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"Moving Mortals To Tears And Devotion": Cinzio Passeri Aldobrandini, Torquato Tasso, And The Sorrowing Virgin, Karen J. Lloyd

Art Faculty Articles and Research

Torquato Tasso was inspired to pen his Stanze per le lagrime di Maria Vergine santissima e di Giesù Cristo nostro (Rome, 1593) by a painting of the sorrowing Virgin belonging to Cardinal Cinzio Passeri Aldobrandini (1551–1610). A nephew of Pope Clement VIII by his sister, Cinzio took on the Aldobrandini name in a practice known as an “aggregation.” The publication of Tasso’s Lagrime allowed Cinzio to promote himself as a devout prelate favored by the pope, but it did not ensure his influence and a true “blood” nephew, Pietro Aldobrandini, successfully challenged his authority. This essay examines the status of …