A Talking Statue of Rome | ||
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Pasquin Pasquino |
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Information | ||
Original subject | Menelaus (supporting the body of Patroclus) | |
Name origin | Supposedly named for Pasquino, a neighboring tailor | |
Location | Piazza Pasquino |
Pasquino or Pasquin (Latin: Pasquillus) is the name used by Romans to describe a battered Hellenistic-style statue dating to the 3rd century BC, which was unearthed in the Parione district of Rome in the 15th century. The statue's fame dates to the early 16th century, when Cardinal Oliviero Carafa draped the marble torso of the statue in a toga and decorated it with Latin epigrams on the occasion of Saint Mark's Day. From this incident are derived the English-language terms pasquinade and pasquil, which refer to an anonymous lampoon in verse or prose.[1]
The Cardinal's actions led to a custom of criticizing the pope or his government by the writing of satirical poems in broad Roman dialect--called "pasquinades" from the Italian "pasquinate"--and attaching them to the statue "Pasquino". Thus Pasquino became the first "talking statue" of Rome.[2] He spoke out about the people's dissatisfaction, denounced injustice, and assaulted misgovernment by members of the Church.
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The origin of the name, "Pasquino", remains obscure. By the mid-sixteenth century it was reported that the name "Pasquino" derived from a nearby tailor who was renowned for his wit and intellect;[3] speculation had it that his legacy was carried on through the statue, in "the honor and everlasting remembrance of the poor tailor".[4]
Before long, other statues appeared on the scene, forming a kind of public salon or academy, the "Congress of the Wits" (Congresso degli Arguti), with Pasquino always the leader, and the sculptures that Romans called Marphurius, Abbot Luigi, Il Facchino, Madama Lucrezia, and Il Babbuino as his outspoken colleagues.[5] The cartelli on which the epigrams were written were quickly passed around, and copies were made,[6] too numerous to suppress. These poems were collected and published annually by the Roman printer Giacomo Mazzocchi as early as 1509, as Carmina apposita Pasquino, and became well known all over Europe. As they became more pointed, the place of publication of Pasquillorum Tomi Duo[7] (1544) was shifted to Basel, less squarely under papal control, disguised on the titlepage as Eleutheropolis, "freedom city".[8]
The lampooning tradition was ancient among Romans. For a first century versified lampoon, see Domus Aurea.
Pasquinade is sometimes misidentified, appearing among synonyms of parody at WordNet. Compare also the equally unrelated pastiche.
Pasquin is the name of a play by Henry Fielding from 1736. It was a pasquinade in that it was an explicit and personalized attack on Robert Walpole and his supporters. It is one of the plays that triggered the Theatrical Licensing Act of 1737.
The Pasquinade is a small, grassroots magazine of parody and satire started in the mid-1990s. The brainchild of Dallas Shelby, a college journalism student with a bent for satire and a love of pop culture. In 2003, the organization developed its own film production company, Pasquinade Films.
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