Early Modern History

This paper addresses the links between alchemy, mining and religion in the early modern alchemical iconography of the German mining theorist Martin Sturtz. He created a special version of the prayer Vaterunser (Our Father) for miners and metallurgists and used the images from Christian and alchemical iconography to demonstrate the history of the creation of metals and how they grow inside the Earth. In one of his images, the Saviour is crucified against the background of coloured strips or stripes, symbolizing the seven metals inside a sedimentary complex. In another miniature, the blood spilling from his wound gives rise to ore veins in which metals ripen. These and the other iconographical and textual examples from Sturtz's treatises show the attempt to connect the mining process with alchemical theory and Christian religion. This paper will shed light on the origins of this unusual alchemical imagery and its connection with other alchemical and theological works, especially those by Paul Lautensack.

Spécialités de recherche Histoire urbaine des anciens Pays-Bas bourguignons (XIII e-premier XVI e siècle). Cultures et idéologies politiques en Europe à la fin du Moyen Âge. Communication politique en Europe du Nord-Ouest à la fin du Moyen Âge.

Antiquity-Based Education in the Early Modern Era: The
Mirror of Princes by Diego de Saavedra Fajardo
The purpose of the paper is to present the system of educating rulers in the ‘mirror of
princes’, Idea de un Príncipe Político Christiano (1640, revised edition 1642). It outlines
the education of the ruler, focusing on various pedagogical practices. The starting point
is the idea of a double meaning of education: both pedagogy and (self) knowledge. The
second focus of the paper is an analysis of the ancient sources used by the author, their
placement in the way of argumentation, and the practices he summarises. At the same
time, his thinking is compared with ancient educational practices (Aristotle, Plutarch...)
as well as his humanistic contemporaries.
Keywords: ruler’s mirror, education, Diego de Saavedra Fajardo, early modern era

"Lettera di un medico arabo" (1706) è un testo enigmatico, di cui la presente edizione rappresenta la prima traduzione italiana. Pubblicato anonimamente ma riconducibile alla penna di John Toland, è un agile opuscolo in difesa della ragionevolezza della religione islamica contro i pregiudizi degli europei dell’epoca. Circolò nei gruppi proto-massonici del primo Settecento spesso allegato allo "Spaccio de la bestia trionfante" di Giordano Bruno e al "Discorso sul libero pensiero" di Anthony Collins. Il dettaglio con cui nel testo vengono affrontate alcune caratteristiche della religione islamica, nonché la difesa di una asserita tolleranza islamica contro il settarismo delle chiese cristiane, è di estremo interesse per ricostruire l’evoluzione del concetto di tolleranza religiosa che stava emergendo in Europa proprio in quegli anni. Nel complesso, Toland mette in ridicolo i pregiudizi della propria epoca e indica nella ragione la guida più sicura per sfuggire a fatali errori di valutazione. Segue in Appendice la prima traduzione italiana di un estratto della lettera di un commerciante arabo, Muhammad D’Ghies, letta presso la Convenzione Nazionale di Parigi nel 1795, uno strumento utile per comprendere l’influenza islamica sul pensiero rivoluzionario francese.

The life of Sieur de Vaulezard, a translator of Viète’s works and author on perspective, is unknown. This short note uses a historical document to infer that he died in Paris towards the end of August 1648.
La vie du Sieur de Vaulezard, traducteur des ouvrages de Viète et auteur sur des sujets de perspective, est inconnue. Cette courte note exploite un document historique permettant d'inférer qu'il est mort à Paris vers la fin août 1648.

