Art history:  The Italian Renaissance  #2

The Italian Renaissance is one of the best known period of art history. 

The earliest poems in Italian can be found in the 13th century, but until the 15th century Latin was still the language of choice. Petrarch revolutionized poetry in Italy and made the sonnet popular. He contemporary, Boccacio published works that are still read today. Lorenzo di Medici patron of the arts wrote poetry himself. In the 15th century,  Italian noble families such as the Medici  competed with each other to promote culture by, offering hospitality and financial support to literary men of the time, and founding libraries.  Humanism, the new culture of the 15th century was a revaluation of man and opposed the medieval view of man as a being with relatively little value.  Poets were now creating sincere poetry in which conventional  and less conventional themes were expressed with new, original intimacy and fervourDuring the Renaissance, the   papal court itself regarded humanism as a force to be assimilated, hence the Papal court became a great patron of the arts.  The Certame Coronario, a public poetry competition held in Florence in 1441 wanted to prove that the Italian language was as worthy as Latin. Pietro Bembo, a poet from Venice wrote exclusively in the tuscan vernacular language of Petrarch and Bocaccio and published one of the first Italian grammars.   The Florentine Accademia della Crusca  published the first edition of an Italian dictionary in 1612.  Torquato Tasso   was the last great poet of the Italian Renaissance and one of the greatest of Italian literature.

Behind those figures were also women, some of whom achieved appreciation thanks to their talents. Women in poetry in particular, and in society in general did not enjoy the same status as en. Most upper-class women had only two options in their lives: either getting married or join the convent. Some of the poets featured here came from artistic families and found their vocation sometimes despite their families. Some of them became famous during their lifetime, others slowly faded into obscurity over the centuries but are being rediscovered by dedicated scholars and amateurs.




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COMPIUTA DONZELLA  -  
Compiuta Donzella, (13th C) was the earliest woman poet writing in Italian,  She was active in Florence during  the second half of the 13th century. Only Three of her  sonnets. This is probably a pseudonym as the name translates in "the accomplished lady). One of her sonnets describes how her father wants to marry her against her will. Her style is elegiac and shows that she was a woman of remarkable education which was rare at the time. 

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Christine de Pizan  ( 1364 – c. 1430), Born in Venice, She  was an Italian  french-speaking poet and court writer for King Charles of VI of France and several French dukes. after the death of her husband. Her father worked as a physician, court astrologer and Councillor of the Republic of Venice, Thomas de Pizan  before accepting  to the court of Charles V in 1368.Considered to be some of the earliest feminist writings, her work includes novels, poetry, and biography, and she also penned literary, historical, philosophical, political, and religious reviews and analyses. Her best known works include The Book of the City of Ladies and the The Treasure of the City of Ladies. are advice to princesses, princes, and knights and they  remained in print until the 16th century. Although not strictly speaking, a poet of the Italian renaissance,  she is worth mentioning as she is the one of the earliest women who earned a living with her writing. 

Lucrezia Tornabuoni (1427– 1482)  This poet and author was also an influential Italian political adviser She was a member of one of the most powerful Italian families of the time and married Piero di Medici, lord of Florence. Lucrezia had significant political influence during the rule of her husband and then of her son Lorenzo the Magnificent. Lucrezia and Piero ensured that their children acquired good taste in literary culture and the fine arts. As a noblewoman, Lucrezia possessed more freedom to own property and conduct businesses.  She used her own  income to provide dowries for women from poor families so that they could marry.  Her works were written to inspire and educate her  children and grandchildren, and published after her death, even set to music. 

Veronica Gambara -  (1485-1550) was an Italian poet and politician. She was the ruler of the County of Corregio  from 1518 until 1550.  Born in Lombardy, Gambara received a humanist education, studying Latin, Greek, philosophy, theology and scripture. In 1502, at the age of 17, she began corresponding with the leading poet Pietro Bembo who became her poetic mentor two years later when she began sending him her compositions.  In 1509,  she married her cousin, the 50-year-old widower Giberto  Count of Corregio.  After her husband's death in 1518,  she took charge of the stateas well as the education of her two sons and her  step-daughter.  Her small court became a salon visited by Pietro Bembo, the painter Titian among others. She also corresponded with the poet Bernardo Tasso, father of Torquato Tasso.  and emperor Charles V.   80 of her poems have survived. She wrote both lyrical and political poems in the Italian language, and long before the unification of 1871, she expressed the concept of Italy as a political entity. 

