Martone, Robert L., ed., trans.; Martone, Valerie, ed., trans., The Fat Woodworker (New York: Italica Press)
Text name(s): The Fat Woodworker; Novella del Grasso Legnaiuolo
Number of pages of primary source text: 53
Author(s):
Dates: 1450 - 1497
Archival Reference:
Original Language(s):
- Italian
Translation:
- Translated into English.
Translation Comments:
Geopolitical Region(s):
- Italy
County/Region: Florence; Tuscany
Record Types:
- Literature - Prose
Subject Headings:
- Architecture and Buildings
- Art
- Classics / Humanism
- Economy - Guilds and Labor
- Literature - Comedy / Satire
- Science / Technology
- Towns / Cities
Apparatus:
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Introduction
Comments:
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1455) was the great architect of the early Italian Renaissance, legendary in his own time and idealized by Florentines after his death. The Fat Woodworker, by Brunelleschi’s biographer Antonio di Tuccio Manetti, tells the fictional story of a clever but cruel practical joke played by Brunelleschi upon the eponymous woodworker. Through a series of clever deceptions, Brunelleschi and his friend the sculptor Donatello persuade the woodworker that he does not exist. This piece is an example of the “beffe” genre, popularized in late medieval Italian literature through the work of authors like Giovanni Boccaccio, which relates an elaborate practical joke, usually for romantic or monetary gain. This edition also includes a glossary of classical and historical figures and geographical locations mentioned in the piece.
Introduction Summary:
The editors’ brief (25 pp) introduction provides historical context for the work’s composition, particularly of the economic and intellectual surge which occurred in late 15th century Italy. The editors note several other examples of the “beffe” genre, comparing them with The Fat Woodworker, which somewhat uniquely revolves around neither romantic nor monetary gain, but rather a glorificatoin of Brunelleschi’s intellect. They also provide biographical information on Manetti and Brunelleschi, including a discussion of Brunelleschi’s innovation of linear perspective and his most well-known works, including the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence.
Cataloger: MCB
