Sprezzatura
#big-ideas #effortless
The events that repeatedly leave us in awe are ones that are acts of god: lightning in the sky, floods, sunsets, and vast views. There is a certain type of gracefulness they embody.
In 1528, Baldassare Castiglione captured this principle in his book The Book of the Courtier. He called it ==Sprezzatura, which is the capacity to make difficult things easy.== The artist of the Renaissance kept their work hidden from the world as they created it. The principle of sprezzatura gave each piece a magical effect—presenting a sense of ease and beauty, all of the effort that went into their creation was hidden from the world. This is what magic is: created from hours of work to perfect the sleight of hand needed for it to appear effortless and evoke awe.