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Vittoria Colonna (1492 – 1547),  she was an Italian noblewoman   and poet.  Her husband spent a long time in  captivity and Colonna was able to develop relationships within the intellectual circles of Ischia and Naples.Her early poetry began to attract attention in the late 1510sand she ultimately became one of the most popular poets of 16th-century Italy. She was also a muse to the famous painter Michelangelo who also wrote poetry.  She became a widow in 1525.  She corresponded with fellow poets  Pietro Bembo and Marguerite de Navarre. While being deeply religious, she also saw the need for reforms within the catholic church.   Her cousin Cardinal Pompeo Colonna  dedicated to her  his Apologia mulierum (apologies to women) where he argues that women should held public office. In her later years, aged 50, she became a muse to the aging Michelangelo. Her poetry has never been out of print making her with Veronica Gambara and Gaspara Stampa, one of Italy most beloved poets. 

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Isabella di Morra (1520 – 1545 )was born into a noble family in Favale in the kingdom of Naples. Her three brothers forced her to live in isolation so she was cut off from any salon or literary circles. She lived and wrote in solitude and eventually befriended  her neighbours Diego Sandoval de Castro and his wife Antonia Caracciolo. Diego was a former soldier of Emperor Charles V army and  a poet of the florentine academy and became Isabella di Morra's tutor.  A rumour arouse about an extra-marital affair although there were no grounds for that. Using her poetry as evidence, the brothers killed Isabella by stabbing her. Diego managed to flee at first, but the brothers eventually killed him too.  The death of Isabella went almost unnoticed and even approved by society according to the code of honour  of the 16th century, and Diego Sandoval's murder was hardly investigated. The poems of Isabella were discovered when the authorities entered her estate to investigate the murder. There are ten sonnets and three poems, which were published posthumously. Isabella herself defined her style as "bitter, harsh and sorrowful" or "unmannered and frail". It closely addresses the tragic circumstances of her life. Her poetry inspired Torquato Tasso and after being forgotten for a long time, was reappraised in the 20th c. 

Gaspara Stampa (1523 – 1554) This Italian poet born in Veniceis considered to have been the greatest woman poet of the Italian Renaissance, and she is regarded by many as the greatest Italian woman poet of any age.  When Gaspara was eight, her father died and her mother, Cecilia, moved to Venice   with her children, whom she educated in literature, music, history, and painting. Gaspara and Cassandra excelled at singing and playing the lute. Early on, the Stampa   household became a literary club, visited by many well-known Venetian writers, painters and musicians. There is evidence that Gaspara herself was a musician who performed madrigals of her own composition. In 1550, Stampa became a member of the Accademia dei Dubbiosi under the name of "Anaxilla." She began a love affair with Count Collaltino di Collalto and dedicated poems to him, when the affair cooled off, Stampa sank into  depression, but the result of this period is a collection of beautiful, intelligent and assertive poems in which she triumphs over Collaltino, creating for herself a lasting reputation. She makes clear in her poems that she uses her pain to inspire the poetry. Her health was frail and she died prematurely in  1554. Her 311 poems were published posthumously. and are one of the most important collections of female poetry of the 16th century.  The German.language  poet, Rainer Maria Rilkerefers to Gaspara Stampa in the first of his Duino Elegieswhich is often considered his greatest work.

Tarquinia Molza (1 November 1542 – 8 August 1617) was an Italian singer, poet, conductor, composer and philosopher.  She was considered a great virtuosa involved with the famous Concerto delle Donne, a group of professional singers at the court of Ferrara. She was born in Modena, and her grandfather was himself a poet. Her parents insisted that all their children receive the same education. She learned Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and philosophy until she was sixteen. She studied with the scientist John Politiano and the poet Francis Patrizio, and learned astronomy from the mathematician Antony Guarini. She married Paolo Porrino in 1560, who supported her studies with  Francesco Patrizi. She was widowed in 1579. By 1583 she was living in Ferrara  in the official capacity of lady-in-waiting to Duchess Margherita Gonzago d'Este  where she was a famous performer, conductor, and composer. For her achievements, Molza was granted Roman citizenship   in 1600,  and was the first woman to receive that honour.