"Sprezzatura"----variously defined as "nonchalance", "the finest art that
hides its art", "studied casualness", "an aristocratic indifference towards
one's own works", "the appearance of careless gaiety", "skill in seeming
effortlessness in horsemanship, sword display, singing, dancing, speaking,
and writing so as to catch the eye of those higher in the hierarchy, and
especially that of the prince"----gives us Baldassari Castiglione's keyword
for the ultimate courtier of the Renaissance.
Philip Sidney, often said to be The Courtier in Elizabeth's England, studied
to be such. He wrote his poems, emphasising that they were trifles, many
written slapdash as he rode his horse near Wilton House, on his sister Mary,
Countess of Pembroke's estate (her husband, Henry Herbert, Earl of
Pembroke). Sidney was superiorly skilled in riding, swordplay and military
campaigns as well as in writing poetry and argumentation. He was an
influential and prototypic blend of sportsman and artist.
Have sport and art ever been far separate from governing, from politics,
from jockeying that impossible perfection of skills requisite to "play on
The Big Team" or, similarly, to make way for a new Big Team?
Athletes and poets may train while wisely sequestered, but their aim is to
connect to others, to _show_ their skill and power, and to gain from the
show material as well as immaterial rewards. Much can be said about the
intrinsic joy of athletic and poetic acts---and it is real---but we can't
set aside the existence of the extrinsic goals of the performers.
Judy
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