Rome. There he practiced his profession, first as physician to Cardinal Bandinello Sauli (cf. the group portrait by Sebastiano [Charles Davis, “Un appunto per Sebastiano del Piombo ritrattista”, in:
Mittelungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, 26, 1982, pp. 383-386]), but he also dedicated himself to historical studies, particularly to persons and events of his own day. He aimed to use the extensive material that he had collected in a broad historical work covering all of Europe. This work brought him to the attention of Pope Leo X, who, in 1514, appointed him professor of rhetoric at the Roman University. In 1517, he became the personal physician to Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, the future pope Clement VII, in whose service Giovio remained for some years, accompanying the Cardinal to Florence. In the field of medicine he wrote such works as the De optima victus ratione, where he expresses doubts about pharmacology and raises questions about the relative merits of preventive and curative medicine, as well as a tract on fishes, De romanis piscibus (1524).
Pope Adrian VI named Giovio a canon of the cathedral of Como. The accession of Giovio’s patron, Giulio de’ Medici, to the papacy as Clement VII in 1523 gave Giovio an important position in the cultural world of Rome. Giovio aided Clement VII during the Sack of Rome in 1527, and, in 1528, Clement appointed him Bishop of Nocera to redress Giovio’s losses sustained during the Sack. In 1530 Giovio was at Bologna for the Coronation of Charles V, where he received the title of Palatine Count.
In the same period Giovio began to write historical essays, and he wrote a life of Leo X soon after the pope’s death. (An Italian translation by Cosimo Bartoli, La vita di Leone X scritta in latino da Paolo Giovio e volgarizzata da Cosimo Bartoli, cod. II, IV, 499, is found in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze.)
Giovio, in fact, spent most of his career at the papal court, and he knew most of the significant cultural and political figures in Rome. He became a member of the Accademia della Virtù and the Accademia degli Intronati. In addition to contemporary history and medical texts, Giovio composed a highly influential dialogue about imprese (Rome 1555), and numerous biographies, including those of Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Raphael. Giovio collaborated with artists in the realization of three large pictorial programmes: the salone of
the Villa Medici at Poggio a Caiano by Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo, and Franciabigio (ca.
1520 ff.), the façade of the Neapolitan palazzo of the Florentine Tommaso Cambi (ca. 1540), and Vasari’s Sala dei Cento Giorni in Rome (Palazzo della Cancelleria, 1546). Giovio also advised the Fabbrica of San Pietro (Rome) and the Fabbrica of the Cathedral of Milan. He played a seminal rôle in the origin of Vasari’s Vite, published in 1550.
Following the death of Clement VII in late 1534, service as a courtier to Paul III and his nephew Cardinal Alessandro Farnese assured Giovio’s continuance at the Vatican, and he became an influential member of the Farnese court. During the papacy of Paul III Giovio sought to be transferred from the bishopric of Nocera to the See of Como, and, failing this, he left the Seat of Nocera, leaving his nephew as his assistant, and went to Como. Giovio shortly decided to move to Florence, where, in 1550, he settled at the court of Cosimo I de’ Medici, and the Florentine Duke became Giovio’s last patron, one who oversaw the completion and publication of Giovio’s most important writings. In Florence Giovio died in 1552, and Cosimo I arranged Giovio’s funeral including an honorific ceremony in the Basilica of San Lorenzo, where a commemorative monument to his honour was erected in the first cloister with a seated life-size statue of Giovio by Francesco da Sangallo in 1560.
Giovio is remembered as an historian, the author of a famous work of contemporary history, the Historiarum sui temporis libri XLV, of a collection of lives of famous men, the Vitae virorum illustrium (1549-57), and of the Elogia virorum bellica virtute illustrium (1554). He is best known as a chronicler of the Italian Wars. His eyewitness accounts of many of the battles belong to the most significant primary sources for the period. According to Price Zimmermann, “Giovio’s virtue as a historian was that he revived the Greek tradition of contemporary eyewitness history and perfected the collation of eyewitness accounts in narratives that preserve much military history of the wars in Italy. (...) It was his commerce in the latest news, spiced with his own trenchant observations, that made him a figure to be reckoned with in the world of sixteenth-century Italy and led the influential historian of historiography to call him a revolver journalist” (the latter estimate, one which subsequent historians have revised).
As Giovio’s writings show, he was a creature of his time. His worldly life did not follow religious prescriptions – Busini described him as “lascivetto” and “avaruzzo” (Steinmann, Spiegel, p. 7) –, and Giovio was judged negatively for his life as a courtier, finding an adversary in Pietro Aretino, with whom Giovio exchanged epigrams. As Giovio’s letters testify, he remained in contact with the leading humanists of his time, and he was an active collector of works of art, especially of portraits, which he brought together in his ‘Museo’ at Como (infra).
