Giovanni Aurelio Augurello (Joannes Aurelius Augurellus) (1441–1524) was an Italian
humanist scholar, poet and
alchemist. Born at
Rimini, he studied
both laws in
Rome,
Florence and
Padova where he also consorted with the leading scholars of his time. At Florence he befriended
Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) and
Angelo Poliziano (1454-1494) and later while teaching
classics in
Treviso joined
Aldo Mantius' humanist circle in
Venice. Apart from his academic and literary work he practically experimented in
metallurgy and provided colour
pigments for his friend the Hermetic painter
Giulio Campagnola (born ca. 1480)[1]
He is best known for his 1515 allegorical poem on the making of gold, Chrysopoeia, which was dedicated to
Pope Leo X; leading to the famous but forged anecdote that the Pope had rewarded Augurello with a beautiful but empty purse as an
alchemist like him should on his own to be capable of replenishing it — he was actually bestowed with a
sinecure at the cathedral of
Treviso.[2]
Augurello's other works include Carmina (1505), Geronticon liber, Iambici libri, and Sermonum libri.
Notes
^Cfr. Dal Canton (1977) and (1978);
Campagnola is namely mentioned Chrysopoeia, 3, 291-322
^Cfr. Martels (1993), p. 124; Idem (1994), p. 979.
Bibliography
Allegretti, Antonio: De la Transmutatione de metalli. Poema d’alchimia del XVI secolo. Mino Gabriele (ed.). Rome 1981.
Dal Canton, Giuseppina: Giulio Campagnola 'pittore alchimista’ (I). Antichità viva 16/5 (1977), pp. 11–19.
Haskell, Yasmin: Round and Round we go: The Alchemical 'Opus circulatorium’ of Giovanni Aurelio Augurelli. Bibliothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance 59 (1997), pp. 585–606.
Kühlmann, Wilhelm: Alchemie und späthumanistische Formkultur. Der Straßburger Dichter Johann Nicolaus Furichius (1602-1633), ein Freund
Moscheroschs. Daphnis 13 (1984), pp. 101–135.
Martels, Zweder von: The Chrysopoeia (1515) of Ioannes Aurelius Augurellus and the importance of alchemy around 1500. Studi umanistici piceni 13 (1993), pp. 121–130
Idem: The Allegorical Meaning of the 'Chrysopoeia’ by Ioannes Aurelius Augurellus. Acta Conventus Neo-Latini Hafniensis. Proceedings of the Eight International Congress of Neo-Latin Studies. Copenhagen 12 August to 17 August 1991. Rhoda Schnur et al. (edd.). Birmingham-New York 1994, pp. 979–988.
Idem: Augurello's 'Chrysopoeia' (1515) : a turning point in the literary tradition of alchemical texts. Early Science and Medicine 5, 2 (2000), pp. 178–195.
Pavanello, Giuseppe: Un maestro del quattrocento. Giovanni Aurelio Augurello. Venice 1905.
Reiser, Thomas: Mythologie und Alchemie in der Lehrepik des frühen 17. Jahrhunderts. Die 'Chryseidos libri IIII’ des Straßburger Dichterarztes Johannes Nicolaus Furichius (1602-1633). Tübingen 2011, pp. 51–58.
Secret, François: 'Chrysopoeia’ et 'Vellus aureum’, Bibliothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance 38 (1976), pp. 109–110.