Attribution, Imposture, and Interpretation: Galileo, Poetry, and the Digitized Il dispregio della corte (1601)
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: This article considers a previously unremarked manuscript edition of an early sixteenth-century poem written on the last page of an early seventeenth-century book in the British Library. A pasted bookseller’s catalogue entry and handwritten notes on the inside cover attribute the verses to Galileo Galilei (1564–1642). No other documentation connects the book or the poem to him, and the analysis begins from the premise that a forgery is certainly possible. The article then assesses the ways in which different humanistic methods of analysis support or undermine the interpretation of the book-manuscript hybrid as an imposture, misattribution, or authentic Galilean manuscript.
Source: Renaissance Quarterly
DOI: 10.1017/rqx.2024.210
Author: Crystal Hall
Institution: Bowdoin College
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,450
OpenAlex ID: W4408153229