Los puertos como enclaves de intercambios marítimos terrestres han sido y son núcleos propicios para la generación de actividad económica, pero a su vez por su condición de puerto y puerta, también se convierten en centros estratégicos desde el punto de vista económico y militar. Siguiendo esta premisa, la posición geográfica del Puerto de Cádiz, encrucijada de caminos abiertos a África y América, fue decisiva a la hora de convertirse en pieza indispensable de un complejo sistema financiero-comercial de ámbito mundial. A estas ventajas hay que añadirle la benignidad de su clima, como en un pequeño párrafo el comerciante chileno don Nicolás de la Cruz y Bahamonde hace de dicha excelencia durante su viaje a Cádiz en 1783: La ciudad de Cádiz pues, es privilegiada en este punto por la naturaleza. Colocada en una zona templada baxo los grados 36º 31´ 34´´ de latitud norte goza de un apacible y benigno clima. Su localidad dentro de la mar sin abrigo de montañas hace que sea un poco combatida de los vientos, pero sus quatro estaciones se presentan por lo común, sin tocar en los extremos… 1 Durante un largo período de tiempo, nuestra ciudad había aprovechado su situación de puerta del Mediterráneo, así como su cercanía al norte de África, para establecer un fuerte comercio con este. Sin embargo, una vez que se refuerza su posición atlántica debido al desplazamiento progresivo del comercio con el Nuevo Mundo, el papel del puerto cambia. Sin perder nunca de vista sus enlaces mediterráneos, el viraje hacia Occidente se acentuó, reforzando a la par sus vínculos con la Europa noroccidental, y su condición de punta de lanza hacia el Nuevo Mundo fue reforzada por su carácter de cabecera del monopolio español con sus Indias. El Puerto de Cádiz será objeto de nuestra comunicación. Vamos a realizar un amplio recorrido por la historia del puerto en relación a la ciudad y a su bahía, desde los inicios hasta nuestros días, para centrarnos en el análisis de los años que preceden y en los que se dictan las Leyes del Libre Comercio. Con este fin hemos organizado el trabajo de la forma siguiente. Comenzaremos estudiando la evolución que siguió el puerto de la ciudad desde las primeras noticias que nos llegan hasta la actualidad, analizando todo lo referente a su ubicación e infraestructura, estudiando los distintos intentos por crear un puerto más acomodado a las necesidades comerciales, y haremos referencia a las peticiones realizadas por parte de algunos sectores de la sociedad. De forma paralela, abordaremos el papel de relevancia que asume Cádiz a nivel comercial, lo que debió tener repercusión en su infraestructura. Analizaremos la legislación de Libre Comercio en función de las transformaciones y evolución que en materia comercial alcanza el

As linhas de fronteira dividiram populações, demarcaram territórios, legitimaram ocupações. Mas, para lá de todo o esforço de delimitação de territórios, surgiram os apelos e/ou a repulsão de pessoas, criando-se o fenómeno da emigração, por definição um efeito directo das compartimentações nacionais do mercado de trabalho, cujo equilíbrio ignora fronteiras e tende à globalidade. Desde sempre, as pessoas movem-se, verificando-se processos mais ou menos complexos de intercâmbio de população. A imigração galega no Norte de Portugal é apenas um exemplo desses movimentos, afinal com longa história no espaço intra-peninsular, normalmente de sentido Norte-Sul, mas girando também em torno de polarizações urbanas. Em situações de sociedade tradicional, carentes de modernidade, tais movimentos são explicados genericamente por desequilíbrios de população e de regime de propriedade, se bem que estes desequilíbrios apresentem razões históricas mais profundas que se repercutem em toda a organização social. Para lá da movimentações de galegos que podemos remontar à Reconquista, os movimentos migratórios de trabalho detectam-se em Portugal, de uma forma regular, desde os séculos XVII e XVIII, quando surgiram oportunidades sazonais ao ritmo cíclico de produções agrícolas para mercados relativamente vastos (trigo do Alentejo, vinho do Douro). A estas fainas agrícolas (preparação de terra e sementeiras e depois as colheitas respectivas), acorriam não só galegos como populações portuguesas do Minho, Trás-os-Montes e Beiras, ou seja, de localidades onde a terra era escassa e a

Wstępny raport z badań antropologicznych szkieletów znalezionych w 1996 roku podczas wykopalisk archeologicznych (kierownik A. Gołembnik) na terenie przylegającym do kościoła św. Ducha w Płocku znajdującego się u zbiegu dzisiejszych ulic Bielskiej i Kwiatka (PSM 52).

