The concept of beauty in Ficino's commentary De amore and its influence on Renaissance aesthetics

The aim of this study is to examine piece of work of Marsilio Ficino known as De amore according to the characteristic of author's life and work, and to demonstrate its influence on Renaissance aesthetic. The main motive of the writing that was composed as commentary of Plato's Symposion is the function of love in the cosmology inspired by neoplatonists, mainly Plotinus. Ficino's principal contribution to the Renaissance and modern thinking is translation and development of Plato's work including his conception of double love. This study summarizes Ficino's life and work, afterward it examines writing itself emphasizing aesthetic themes and then demonstrates the influence of Ficino's conception of love on selected works of Renaissance literature. The selection of texts exposes transformation of this conception from piece of work directly inspired by Ficino's theory passing through writing in which is this theory confronted with formal literary requirements to the texts demonstrating dominance of literary form over philosophical content. Keywords Marsilio Ficino*Renaissance Platonism*Renaissance aesthetic*platonic lov