{{Short description|Italian author and poet (1623–1691)}} {{Infobox person | name = Lorenzo Crasso | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1623|08|10}} | birth_place = [[Naples]], [[Kingdom of Naples]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1691|04|27|1623|08|10}} | death_place = Naples, Kingdom of Naples | resting_place = | occupation = {{hlist|Poet|Jurist|Scholar}} | alma_mater = [[University of Naples Federico II]] | spouse = | children = | module = {{Infobox writer |embed=yes | language = [[Italian language]] | period = {{cslist|[[17th century in literature|17th century]]|[[Baroque]]}} | genres = {{hlist|[[Poetry]]|[[treatise]]}} | subject = | movement = {{cslist|[[Baroque]]|[[Marinism]]}} | notableworks = ''Istoria de’ Poeti Greci e di que’ che ’n Greca Lingua han poetato'' }} }}
'''Lorenzo Crasso''' (10 August 1623 in [[Naples]] – 27 April 1691) was an Italian writer and [[poet]] of the [[Baroque]] period.
== Biography == Lorenzo Crasso, Barone di Pianura, was a Neapolitan, a [[Doctor of Law|doctor of laws]], and an active [[lawyer]].<ref>Cfr. Caterina Serra, ''Gli "Elogi d'uomini letterati" di Lorenzo Crasso,'' "Esperienze letterarie", 25 (2000), 1, pp. 47-64; Caterina Serra, ''Contributo alla conoscenza di un letterato del Seicento napoletano: Lorenzo Crasso'', "La Nuova Ricerca", 9-10 (2000-2001), pp. 127-156.</ref> He was a man of wealth, and possessed a notable [[library]] in his palace in Vicolo S. Paolo, in which many of [[Giambattista Marino]]'s manuscripts were kept, which were later dispersed.<ref>Caterina Serra, ''Un elogio secentesco del Cavalier Marino'', «Rivista di letteratura italiana», 19, 2- 3, 2001, pp. 61-76.</ref> Other than these meagre details, and his books, nothing appears to be known of him. He had many friends among the literary men of his time, and one frequently meets with poems addressed to him in their books – [[Giuseppe Battista]] belonged to this circle. Crasso published ''Epistole Heroiche'', Venezia, 1655 (imitations of [[Ovid]]); ''Elogi d'huomini letterati'', Venezia, 1666, 2 voll. (each notice being preceded by a [[portrait]]); ''Istoria de’ Poeti Greci e di que’ che ’n Greca Lingua han poetato'', Napoli, 1678; and ''Elogi di Capitani Illustri'', Venezia, 1683. As only the first part of the last book was published, it has been conjectured that Crasso died at this time or just before. Crasso was a member of the Neapolitan [[Accademia degli Oziosi|Oziosi]] and the Bolognese [[Accademia dei Gelati|Gelati]]. His nickname among the Gelati was “Il Costante,” and his ''impresa'' was [[Hedera|ivy]] climbing a dead [[Trunk (botany)|tree trunk]] with the [[motto]] ''frigore viridior'' (“frozen strengthens me”).<ref>{{cite book | first=Simone | last=Testa | title=Italian Academies and their Networks, 1525-1700: From Local to Global | year=2017 | publisher=Springer | isbn=9781137438423 |page=227 }}</ref>
Crasso’s ''Istoria de’ Poeti Greci'' professes to supersede the similar works of [[Franciscus Patricius]] and [[Gerardus Vossius]]; and, while far from exhaustive, it is in many ways a creditable performance, and contains some information even today not easily found elsewhere. This applies, of course, particularly to the writers of [[Greek language|Greek]] verse nearly contemporary with the author ; for he includes not only the Greeks of the [[Renaissance]], and such others as write in Greek as [[Alessandra Scala]], [[Adrianus Turnebus]], and [[Jean Daurat]], but comes down to [[Pope Urban VIII|Urban VIII]] and [[Leo Allatius]]. His notices of the ancient poets, on the other hand, if generally well documented, are usually too perfunctory.