Giovio’s mundane life did not, however, impede him in assembling his major historical work, and he steadily added new material to it. Nevertheless the printing of the work began only in 1550, and it was completed only shortly before Giovio’s death in 1552. The Historiarum sui temporis libri XLV appeared in Florence in two volumes, and later at Basle in 1560, with an Italian translation being published in Florence in 1551-1553. This work treats events from 1494 to 1544. Both the Vitae virorum illustrium (1549-57) and the Elogia virorum bellica virtute illustrium (1554) were also published in Florence, rather late in Giovio’s life.
A brief list of selected works by Giovio follows:
De Romanis piscibus, Roma: F. M. Calvo, 1524
De legatione Basilii Magni principis Moschovie, Roma 1525 Commentario de le cose de’ Turchi, Roma: A. Blado, 1532 Vita Sfortiae, Roma: A. Blado, 1539
Elogia veris clarorum vivorum imaginis, apposita quae in Musaeo Comi spectantur (Venezia:
M. Tramezzini 1546); Italian translation by Lodovico Domenichi, Le iscrittioni poste sotto le vere imagini degli uomini famose le quali a Como nel Museo si veggiono (Firenze 1552) Elogia virorum litteris illustrium or Elogia doctorum virorum, Firenze 1546
Vita Leonis decimi, Firenze: Lorenzo Torrentino 1548
Descriptio Britanniae, Scotiae, Hyberniae et Orchadum, Venezia: Tramezzino, 1548 Vitae duodecim Vicecomitum Mediolani, Paris: R. Estienne, 1549
Illustrium virorum vitae, Firenze: L. Torrentini 1549; Italian translation by Lodovico Domenichi, Firenze 1549–1547, 7 vol.
Historiarum sui temporis ab a. 1494 ad a. 1547 libri XLV, Firenze 1550-1552; Italian translation by Lodovico Domenichi, Firenze 1551–1553, 2 vol.
Elogia virorum bellica virtute illustrium veris imaginibus, Firenze 1551; Italian translation by Lodovico Domenichi, Gli elogi: vite brevemente scritte d’huomini illustri di guerra, antichi e moderni, Firenze 1554
Dialogo dell’imprese militari e amorose di Paolo Giovio Vescovo di Nucera, Roma 1555
See further: Maffei, 1999, pp. 351-352; and the kubikat OPAC as well as other electronic catalogues of large depository libraries.
Giovio’s Italian letters, reflecting a wide ranging correspondence with the men of his day, were published by Lodovico Domenichi, "Lettere volgari" (Venezia 1560). Giovio’s collected works appeared in three folio volumes at Basel in 1678. See: Paolo Iovii opera, ed. Societatis Historicae Novocomensis, 9 vol., Roma: Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, 1956-1984: Lettere (1514-1552), 2 vol., ed. Giuseppe Guido Ferrero, Roma 1956-1958.
Giovio’s two major and related artistic undertakings were the formation of his celebrated portrait collection and the building of his ‘villa-museo’ to house it in Borgo Vico, north of Como on the Lago di Como. Giovio may have begun collecting portraits soon after his arrival in Rome. Ultimately the collection contained more than 400 portraits of illustrious men of
Europe present and past. The works were often replicas and copies, but it was the likenesses of the ‘illustri’ that was important and not artistic quality. Giovio’s portrait collection was the most important one of its time, inspiring other similar collections. Giovio’s villa was built in 1537-1538 near the site of the villa of Pliny the Elder. Giovio’s portrait collection is visually documented by copies made for Cosimo de’ Medici (Uffizi, begun in 1552), for Federico Borromeo (Ambrosiana), and for Ferdinand of Tyrol (Innsbruck, Schloss Ambras). Woodcuts after the portraits by Tobias Stimmer illustrate editions of Giovio’s Elogia virorum bellica (...) (Basel 1575), his Elogia veris clarorum (...) (Basel 1577), and Nicolaus Reusner’s Icones sive imagines vivae literis claris (Basel 1589). See the excellent dissertation of Linda Susan Klinger [see also: Linda Klinger Aleci; Linda S. Aleci], The Portrait Collection of Paolo Giovio (Princeton University, 1990; ed. University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor 1991).