In the 15th century, the rediscovery of a number of ancient works, including those of Ptolemy and Strabo, profoundly renewed geographical knowledge and debate. Pilgrims and travellers, be they humanists, scholars or the simply curious, such as Félix Fabri, Alessandro Ariosto or Arnold von Harff, also seized upon these texts and drew on them in their own narratives, using a variety of methods and other authorities.

In 1445, John II of Castile awarded a sizeable estate southwest of Toledo to Gutierre de Sotomayor, a favored noble supporter. The land and its jurisdiction, however, were not taken from royal lands or following due process; rather, they belonged to the city of Toledo as a result of purchase from an earlier monarch. The city's council consequently protested the grant and initiated a lawsuit for the return of its property. At stake was an issue central to the nature of kingship in Castile -the monarch's use of "absolute royal authority." J. B. Owens examines Toledo's lawsuit, known to contemporaries as the "Belalcázar lawsuit," from its inception to its conclusion during the reign of Philip II, more than 120 years later. He treats the case as a microhistory that illuminates judicial procedure at the highest levels in Castile while revealing the tension between competing visions of "justice," the universally acknowledged fundamental attribute of kingship within the monarch's realms. He argues that the monarch was most effective in employing the language of "absolute royal authority" as justification for an action when the action coincided with widely accepted norms consistent with the provisions of written law. While reviewing many episodes in Castilian history for their effects on monarchs' behavior -for example, the comunero revolt in 1520 -21 -he also uses the long duration of the suit to argue against a putative era of "early modern state-building." In addition, he disputes the centrality of clientage as a means for monarchs to control their realms. Clientage, he observes, represented weakness rather than strength and, when coupled with a perceived disregard of due process and justice, damaged the monarch's influence. Owens skillfully traces the Belalcázar suit through a judicial process that moved in fits and starts depending on the protagonists' reading of political conditions. Among other things, marriage, death, family ties, and formal and informal positions at court affected the timing of initiatives related to the suit or decisions to stall the proceedings. At root, however, remained the core issue -was the monarch's use of "absolute royal authority" to reward a favorite with land owned by another party "just," or did it represent corruption in government and thus injustice? After years of effort, ultimately Toledo lost the case. Despite a favorable verdict by the Chancillería of Granada, the Council of Castile in 1568 reversed the decision and banned further appeal. To stunned city councilors, the verdict demonstrated the effectiveness of the defendant's aristocratic connections at court. It also strengthened fears about the monarch's reliability in living up to his promises in general. Thus, Philip II's use of his absolute royal authority had the paradoxical effect of weakening his leadership and reducing his ability to secure support for the fiscal resources needed to sustain policies at home and especially beyond Castile during "the first global age." The long chronological sweep of this work enables the author to trace both the shifting participants and the changing broader contexts at court and elsewhere in Cas-

До даного випуску увійшли статті й повідомлення співробітників Чернівецького обласного краєзнавчого музею та інших наукових установ. Опубліковано дослідження з історії, археології та народознавства. Надруковано матеріали, присвячені літературі, мистецтву і музейній справі. Окремими розділами представлені відомі персоналії та природа нашого краю. Видання розраховане на співробітників наукових установ, працівників освітніх закладів, здобувачів освіти та краєзнавців. УДК 069:908(477.85)(084)

Il volume, dedicato alla carriera di Antonia Criscenti Grassi, già ordinario di Storia della Pedagogia presso l'Università degli Studi di Catania, accoglie ottantacinque saggi che affrontano, in modo interdisciplinare, la molteplicità dei temi di ricerca specifici dei settori scientifico-disciplinari caratterizzanti le scienze dell'educazione. Nelle cinque parti in cui è strutturato il volume, gli autori sviluppano gli itinerari del proprio impegno, scientifico e civico, svolto al servizio della ricerca storica (Parte I), della scuola (Parte II), del territorio e delle istituzioni (Parte III), dell'arte, della letteratura e della poesia (Parte IV) e della formazione umana (Parte V).