Crasso's work was much appreciated by the Italian scholars, but severely criticized by the French ones.{{sfn|Lemprière|1808|p=}}
== Works ==
* {{cite book |last1=Crasso |first1=Lorenzo |date=1655 |title=Epistole heroiche |trans-title= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qoev3sK9PX4C |url-status= |url-access= |format= |language= |location=Venezia |publisher=Baba |isbn= |archive-url= |archive-date= |via= |quote=}} * {{cite book |last1=Crasso |first1=Lorenzo |date=1666 |title= Elogii d'huomini letterati |trans-title= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PERmAAAAcAAJ |url-status= |url-access= |volume=1 |language= |location=Venezia |publisher= Combi e la Noù |isbn= |archive-url= |archive-date= |via= |quote=}} * {{cite book |last1=Crasso |first1=Lorenzo |date=1666 |title= Elogii d'huomini letterati |trans-title= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8i0ZxeJYAzQC |url-status= |url-access= |volume=2 |language= |location=Venezia |publisher= Combi e la Noù |isbn= |archive-url= |archive-date= |via= |quote=}} * {{cite book |last1=Crasso |first1=Lorenzo |date=1678 |title=Istoria de' Poeti Greci e di que' che 'n Greca Lingua han poetato |trans-title= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GqltHFF9h7wC |url-status= |url-access= |format= |language= |location= Napoli |publisher=[[Antonio Bulifon]] |isbn= |archive-url= |archive-date= |via= |quote=}} * {{cite book |last1=Crasso |first1=Lorenzo |date=1683 |title= Elogii di capitani illustri |trans-title= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3kZmAAAAcAAJ |url-status= |url-access= |format= |language= |location= Venezia |publisher=Combi e la Noù |isbn= |archive-url= |archive-date= |via= |quote=}}
== References == {{reflist}}
== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book|last=Hutton|first=James|title=The Greek Anthology in Italy to the Year 1800|date=1935|publisher=[[Cornell University Press]]|location=Ithaca|pages=373–374}} * {{cite encyclopedia |title= CRASSO, Lorenzo |encyclopedia= [[Enciclopedia Italiana]] |year= 1931 |last= Belloni |first= Antonio |publisher= [[Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana]] |location= Rome |url = https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/lorenzo-crasso_(Enciclopedia-Italiana) |access-date= 26 September 2024 }} * {{cite journal|title=Gli "Elogi" d'uomini letterati di Lorenzo Crasso|author=Caterina Serra|journal=Esperienze Letterarie|issn=0392-3495|volume=25|number=1|year=2000|pages=47–64}} * {{cite encyclopedia |title=CRASSO, Lawrence |encyclopedia=Universal Biography of Eminent Persons in all Ages and Countries |year=1808 |last=Lemprière |first=John |author-link= John Lemprière|publisher=T. Cadell and W. Davies |location=London |id= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IJhUAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP352 |access-date= }} * {{cite encyclopedia|author=[[Joseph-François Michaud]], [[Louis-Gabriel Michaud]]|editor-last= |editor-first= |editor-link= |encyclopedia=Biographie universelle, ancienne et moderne|title=Crasso (Laurent)|trans-title= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UQQJAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA447|access-date= |language=fr|edition= |year=1842|publisher=Delagrave|series= |volume=9|location=Paris|id= |isbn= |oclc= |doi= |pages=447}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Crasso, Lorenzo}} [[Category:1623 births]] [[Category:1691 deaths]] [[Category:Poets from the Kingdom of Naples]] [[Category:17th-century Italian poets]] [[Category:Writers from Naples]] [[Category:Scholars from the Kingdom of Naples]] [[Category:17th-century Italian scholars]] [[Category:Italian male poets]] [[Category:Italian Baroque writers]] [[Category:17th-century Italian male writers]]