TilE v\'ESTERN MEDITERR.\NEAI'\ Klt-;CDOMS 1:200-1!100sculptures in neo-classical style, such as the beautiful tri-
umphal arch which still exists in Naples, portrayed Alfonso
as the equal of the ancient Caesars.~~ Humanist scholars and
poets rubbed shoulders at court; indeed, they were often
one and the same person, such as the famous Pantano.~:;
Further attention will be paid to the patronage of culture by
the Aragonese in Naples when the reign of his son Ferrante
is examined; in Alfonso, certainly, the political uses of his
patronage of classical scholarship were only one dimension
to his activities as a latter-day Maecenas, for he genuinely took
an interest in his scholars' endeavours as well. It is interest-
ing to see how his reputation was cherished as far away as
the court of Burgundy, where the account of his conquests
and career written in 1455 by the Naples courtier Beccadelli
and by Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini of Siena (soon to become
the pope) was a favourite literary entertainment, translated
into French between 1469 and 14 76.~^1 The idea that Alfonso's
achievements would still be celebrated several years after his
death was itself a powerful motive behind Alfonso's grandiose
ambitions.
As a major player in Italian politics, Alfonso found him-
self caught in the rivalry of the five dominant Italian states:
his own Naples, Milan, the papacy, Florence and Venice.
- Jerry Bentley. Politics and Culture in Rnwissance Naples (Princeton, NJ,
1987); for the arch, completed under his successor, see G.L. Hersey.
TheArrzgonese arch at Naples, 1443-1475 (New Haven, CT. 1973); also
F. Patroni Griffi, Banchini e gzoielli alia rorte aragonese di Napoli, 2nd edn
(Naples, 1992); A. Cole, Art of the Italian RPrwissanre Courts (London,
1995); M. Hollingsworth, Patronage in Rmaissance Italy (London, 1994);
C. Woods-Marsden, 'Art and political identity in fifteenth-century
Naples: Pisanello, Cristoforo di Geremia, and King Alfonso's imperial
fantasies', in C.M. Rosenberg, erl., Art and jmlitirs in late medieval and
Renaissance Italy, 1250-1500 (Notre Dame, Ind., 1990), pp. 11-37. - Jose Carlos Rovira, Humanistas y poetas en la corte napolitana de Aljimso
el Magnanimo (Alicantc, 1990); on Pontano sec: C. Kidwell, Pontmw.
Poet and Prime Minister (London, 1991); G. Vitali, Giovanni Pontano e
Iaropo Sarmazaro (Milan, 1944); G. Ferrai:1, Pantano Critico (Messina,
1983). - 'Les actions et paroles memorables d'Alphonse roi d'Aragon et de
Naples', trans!. and ed. S. Lefevre, in D. Regnier-Bohler, cd., Splendeurs
de la cour de Bourgogne. Ri'cits et chroniques (Paris, 1995), pp. 630-736.
A recent American study (though written in Spanish) is N. Patrone,
Principe y Mecenas. Alfonso V m los 'Dirhos y hechos' de A. Beccarlflli (New
York, 1995), though the author does not mention some important
literature on Alfonso as patron, notablv Ryder, Alfonso, pp. 306-57.