Zuan Heic, credo Memelino. Adattamenti, traduzioni, storpiature dei nomi degli artisti oltremontani in taluni scritti italiani di prima età moderna

Abstract

This paper focuses on the Italian reception of the names of foreign painters during the 15th and 16th centuries, presenting a few specific cases that shed light on the process of incorporation, through which the pronunciation of Flemish names – some well-known, some still to be identified – was conveyed in writing by critics and collectors. Treatises and inventories give us the opportunity to reflect on the misspellings, adaptations, puzzling translations, as well as on the customs and meanings, concerning the response to both foreign sounds and competing stylistic schools from outside Italy.