Treatises on aesthetics

The seventeenth century was a period of literary experimentalism and innovation as well as one of great scientific breakthroughs and of new political systems (the main one being absolute monarchy); and, as one can imagine, there was a flourishing literature on these subjects. As far as poetry is concerned, we find that the discussion on Aristotle's Poetics, so intense in the sixteenth century, dies out; the only major exception may be the work of Paolo Beni (1552–1625), which is closely allied to the Aristotelianism of the late sixteenth century. The reason may be that ‘mimesis’, as a key aesthetic concept, was completely displaced by that of ‘meraviglia’ (wonder) caused by conceits and acutezze. Indeed the most innovative works in the aesthetics of the seventeenth century are those dedicated to clarifying the subtleties of the concetto and the acutezza.

The pioneer in the area is Matteo Peregrini (1595–1651) with two works, Delle acutezze che altrimenti spiriti, vivezze e concetti volgarmente si appellano (‘Concerning “Acuities”, or Witticisms, Lively Sayings and Conceits As They are Commonly Called’, 1639) and I fonti dell'ingegno ridotti ad arte (‘The Sources of Wit Explained’, 1650). For Peregrini, the concetto is not the result of logic (reason) but rather of ingenuity (ingegno), an aesthetic faculty which draws things together in a new and surprising way. The concetto is, in its essence, a daring metaphor which highlights unsuspected similarities among things in a way that shows the ‘acumen’ of the poet and which pleases the reader, who marvels at the mysteries of reality.