BIOBIBLIOGRAPHY
:Fausto Nicolini, “Paolo Giovio”, in: Enciclopedia italiana ‘Treccani’, vol. 17, Roma 1933, pp. 277-278
Giovanni Casati, Paolo Giovio, in: Dizionario degli scrittori d'Italia, Milano 1916-1934 Massimo Petrocchi, in: Enciclopedia cattolica, vol. 6, Città del Vaticano 1951, col. 647 (cf.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, also in Internet)
Azelia Arici, Paolo Giovio, in: Grande Dizionario Enciclopedico UTET, Torino 1993 Linda Susan Klinger, in: Grove Macmillan Dictionary of Art, vol. 12, London 1996, pp. 719-720
T. C. Price Zimmermann, “Paolo Giovio”, in: Enclopedia of the Renaissance, ed. Paul F.
Grendler, vol. 3, New York 1999, p. 68
T. C. Price Zimmermann, in: Dizionario biografico degli italiani, vol. 56, Roma 2001, pp.
430-440
Barbara Agosti, “Note autobiographiche di Paolo Giovio (1528-1537), in: Ottant’anni di un maestro: omaggio a Ferdinando Bologna, ed. Francesco Abbate, Napoli: Paparo 2006, vol. 1, pp. 283-285
Barbara Agosti, Paolo Giovio: uno storico lombardo nella cultura artistica del Cinquecento, Firenze: Olschki, 2008
Biographies of Giovio can be found at WIKIPEDIA in various languages. The Italian and English versions are at present the fullest. See also: the general bibliography for Giovio.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Recent literature has been cited more intensively. Many earlier studies, which often retain their value and may scarcely thought to be ‘superceded’, can be found in library catalogues and OPACs and in the notes and bibliographies of the studies listed below, as well those mentioned in the introduction and in the biography of Giovio.
Monographic studies:
The most recent monograph by an historian is T.C. Price Zimmermann, Paolo Giovio: The Historian and the Crisis of Sixteenth-Century Italy, Princeton 1995. It is available as an e-Book for about US $ 22, and at some subscription (non-‘open access’) sites. The author has also written a number of articles concerning Giovio.
The two recent monographs on ‘Giovio and the arts’ are:
Barbara Agosti, Paolo Giovio: uno storico lombardo nella cultura artistica del Cinquecento, Firenze: Olschki, 2008
Sonia Maffei, Paolo Giovio: Scritti d’arte, lessico ed ecfrasi, Pisa: Scuola Normale Superiore, 1999
General studies of Giovio:
Franco Minonzio, "In mano de messer Evento, unico chiaritore della fortuna": nuove prospettive nelle ricerche gioviane; bilancio di un decennio”, in: Periodico della Società Storica Comense, 64, 2002 (2005), pp. 5-108
Lara Michelacci, Giovio in Parnaso: tra collezione di forme e storia universale, Bologna: Il Mulino, 2004 (Collana del Dipartimento di Italianistica Università di Bologna, 18)
Franco Minonzio, Studi gioviani: scienza, filosofia e letteratura nell'opera di Paolo Giovio, Como: Società Storica Comense, 2002, 2 vol.
Nicola Longo, Letteratura e lettere: indagine nell'epistolografia cinquecentesca, Roma:
Bulzoni, 1999 (Biblioteca del Cinquecento, 86)
Markus Völkel, Die Wahrheit zeigt viele Gesichter: der Historiker, Sammler und Satiriker Paolo Giovio (1486 - 1552) und sein Porträt Roms in der Hochrenaissance, Basel: Schwabe, 1999 (Vorträge der Aeneas-Silvius-Stiftung an der Universität Basel, 34)
Fondi archivistici gioviani, ed. Magda Noseda and Cesare Sibilia, 2nd ed., Como: Centro Stampa Comune di Como, 1983 (Paolo Giovio: 1483 – 1983, V centenario della nascita) Luigi Rovelli, L'opera storica ed artistica di Paolo Giovio comasco, vescovo di Nocera: il museo dei ritratti, Como: Cavalleri, 1928
Studies of Giovio and the arts:
Sonia Maffei, “Scultor di sensi e non miniator di vocaboli”: alcune considerazioni sul rapporto tra Giovio e Plinio il Vecchio”, in: Testi, immagini e filologia nel XVI secolo: atti delle giornate di studio, Pisa, Scuola Normale Superiore, 30 settembre - 1 ottobre 2004, ed.
Eliana Carrara, Pisa: Edizioni della Normale, 2007 (Seminari e convegni / Scuola Normale Superiore Pisa, 14), pp. 37-76.
Frank Zöllner, „Die Quellen zu Michelangelos Deckenfresken in der Sixtinischen Kapelle“, in: Kunsthistorische Arbeitsblätter, 2004, 7/8, pp. 37-46
Barbara Agosti, “Intorno alla ‘Vita’ gioviana di Raffaello”, in: Prospettiva, 110/111, 2003 (2004), pp. 58-69
Margaret Daly Davis, „Die antiken Münzen in der frühen antiquarischen Literatur“, in: Die Renaissance-Medaille in Italien und Deutschland, ed. Georg Satzinger, Münster: Rhema, 2004 (Tholos, 1).
