Titianesque Verses by Francesco Maria Molza

Abstract

The article focuses on two poems by Francesco Maria Molza (1489-1544), translating into poetry two paintings by Titian. Born in Modena, Molza lived most of his life in Rome in the span of time between the papacies of Leo X and Paul III, in touch with relevant patrons and intellectuals. One of his Latin epigrams is dedicated to the Portrait of Ippolito de’ Medici now in the Pitti gallery, painted in 1532. The text displays a remarkable closeness to the artistic and cultural interests of Paolo Giovio, one of Molza’s friends and correspondents. Another poem, a sonnet likely to have been composed during the years in which Molza was a part of Ippolito de Medici’s court, describes a piece that the author identifies with Titian’s Penitent Magdalen also in the Pitti palace. Through historic and textual analysis, pointing out the distinctive features of Molza’s poem, it is proposed that the painting was commissioned by cardinal Medici himself.