Febo di Poggio

Biography

Febo di Poggio (fl. c.1534 CE) was an Italian youth, originally from Pisa, but later living in Florence, who was affiliated with the Renaissance artist Michelangelo. Febo is known primarily through poetry and one letter, which Michelangelo addressed to him. The letter, dating from September of 1534, was written on the eve of Michelangelos' departure from Florence for Rome. Febo himself sent a letter to Michelangelo in January 1535. In this missive, Febo requests material favours from Michelangelo. At this time, Febo was a young man, while Michelangelo was in his 50s. The exact nature of the relationship between Michelangelo and Febo di Poggio is unknown, though Michelangelo's poems and letter both speak of his love for Febo. According to Bambach et al. (2017), the letter Febo sent in reply "tacitly confirms the romantic nature of their rapport".

== References in Michelangelo's poetry ==

In Michelangelo's poem G.99, he alludes to Febo as Phoebus and further puns on his surname "del Poggio" which means "of the hill." This is clearly seen in the first stanza:

Furthermore, Michelangelo shows his grief towards Febo when he states in the second stanza:

The allusion to the bird is further re-iterated in the third stanza or the start of sextet:

Michelangelo was so affected by Febo that he ends the poem with references to classical death:

In the poem G.100, Michelangelo alludes to Poggio as Apollo when he states:

== References ==