Constantijn Huygens’ Pathodia Sacra et Profana. A Sentimental Journey

Abstract

Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687) in 1620 traveled to Venice as a secretary of ambassador Van Aerssen: he was the only member of the legation who knew Italian. This visit to the Most Serene Republic has been extremely important to him, since he could experience the many natural and artistic wonders he had a mere abstract knowledge of. However, in his life the Dutch poet made a more interesting journey: an intellectual and sentimental one, writing his Pathodia sacra et profana. In this collection we have compositions written in Italian in the very fashionable style of Petrarch. In my essay, I will try to make an historic-philological analysis of this opus in order to establish how the original paradigm has been respected or violated, both in style as well as content.

Keywords

• Constantijn Huygens
• Reception theory
• stylistics
• Petrarchism
• Baroque