humanities.lit.authors.shakespeare

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_*GOBBO*_di_Rialto

<statue of a hunchback found opposite the Church of San Giacomo di
Rialto at the end of the Rialto in Venice.
=2E
Sculpted by Pietro da Sal=F2 in the 16th century, it takes the form of a
crouching, naked hunchback supporting a small flight of steps.
According to the writings of Stefano Magno it was unveiled on 16
November 1541 and was used as a podium for official proclamations: the
statutes of Venice or the names of offenders would be proclaimed by an
official standing on the block at the same time as they were read out
at Pietra del Bando near Piazza San Marco. It was also used as the
finishing point for a punishment for minor misdemeanours; the guilty
party would be stripped naked and made to run the gauntlet of citizens
lining the streets from Piazza San Marco to the Rialto, saving
themselves further humiliation by kissing the statue. By the 19th
century, time had taken its toll on the statue and, in 1836, it was
restored with funds provided by the civic authorities. The block above
the hunchback's head now bears a Latin inscription with the date of
the restoration.
=2E
It is said to communicate with the *PASQUINO*, one of the talking
statues of Rome. From the early 16th century the *PASQUINO*, a statue
of a torso, was used as an agent for critical commentaries against the
Pope and the authorities: satirical notes would be attached
anonymously to the base of the statue purporting to come from the
*PASQUINO* himself. Other statues in Rome would be used to fulfill a
similar purpose and establish a dialogue. In the 17th century the
*PASQUINO* exchanged correspondence with Il *GOBBO* concerning the
Republic of Venice, Pope Paul V and the writings of Cardinals Baronio
and Bellarmino.
=2E
The characters of Launcelot *GOBBO* and his father, Old *GOBBO*, in
William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice may been inspired by this
traditional symbol of the Rialto.>>
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<political squibs, having ridicule for its object; so called from
*PASQUINO* , an Italian TAILOR of the fifteenth century, noted for his
caustic wit. Some time after his death a mutilated statue was dug up,
representing either Ajax supporting Menelaos, or Menelaos carrying the
dead body of Patroclos, or else a gladiator, and was placed at the end
of the Braschi Palace near the Piazza Navoni. As it was not clear
what the statute represented, and as it stood opposite *PASQUINO's*
house, the Italians called it *PASQUINO* . The Romans made this torso
the depository of their political, religious, and personal satires,
which were therefore called Pasquin-songs or Pasquinades. In the
Capitol is a rival statue called Marforio, to which are affixed
replies to the *PASQUINades*.>>
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________ *PASQUINO* SPINOLA
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"The Case for Oxford";
Tom Bethel, (The Atlantic Monthly; October, 1991;

"When Edward de Vere set off for France in January of 1575,
he was accompanied by "two gentlemen, two grooms, one
payend, a harbinger, a housekeeper, and a trencherman,"
Lord Burghley noted for his records."

"Oxford and party stayed six weeks or more in Paris and were
introduced to the French King, Henry III. It is possible that at
this time Oxford met Henry of Navarre (King of France 1589-1610),
whose brother-in-law, the Duke of Alencon, was then being
considered as a husband for Queen Elizabeth. Henry of Navarre and
Oxford were about the same age, and in many respects Henry seems
to have been a man after Oxford's own heart. We know, in any
event, that Oxford later kept in touch with the French
ambassador in London; and we know that Shakespeare was
familiar with some details of the Navarre court in 1578
(described in Love's Labours Lost)."

"Oxford went to Strasbourg, and thence to Italy, arriving in Padua
in May. "For fear of the Inquisition I dare not pass by Milan, the
Bishop whereof exerciseth such tyranny," he wrote to Burghley.

=46rom Padua he traveled to Genoa, later returning to Padua. In
September he was in Venice. Here he borrowed 500 crowns from
one BAPTISTA Nigrone; then in December he received
a further remittance through a *PASQUINO* SPINOLA.

In The Taming of the Shrew the rich gentleman of Padua
whose shrewish daughter Petruchio will tame is called
BAPTISTA Minola, and his "crowns" are repeatedly mentioned."

"Oxford then traveled to Florence & Siena. He was also reported
to have been in Sicily, "a famous man of chivalry," who challenged
all comers to a contest with "all manner of weapons." In a book
published in Naples in 1699 he was described as participating in
a mock tournament staged by the Commedia dell' Arte; the account
implied that he was a familiar figure at these performances.
In 1936 George Lyman Kittredge, of Harvard, pointed out that
"the influence of the Italian commedia dell' arte is visible
throughout" Love's Labour's Lost. "Several of the figures
correspond to standard figures of the Italian convention....">>
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Did Shakespeare visit Venice? ... Does the Pope wear Prada?
Saturday, March 29, 2008
http://shakespearebyanothername.blogspot.com/

<the "cloak of invisibility" argument: Plays like Merchant of Venice
are simply too replete with Venetian lore, geography, etc. that it
forces the conclusion that the author must somehow have visited the
city he so accurately immortalizes. So, given Will Shakspere as the
author, he must have just slipped on his invisibility cloak for a year
during those fabled Lost Years and snuck off across the Alps to make
his way to La Serenissima -- all, of course, without leaving a single
trace in the historical record. And these days, with his place of
origin seeming more and more like Speculation-upon-Avon, why the hell
not?

Shaul Bassi at the University of Venice recently co-wrote a book with
the Italian writer Alberto Toso Fei titled Shakespeare in Venice
(published in Italy, in Italian) that weighs in with what looks like
not a small chunk of the same evidence "Shakespeare" By Another Name
puts forward.
=2E......................................
Here's The Times:
=2E
=2E It was striking that he had given the name *GOBBO* to Shylock's
servant, a reference to the carved figure of a hunchback (Il *GOBBO*
di Rialto) on the bridge, a feature well known in Venice but not
beyond it. Shakespeare had also used local words such as gondola, as
in Act 2, scene 8 of The Merchant, when Salarino remarks: "But there
the duke was given to understand that in a gondola were seen together
Lorenzo and his amorous Jessica."
=2E
=2E ...Shakespeare knew about the Venetian custom of offering pigeons
("a dish of doves") as a gift, and showed rare insight into
cosmopolitan Venice's ethnic and social relations, and its tolerance
of foreigners and minorities.
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Art Neuendorffer