In March 1585, the creation of the noble branch of the Catholic League and the Guise call to arms were prepared so secretly that Henri III was taken unawares. This might seem surprising to historians. After all, the Guise family had played a central role in French political life since the start of the Wars of Religion and their political ambitions were regularly denounced by their opponents. Ever present in the interpretations of the events highlighted by historians who have been influenced by the political rhetoric of the time, the Guise did not, however, represent the main threat in the eyes of the government authorities in March 1585. Rather than a secretive, transnational uprising led by the Guise, this article argues that the monarchy primarily feared a traditional noble revolt led by the duc de Montmorency, governor of Languedoc, which explains the surprise of the king at the start of this Catholic League and his unreadiness to face this threat.

Introducción, edición, traducción al español y estudio lingüístico de la Crónica de los emperadores, sultanes y patriarcas de Constantinopla (1391-1517), obra anónima de mediados sel siglo XVI / Introduction, edition, translation into Spanish and linguistic study of the Chronicle of the Emperors, Sultans and Patriarchs of Constantinople (1391-1517), an anonymous work from the mid-16th century

This study proposes the concept of epistolary uncertainty to understand the emotional and logistical challenges of transoceanic communication between colonial Chile and the Spanish court during the seventeenth century. Epistolary uncertainty captures the pervasive doubts of letter writers about whether their messages would reach the king or receive timely responses, concerns that reflected the fragility of long-distance correspondence in a world without formal postal systems. Communication agents known as procuradores mitigated this uncertainty by navigating the arduous journey to Madrid and employing innovative intermedial strategies, including oral advocacy and printed materials. Their efforts, which ensured the delivery and amplification of colonial concerns, reveal a dynamic communication network shaped by individual actors and hybrid communication practices. By focusing on epistolary uncertainty, this study reframes Chile's perceived isolation and emphasizes the adaptability of colonial societies, offering in the process broader insights into governance and information flows in distant territories during the early modern period.

Prijelom: Frontispis d. o. o., Zagreb Tisak: Printera Grupa d.o.o. Naklada: 500 primjeraka ISBN: 978-953-7905-43-9 CIP zapis dostupan u računalnom Skupnom katalogu hrvatskih knjižnica pod brojem 582118029. Sva prava pridržana. Ni jedan dio ove knjige ne smije se reproducirati u bilo kojem obliku bez prethodnog dopuštenja nakladnika. Potporu izdavanju prijevoda djela Venere i Adon na engleski jezik omogućio je Grad Dubrovnik.

Frente a la receta universal de TIC en educacion, la sociedad de la informacion exige propuestas de ensenanza-aprendizaje que inviten a anteponer el procesamiento de la informacion sobre su mero soporte, por novedoso o deslumbrante que pueda resultar. En este sentido, las fuentes orales se presentan como un aparejo idoneo de aprendizaje, esto es, un conjunto de herramientas y decisiones docentes articuladas genuinamente en terminos de competencias basicas. Asi, las fuentes orales delimitan un espacio educativo en el que didactica y epistemologia de la Historia se integran y complementan para favorecer, a traves de una motivacion activa, procesos de metacognicion y desarrollo social de los alumnos.

This article presents the manuscript document, Letters, instructions and decrees by the engineer Bautista Antoneli or Antonelli, the most important military architect of the Spanish Caribbean fortification system. Handwritten by Antoneli, and little known in the scholarship on sixteenth-and seventeenth-century military defense, the manuscript contains reports, royal decrees, and illustrations relevant to Spain's defense plan during the last quarter of the sixteenth century. This article describes the document, the context of its production, and its structure. Special attention is given to two main themes or key sections of the book: the journey to the Straits of Magellan and its map, which was based on secondhand information despite the engineer's claims that he explored the straits himself; and a report and map of a bi-oceanic project in the Chagres River, in the Central American isthmus, an idea three centuries ahead of the development of the Panama Canal. As such, the map may be the first graphic document of the future interoceanic canal.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10609164.2025.2454855?src=exp-la#abstract

