Self-portraits

Apart his autobiographical works, Leopardi has left us some pages in which he describes his appearance, well known to be deprived of any attractive aspects. We have chosen three, which have different aims. The first, bureaucratic and therefore wilfully “neutral”, is the description attached to a passport request, presented in 1819 (Leopardi was born at Recanati on 29^th June 1798):

Età 21 anni. Statura piccola. Capelli neri. Sopracciglia nere. Occhi cerulei. Naso ordinario. Bocca regolare. Mento simile. Carnagione pallida. Professione possidente.

Age 21 years. Short in stature. Black hair. Black eyebrows. Cerulean eyes. Regular mouth chin similar. Pale skin. Profession land owner.

The second description is in letter to Pietro Giordani dated 2^nd March 1818, and is instead full of pain for the loss of youthful vigour:     

... in somma io mi sono rovinato con sette anni di studio matto e disperatissimo in quel tempo che mi s’andava formando e mi si doveva assodare la complessione. E mi sono rovinato infelicemente e senza rimedio per tutta la vita, e rendutomi l’aspetto miserabile, e dispregevolissima tutta quella gran parte dell’uomo, che è la sola a cui guardino i più ...

... and so I have ruined myself with seven years of crazy and  most desperate study in that period in which I was growing to maturity and my body was developing. And I have infelicitously ruined myself and without remedy for all my life, and have made my aspect miserable, and disgusting all that is manly of me, which is all that most take into consideration ...

The third is contained in the dedicatory to Agli amici suoi di Toscana or His Tuscan Friends, dated 15^th December 1830 and published in the Florentine edition of the Canti (Piatti, 1831). In this “public” occasion Leopardi deeply laments his loss of health, which also entails renunciation to the pleasures of letters:  

Ma io non aveva appena vent’anni, quando da quella infermità di nervi e di viscere, che privandomi della mia vita, non mi dà speranza di morte, quel mio solo bene [i “cari studi”] mi fu ridotto a meno che a mezzo; poi, due anni prima dei trenta, mi è stato tolto del tutto, e credo oramai per sempre. Ben sapete che queste medesime carte io non ho potuto leggere, e per emendarle m’è convenuto servirmi degli occhi e della mano d’altri. ... Ho perduto tutto: sono un tronco che sente e pena.

But I had barely turned twenty when that infirmity of nerves and intestine, which deprived me of my life, does not give me hope of death, that my only wealth [my “dear studies”] was cut by less than half; then, two years before my thirties, I lost it entirely, and I fear now forever. You well know that these selfsame papers I was unable to read, and to amend them I had to use the eyes and hands of others. ... I have lost all; I am a trunk that feels and suffers.