Sabellico, Marcantonio (Marcantonio Coccio)

(c. 1436–1506) Italian humanist scholar and historian

He lived and worked in Venice, where he lectured and

held the post of librarian of San Marco, in charge of the be-

quest of books by Cardinal BESSARION, which formed the

nucleus of the Bibliotheca MARCIANA. He wrote Historiae

rerum Venetarum (1487), commissioned by the Venetian

state, and followed this with a universal history, Enneades

(1498–1504), as well as the vernacular treatise Del sito di

Venezia città (1502). His two-volume Opera were pub-

lished posthumously (1538).

Sacchetti, Franco (c. 1333–1400) Dalmatian-born writer

and poet

Although he was born at Ragusa (Dubrovnik), Sacchetti

was from an old established Florentine family and played

an active role in the public life of Florence, holding many

important posts. He claimed to have little learning or

knowledge of Latin, but it is obvious he was widely read

in vernacular literature. A prolific poet, he wrote some of

the outstanding lyric poems of the 14th century and col-

lected his verse in Libro delle rime (c. 1362). His major

prose work, Trecentonovelle (Three Hundred Tales; 1392–

97), of which 223 complete tales survive, acknowledges

BOCCACCIOas model but is very different from the Decam-

eron. There is no frame and no complexity in point of view;

the tales are short, anecdotal, with explicit morals, like ex-

empla; historical characters (e.g. Pope Boniface, Dante)

appear occasionally; the comedy is low, often involving a

cruel practical joke (beffa), but seldom indecent; the lan-

guage is conversational. Sacchetti is also the author of a

short burlesque epic poem and of vernacular prose com-

mentaries on the Gospels, Sposizioni di vangeli (1381).

Sachs, Hans (1494-1576) German dramatist, poet, and

composer

Sachs was born the son of a tailor in Nuremberg, and

trained as a shoemaker. He became the most famous and

prolific of the meistersingers (professional songwriters) of

Nuremberg. He traveled throughout Germany from 1511

to 1516, visiting the schools of the meistersingers. He

wrote over 4,000 master songs and more than 2,000 fa-

bles, farces, morality plays and tales in verse (schwanke).

Sachs was an enthusiastic follower of LUTHERand much of

his work celebrates the Reformation; the verse allegory

Die Wittembergisch Nachtigall (The nightingale of Witten-

berg; 1523) was written in honor of Luther and the

advancement of Protestantism. His Shrovetide plays (Fast-

nachtsspiele) are celebrations of common life written in an

energetic and graphically descriptive style, giving a vivid

portrait of life in 16th-century Nuremberg. Many of his

songs were later adapted as Protestant hymns. He is most

famously celebrated in Richard Wagner’s opera Die Meis-

tersinger von Nürnberg (1868).

See also: MEISTERGESANG

Sack of Rome See ROME, SACK OF

sacra conversazione (Italian, “sacred conversation”) A

pictorial formula favored especially in the Italian Renais-

sance, in which the Madonna and Child are depicted en-

throned and flanked by a small intimate group of saints.

The saints are usually clearly identifiable by their dress or

the emblems that they carry (St. Peter with his keys, St.

Catherine with her spiked wheel, etc.); sometimes partic-

ular saints are featured because they have a connection

with the church or locality for which the picture was

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