Marco Girolamo Vida

Who was Marco Girolamo Vida?

Marco Girolamo Vida or Marcus Hieronymus Vida was an Italian humanist, bishop and poet. Born at Cremona, Vida joined the court of Pope Leo X and was given a prior at Frascati. He became bishop of Alba in 1532.

Vida wrote a considerable amount of Latin poetry, both secular and sacred, in classical style, particular the style of Virgil. Among his best-known works are the didactic poem in three books, De arte poetica, partly inspired by Horace, and Scacchia Ludus, translated into many languages over the centuries. Both poems were first published in 1527. His major work was the Latin epic poem Christiados libri sex, in the style and much of the language of Virgil. He began work on it under Pope Leo X in the 1510s but did not complete it until the early 1530s. It was published in 1535, well after the pope's death.