with sprezzatura.

I am a lover of all things creative, artistic, and beautiful.  As such, I love collecting bits of magazines, photographs, and things that interest me and gluing them into old music books (finding a use for my old sheet music books from my brief days as a sixth grade flutist).  Though nothing can beat the palpability of carefully tearing out a picture of the perfect outfit from a magazine or catalogue, that picture is never seen again, as I disregard these scrapbooks to the back of the closet pretty quickly.  So, I decided that I would transfer this hobby to a place I spend way too much time in my life- online.  That, coupled with my love of reading others' perfect blogs, spurred this new creation.

I titled my blog after my favorite word in any language- sprezzatura.  In fact, I like this word so much that I almost had it tattooed on my body (in white of course, the trendy color at the time).  Thankfully, I did not- I can't even wear the same outfit all day, let alone have something on my body for life.  The meaning of this High Renaissance Italian word is difficult to capture, but to put it in my own words, the word means "careless effort and perfection."  Below is a thoughtful explanation.

"The meaning of sprezzatura in art and life in the High Renaissance is difficult to determine. Part of the trouble stems from the contradictions inherent in the word itself; it is paradoxical, closely related to grace, but with slightly different connotations.  Castiglione's Book of the Courtier elaborated on what the word meant for social interaction.  A character in the book, Count Ludovico, explains the meaning of grace, and in it he mentions sprezzatura.  "It is an art which does not seem to be an art.  One must avoid affectation and practice in all things a certain sprezzatura, disdain or carelessness, so as to conceal art, and make whatever is done or said appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it....obvious effort is the antithesis of grace."  The most important aspect of sprezzatura is its two-layered nature: it involves a conscious effort which is disguised by a concealing act.  Things which require effort are to be performed casually.  Count Ludovico seems to be saying that grace arises out of sprezzatura.  Anthony Blunt interprets it this way: "It will vanish if a man takes too much pains to attain it, or if he shows any effort to attain it.  Nothing but complete ease can produce it.  The only effort which should be expended in attaining it is an effort to conceal the skill on which it is based; and it is from sprezzatura, or recklessness, that grace springs."  In High Renaissance life, the courtiers wanted to put on a kind of performance, a subtle one, without allowing anyone to know it was self-conscious and deliberate behavior."