Towards an Analysis of Michelangelo’s Epistolary Language: Some Remarks

The goal of this paper is to enhance our understanding of the language used by Michelangelo in his letters. All earlier scholars have insisted that his epistolary style was an excellent example of sixteenth-century Florentine writing and although the claims supporting this argument are well founded, more studies are needed. In this paper, I will focus on a small number of linguistic features in order to compare Michelangelo’s epistolary language with that of other writers. The preliminary results of this enquiry suggest that he may have been more aware than is usually assumed of the contemporary grammatical precepts, which encouraged the use of the fourteenth-century Florentine language.