A diplomat, poet, and dramatist. Born in Genoa to an impoverished aristocratic family, he lived there most of his life. He was a member of the Accademia degli Addormentati. His lessons there demonstrated his acute understanding of the public, a characteristic that greatly helped him to achieve his reputation in life. However, his work is nowadays considered mediocre and retrograde. His first collection of poems refers to two unsuccessful love stories he had, with Aurelia Spinola (who died) and Geronima Di Negro (who became a nun). The book is dominated by the themes of repentance and self-accusations, as well as by a surprising self-confessed ineptitude to express his emotions lyrically. He attempted then to write critical essays, in which his contradictions became even more evident, criticizing Tasso and imitating him at the same time. His collection of theoretical writings are considered an attempt to justify the episodic structure of this work, and his attempts to write tragedies were no more successful. He wrote biblical epic poems as well, most notably “La Reina Ester”, a work that was able to capture the attention of a few estimators. In particular, this work sparked an intense epistolary relationship with Sara Copio Sullam.
Albrecht Durer, Portrait of Michael Wolgemut, 1516
