ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role of two vernacular and two Latin Renaissance commentaries on classical literary sources and their influence on Primavera. It considers Cristoforo Landino’s Latin commentary on Horace and Paolo Marsi’s Latin commentary on Ovid and their relevance for the painting. The chapter examine vernacular commentaries, which will prove to be even more important. These are Marsilio Ficino’s commentary on Plato’s Symposium, titled Libro dell’amore and Cristoforo Landino’s commentary on Dante’s Divine Comedy. The chapter discusses interpretative changes in Renaissance commentaries on antique and medieval sources and provides a summary of literary sources, mostly ancient, which have been presented so far for the reading of the painting. Landino’s vernacular commentary on Dante’s Divine Comedy has the invaluable advantage of not only interpreting the work of greatest Florentine poet but also of linking his topics to the greatest ancient and contemporary authors. There was a vernacular commentary on Ovid’s Metamorphosis by Giovanni Bonsignori already available in the fourteenth century.
