Nature and Artifice in G.B. Doni's thought

The aesthetic thought of G.B. Doni, as expressed in various theoretical observations and numerous references to practical problems relating to dramatic production, seems to be highly complex and involved. The conceptual approach adopted by the writer is seen to stem essentially from a single supposition: the definition of the relationship between prodesse and delectare with reference to the predominance of the new theatrical genre. The antinomy between prodesse and delectare in fact constitutes one of the principal concerns of the theories of poetics developed in Italy in the Baroque period. Doni's position may be identified with that of moderate critics, in as much as he attempts to bring about the same kind of mediation. Doni proposes a form in which the classicistic principle of expression, of nature (prodesse) is combined harmoniously with artifice, with spectacle, with dramma in musica. In his attempt to reconcile tradition with modernity, theoretical requirements with references to practice, prodesse with delectare, and nature with artifice Doni has made an original contribution to early 17th-century theory.