Né aux Pays-Bas, héritier de la couronne d'Espagne puis du Saint Empire romain germanique, souverain d’un immense empire « où le soleil ne se couchait jamais », se rêvant garant d’un Empire universel chrétien, Charles Quint (1500-1558) apparaît comme porteur d’une puissance prodigieuse qu’il conjugue à des aspirations tout aussi démesurées. 
Son règne témoigne d’un important projet d’unification rationnelle des territoires dans un contexte de grandes tension politiques et religieuses et de conflits militaires. Sa lutte homérique contre François Ier pour l’hégémonie européenne lui fait porter son regard également vers les terres italiennes, qui constituent un enjeu de premier plan pour des raisons aussi bien stratégiques et politiques que symboliques. Une entreprise monumentale, pourtant jamais pleinement réalisée car sans cesse entravée par les rivalités de pouvoir et par les conflits religieux qui minent l’unité du monde chrétien. Charles Quint, constamment contraint de reporter ses plus hautes ambitions, les emporte avec lui dans sa dernière demeure, au monastère de Yuste, marquant une dernière fois l’Histoire en abdiquant de sa propre volonté.
Cette étude, fruit de plusieurs années de recherches redonne sa juste place au « phénomène européen » qu’incarne ce dernier César.

This essay explores the symptomatic absence of the German Peasants' War (1525)-the largest popular uprising in Europe before the French Revolution-from classical political thought. It begins with Leo Strauss's and Sheldon Wolin's appraisals of what united the body of literature, namely, that the role of the political theorist is to articulate and advocate visions of order. The abundant archive of peasant demands, sermons, ordinances, territorial constitutions, and prophecies were inscrutable to the order-oriented assumptions of traditional political philosophy. First, because the theory produced in the struggle was not separate from insurgent action. The uprising was led, articulated, and theorized by those who were dismissed as fanatics rather than engaged by authorities and by political thinkers like Sir Thomas More. The essential unit of organization and voice of the Peasants' War was collective-no singular author appears to reflect on the conjuncture from a detached vantage. The political aims of this period were at once theological, existential, and economic. These aims were expressed through a "political theology of ingression" whose key gesture was to bridge separations. Peasants sought to literalize metaphor and to discern the literal as already allegorical: the material condition of serfdom was simultaneously a form of spiritual bondage; biblical images of divine common life could be actualized by sharing life, land, and goods on earth.

La Descripción de España y de las costas y puertos de sus reynos,
que fue encargada por Felipe IV al geógrafo portugués Pedro
Texeira en 1622, constituye, en sus dos versiones corográfica y
narrativa, una importantísima fuente de información de carácter
defensivo que ha sido poco estudiada en referencia a Galicia.
Aquí, pues, se tratará de analizar su opinión sobre el estado
de las defensas costeras que tenía el viejo reino gallego en
un tiempo en el que fueron frecuentes los ataques de piratas
berberiscos y que también tuvo una gran actividad militar en las
aguas noratlánticas tras el fin de la Tregua de los Doce Años.
The Descripción de España y de las costas y puertos de sus reynos,
which was commissioned by Philip IV from the Portuguese
geographer Pedro Texeira in 1622, constitutes, in its two
chorographic and narrative versions, a very important source of
information of a defensive nature that has been little studied in
reference to Galicia. Here, then, we will try to analyze his opinion
on the state of the coastal defenses that the old Galician kingdom
had at a time when attacks by Barbary pirates were frequent and
when it also had great military activity in North Atlantic waters
after the end of the Twelve Years Truce.

