Baldesar Castiglione

The paradox of Baldesar Castiglione’s life is that he was held in such high esteem while his career was that of an undistinguished soldier and a diplomat who could rarely achieve his goals. It had been the style not the substance of his career that had won him Charles V’s accolade of “one of the finest gentlemen in the world.” He had been at the heart of a network of courtiers and artists, and he had been unequalled in the deployment of all the symbols of a refined courtly and diplomatic life. In short, his life had become a work of art.