Pietro Aretino

Michael Bruno

1492

Arezzo

1556

Art Critic, Writer

Pietro Aretino, a largely self-made courtier and writer, was a controversial figure whose work ranged from art criticism to erotic literature. He was acquainted with some of the most famous artists of his time, and had a limited correspondence with Michelangelo. Allegedly homosexual himself, Aretino famously accused Michelangelo of homosexual inclinations.

Howard Hibbard, Michelangelo (New York: Harper & Row, 1974), 232.

Ascanio Condivi, The Life of Michelangelo, trans. Alice Sedwick Wohl (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1976), 105.

Giorgio Vasari, The Lives of the Artists, trans. Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter E. Bondanella (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 496-498.

Norman E. Land. "Aretino, Pietro." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed February 5, 2016, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T003965.

Venice