Trifone Gabriel

Giorgione: Giovanni Borgherini and His Tutor, 1505-1506. Trifone Gabrielli (right) is shown tutoring a young Borgherini (left)

Trifone Gabriel, Gabriele, Gabrielli or Gabriello (20 November 1470 - 20 October 1549) was an Italian humanist. He appeared not only in the painting Giovanni Borgherini and His Tutor but also in profile on the recto of a bronze medal by Danese Cattaneo (with a woman beside a spring and a quotation from Psalm 23.4 on the reverse). Trifone's contemporaries admired him, holding him to be a model 15th century humanist whose "thousand rare gifts" made him an authoritative example of intellectual and moral life, uncontaminated by the world of early Renaissance courtiers. His "infinite humanity" and "unique kindness" gathered around Gabrielli many intellectuals, mostly from Tuscany and the Veneto, engaged in a renewal of the Italian language which symbolised and embodied the new broom of the Italian Renaissance. Giulio Camillo Delminio dedicated his "Anfiteatro della memoria" to Trifone "and to many other gentlemen". He was also mentioned and praised by several other writers such as Ludovico Ariosto (who included him among his closest friends in the 46th canto of "Orlando Furioso") and Anche Girolamo Muzio (who invoked his aid in his Arte Poetica as a "master of the language"), whilst Bembo and Benedetto Varchi also dedicated sonnets to him.

Life

He was born in San Polo di Piave to the Venetian patricians Bertucci Gabrielli and Diana Pizzamano. His father's family originated in Gubbio and one of its branches had settled in the Venetian Lagoon at an unknown date. Trifone was a contemporary and friend of Pietro Bembo since their teenage years, their friendship lasting right up until Bembo's death in 1547. In his youth he took some administrative roles in the Venetian Republic, but soon resolved to become a clergyman and pursue an ecclesiastical career. His great authority, moral rectitude and cultural interests all meant he was offered prestigious roles such as Bishop of Treviso and Patriarch of Venice, which he always refused, preferring a sober and contemplative life. When offered the Patriarchate by the Venetian Senate he replied "I thank the most illustrious Senate, both those who wanted me and those who did not - the former because they believed I would do good, the latter because they did me good".

His wealth allowed him to spend his whole life on rural estates in the areas around Bassano del Grappa and Padua, including the villa dei Ronchi, villa del Tergolino and his garden on Murano, where he hosted a salon for intellectuals and humanists. Surrounded by his friends and students, Trifone read Latin, ancient Greek, Italian and European authors, discussed science and philosophy and invited others to debate and discuss ideas. He was granted special dispensation from the papal curia in 1515 thanks to Bembo allowed him to break his ordination vow not to read "pagan" (i.e. secular) books.

Works Trifone's varied interests and refusal to write down his own ideas means it is complex to examine them. They were published by his disciples as dialogues between Trifone and other intellectuals. Philology and linguistics were central and a number of comments on Dante's Divine Comedy are attributed to him, such as "Words said by Trifone Gabriello on Dante's art in his poem", reported in various contemporary and later literary works, and "Annotations made by Monsignor Trifone in Bassano" discovered by Luigi Maria Rezzi in the Biblioteca Barberiniana in 1826. Trifone's nephew Jacopo wrote two linguistic works, Instituzioni della grammatica volgare and Regole grammaticali, both dialogues between the author and Trifone. Bembo and Trifone were also central characters in Bernardino Daniello's "Della poetica", another fundamental work of Petrarchism.