Inventing the Renaissance Putto. Charles Dempsey
for translating from the Greek, and that when Zoppino published a second edition of Lucian's collected works (the first was anonymous), he credits Leoniceno as the translator. Although based on the VC manuscript, this edition mysteriously lacks the tale of the ass. Ultimately, Acocella must admit that the documents do not allow for a certain attribution. While Acocella's philological sleuthing is truly impressive, she unfortunately does not push beyond this endeavor to offer a plausible explanation for why Zoppino would be motivated to misattribute the translation to Boiardo or to seek to understand why the tale of the golden ass so fascinated the Este court. In the extensively illustrated second chapter, Acocella examines the interplay of visual and verbal representations of I'asino d'oro, focusing on the tale of Cupid and Psyche, an embedded narrative in Apuleius' Metamorphoses that enjoyed an autonomous success. The extensive catalogue of literary texts, paintings, frescos, and engravings depicting Cupid and Psyche will undoubtedly prove useful to other scholars. While the discussion of Raphaels, and his students Giulio Romano's and Perin del Vaga's, use of verbal descriptions as inspiration for their visual depictions of Psyche depends heavily on the scholarship of others, Acocella's detailed analysis of Vicenzo Tamagni's lesser known fresco cycle, Sala dell'asino d'oro in the Rocca de' Rossi in San Secondo near Palma, reveals that the artist based his work not on a literary text, but on the engravings in the 1519 Zoppino edition oiApulegio volgare. The appendix contains Acocella's critical edition of Lucio o I'asino, based on the VC manuscript, and Luciano: De asino aureo vulgari (1523). As neither the manuscript nor the rare book is readily available, this appendix renders the work all the more attractive. Acocella's book, with the its numerous illustrations, lengthy bibliography, and extensive documentation will become an indispensable resource for scholars interested in furthering our understanding of the role of the tale ofI'asino d'oro in Renaissance culture.