Louis Alexander Waldman, Baccio Bandinelli and Art at the Medici Court, Philadelphia 2004, p. 72, no. 138
Frank Zöllner, Michelangelos Fresken in der Sistinischen Kapelle: gesehen von Giorgio Vasari und Ascanio Condivi, Freiburg im Breislau: Rombach, 2002
Frank Zöllner, Die Quellen zu Michelangelos Deckenfresken in der Sixtinischen Kapelle (16 pp.): http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~kuge/zoellner/e-publikationen/2004_2_d.pdf
Frank Zöllner (Essay): Vasari, Condivi und Michelangelos Sixtinische Decke: Passion und Triumph des Ausdruckskünstlers. In: Michelangelos Fresken in der Sixtinischen Kapelle.
Gesehen von Giorgio Vasari und Ascanio Condivi. Freiburg im Breisgau 2002 (Rombach Wissenschaften, Quellen zur Kunst, Bd. 17), Kap. VIII:
http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~kuge/zoellner/e-publikationen/2002-1t_d.htm
Barbara Agosti, Francesca Amirante, Riccardo Naldi, “Su Paolo Giovio, don Gonzalo II de Córdoba duca di Sessa, Giovanni da Nola (tra lettere, epigrafia, scultura)”, in: Prospettiva, 103/104, 2001 (2002), pp. 47-76
Sonia Maffei, “L’ecfrasi gioviana tra generi e imitatio”, in: Dell’antiquaria e dei suoi metodi, ed. Elena Vaiani, Pisa: Scuola Normale Superiore, 2001
Christina Strunk, „Pontormo und Pontano: zu Paolo Giovios Programm für die beiden Lünettenfresken in Poggio a Caiano”, in: Marburger Jahrbuch für Kunstwissenschaft, 26, 1999, pp. 117-137
Julian Kliemann, „Programme ou interprétation?: a propos des fresques de Vasari à la Cancelleria”, in: A travers l'image: lecture iconographique et sens de l'oeuvre, ed. Sylvie Deswarte-Rosa, Paris: Klincksieck, 1994
Elena Pagano, “L'eredità di Paolo Giovio nella storiografia artistica vasariana”, in: Atti della Accademia Pontaniana, N.S. 38, 1989, pp. 211-217
Paolo Giovio: il Rinascimento e la memoria, Atti del convegno (Como, 3 - 5 giugno 1983), Como: Società Storica Comense, 1985, Congresso Como: 3-5.06.1983 (Raccolta storica / Società Storica Comense, 17). Contributions by Alessandro Nova, Bruno Fasola, Linda Klinger Aleci, Robert B. Simon, Julian Kliemann, Clare Robertson, Stefano Della Torre, Luisa Cogliati Arano. Table of Contents at:
<http://www.kubikat.org/rco/bd02/830/bd02830632r-toc.pdf > .
Julian Kliemann, “Su alcuni concetti umanistici del Vasari”, in: Giorgio Vasari tra
decorazione ambientale e storiografia artistica, Convegno di studi, Arezzo 8-10 ottobre 1981, ed. Gian Carlo Garfagnini, Firenze: Olschki, 1985, pp. 73-82
Paul Tanner, “Paolo Giovio, Pietro Perna, Tobias Stimmer und ihre Porträtwerke”, in: Tobias Stimmer: 1539 – 1584, Basel: Gissler, 1984, pp. 223-225
Julian Kliemann, in: Giorgio Vasari, ed. Anna Maria Maetzke and Charles Davis, exhibition catalogue, Arezzo 1981 (La Toscana nel ‘500), Firenze: EDAM, 1982, pp. 118-123 et passim (see ‘Giovio’ ad Indicem)
Giorgio Vasari, La vita di Michelangelo nelle redazioni del 1550 e del 1568, ed. Paola Barocchi, Milano: Ricciardi, 1962, 5 vol., see ‘Giovio’ ad Indicem.
Paul Ortwin Rave, „Paolo Giovio und die Bildnisvitenbücher des Humanismus“, in: Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen, 1, 1959,1, pp. 119-154
Karl Frey, Michelagniolo Buonarroti: Sein Leben und seine Werke, vol. 1 (Michelagniolos Jugendjahre), Berlin: Curtius, 1907
Carl Frey (ed.), Le Vite di Michelangelo Buonarroti scritte da Giorgio Vasari e da Ascanio Condivi, Berlin: Wilhelm Hertz, 1887 (“Michaelis Angeli Vita”, pp. 403-404)
Karl Frey, Il Codice Magliabechiano, Berlin 1892, pp. lxii-lxxix