Silvio Gesell, much praised by Keynes, sought to abolish exploitation while maintaining a decentralised, individualistic economy. His solution was, first, to nationalise land and, second, to ban interest. The rent on nationalised land would, in Gesell's eyes, be sufficient to replace taxes. Interest-free loans would be complemengted by money with artificially increased carrying costs: people would have to buy stamps to stick on bank notes in order to have these keep their nominal value. This would act as an incentive to spend money and thus prevent unemployment. Unfortunately, local experiments in the 1930s were nipped in the bud.

This paper explores the complex role of Paul Benfield, a prominent English merchant and financier, in the economic and political landscape of 18th-century Deccan. As a key figure operating under the English East India Company, Benfield functioned as a 'banker' to Indian rulers, notably the Nawab of Arcot, extending large loans that were deeply entwined with the Company's political objectives. The study highlights how Benfield’s financial operations not only enriched him personally but also facilitated British imperial ambitions through the manipulation of native states’ debts. By examining his dealings, especially in the Carnatic region, the paper sheds light on the emergence of a new colonial political economy where European mercantile capital increasingly shaped regional power dynamics and undermined indigenous sovereignty.

Questo paper riprende, con aggiunte e integrazioni bibliografiche, il saggio «Studi veneziani». La prima serie (1959-1976), pubblicato in: Introduzione all’uso delle riviste storiche. Un corso di lezioni, a cura di Nino Recupero e Giacomo Todeschini, Trieste Edizioni Lint, 1994, pp. 91 – 107. Seguirà una seconda parte.

Questo paper riprende, con aggiunte e integrazioni bibliografiche, il saggio «Studi veneziani». La prima serie (1959-1976), pubblicato in: Introduzione all’uso delle riviste storiche. Un corso di lezioni, a cura di Nino Recupero e Giacomo Todeschini, Trieste Edizioni Lint, 1994, pp. 91 – 107. Seguirà una seconda parte.

On many early modern Japanese maps of Japan, a network of lines surrounds the archipelago. These lines designate routes one could take from one harbour to the other. Parallels to this practice also exist in early modern Chinese and Korean maps, making statements about networks, connections, and possible travel paths on sea. Drawing routes over the ocean is a strange thing to do.

The article examines the interconnections between the use of republican concepts and the practice of political life in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of the late 16th century. Dymitr Chalecki, who belonged to the petty nobility, made a brilliant political career for those times. In April 1590, he was nominated for the Land Treasurer of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Chalecki put forward a program of improving the state economy and became one of the leaders of the nobility movement in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 1590s. Primary sources (mainly epistolary ones) show that Dymitr Chalecki quite often referred to such categories as law, justice, freedom, conscience, duty, patriotism, and the common good. The author emphasizes that Chalecki’s views were shaped not so much by his education, but by the traditions and practice of public life of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In turn, it indicates how deeply the classical republican tradition penetrated the political consciousness of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania’s nobility at the end of the 16th century.

Summary: Due to various circumstances, the Petrovaradin Fortress has preserved most of its former complex, both above and below ground, to this day. One reason for this might lie in the history of the Fortress itself. We know of two attempts by the Ottoman army to besiege Petrovaradin (1694 and 1716), as well as a blockade by the imperial army during the Hungarian Revolution (1848/49). However, these siege operations did not develop to such an extent that we could gain a comprehensive understanding of the procedures that were undertaken in order to capture or defend a fortified site. This paper was created with the intention of explaining the specific duties of the commander, as well as the actions they would undertake before, during, and after the siege of a fortress, in the period from the late 17th to the end of the 18th century.
Keywords: Petrovaradin Fortress, commander, siege, attack, defense, capitulation.

PETROWARADINER FESTUNG UNTER BELAGERUNG ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Kämpfe für Festungen oder “Festungskriege” waren eigentlich Konflikte, bei denen der Angreifer versuchte, die Festung möglichst schnell und einfach zu erobern, während der Verteidiger die Aufgabe hatte, die Eroberung der Festung möglichst lange hinauszuzögern oder vollständig zu verhindern. Zu Methoden der Eroberung einer Festung gehörten im Laufe der Geschichte Blockaden, wo der Angreifer die Festung umgab und darauf wartete, dass sich die Besatzung infolge des Lebensmittelmangels ergab; ein Überraschungsangriff erfolgte oft nachts, im Ziele der schnellen Eroberung der Tore, sowie das gewaltsame Eindringen im Falle von schwachen und demoralisierten Truppen. Eine Belagerung wurde gegen starke Festungen durchgeführt. Der Angreifer näherte sich schrittweise den Mauern, sowohl über als auch unter der Erde, unter Verwendung von Minen. Dank zahlreichen Umständen hat die Petrowaradiner Festung bis heute den größten Teil ihres ehemaligen Komplexes erhalten, sowohl auf der Oberfläche als auch unter der Erde. Einer der Gründe für diese Erhaltung liegt vielleicht in ihrer Geschichte, einschließlich zweier Versuche des osmanischen Heeres, die Festung durch Belagerung zu erobern (1694 und 1716), sowie der Blockade seitens des kaiserlichen Heeres während der Ungarischen Revolution (1848/49). Diese Belagerungen waren trotzdem nicht genug entwickelt, um uns ein umfangreiches Verständnis der Vorgehensweise bei den Angriffen, beziehungsweise bei der Verteidigung einer Festung zu ermöglichen. Das Ziel der Arbeit ist, die Pflichten des Befehlshabers der Festung sowohl im Frieden als auch in unmittelbarer Kriegsgefahr zu erklären, sowie die Maßnahmen vor, während und nach einer Festungsbelagerung, zur Zeit der Erbauung der Petrowaradiner Festung.

Le pagine della storiografia artistica dedicate a Giuseppe Caletti -quelle di Baruffaldi, Cittadella e Lanzi 1 -non risultano affatto edificanti, intrise come sono di aggettivi bizzarri che forse nascondono la volontà repressa di esprimersi con toni più espliciti. Il personaggio dovette essere piuttosto interessante, perfettamente ascrivibile al tòpos di artisti ribelli, beoni, piantagrane e fannulloni che però, quando sono ispirati, o meglio, costretti da convenienze economiche, estraggono dal cilindro opere di tutto rispetto, quasi capolavori. Tutto ciò si contrappone alle pagine della critica moderna, ormai assai datata, che cerca invece di ricondurre lo studio di Caletti nei ranghi delle scrupolose trattazioni scientifiche, sottolineando con forza una caratura artistica rilevante. In tempi recenti solo Marco Tanzi e Massimo Pulini 2 gli hanno dedicato significativi aggiornamenti che negli ultimi anni ho riesaminato e ampliato anche grazie a nuove acquisizioni documentarie 3 . Con il supporto di queste e di alcuni dipinti inediti prende forza l'idea, sempre letta in tralice fra le righe dedicate all'artista, di una stretta relazione col Guercino, finora non precisata nei suoi reali punti di tangenza 4 . L'oscillazione della qualità dei dipinti, l'evidente mutazione di rotte stilistiche, la dichiarata emulazione di modelli diversi e la quasi completa mancanza di appigli documentari hanno finora reso molto complesso ricomporre il catalogo di Caletti in relazione alla sua parabola biografica, notevolmente complicata dall'origine forestiera, offuscata dalla sua attività di falsario e arricchita dalla felice produzione incisoria. Nonostante ciò, la connessione al Barbieri è sempre stata annoverata come una costante, latente ma ben tangibile, insieme all'evidente legame con il mondo dossesco e la pittura veneta. Giuseppe Caletti è noto anche con il nome di "Cremonese", come lui stesso si firmava in calce alle incisioni, a rimarcare un'origine dalla città lombarda finora mai accertata dai documenti ma suffragata dalla presenza di una sua bella pala, resa nota da Tanzi, nel comune di Pieve Terzagni, a pochi km dal capoluogo 5 . Sulla base di una serie di carte emerse di recente, è invece possibile affermare che egli nacque nel 1599, battezzato il 9 febbraio, ad Isola Dovarese, comune