A corresponding Renaissance : letters written by Italian women, 1375-1650 / translated and edited, and with an introductory essay by Lisa Kaborycha.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Kaborycha, Lisa, editor.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Renaissance.

Women--Religious life.

History.

Women.

Italy.

Women--Italy--History--Renaissance, 1450-1600--Sources.

Women--Italy--History--Sources.

Women--Religious life--Italy--History--Sources.

Renaissance--Italy--Sources.

Women--Renaissance.

Genre:

History.

Sources.

Physical Description:

xv, 302 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, [2016]

Contents:

Chapter 1 The Active Versus the Contemplative Life 31

1 Caterina Benincasa describes the execution of Niccolò di Toldo to Raymond of Capua 33

2 Brigida Baldinotti praises the women who serve at Florence's Santa Maria Nuova hospital 38

3 Cassandra Fedele responds to Alessandra Scala's request for advice on whether to write or marry 45

4 Paola Antonia Negri urges Gaspara Stampa to choose the life of the spirit over worldly life 47

5 Olimpia Fulvia Morata to Celio Secondo Curione on "giving birth" to her writings 51

6 Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi sends Christmas nativity scene decorations to her niece Maria 56

Suggestions for further reading 59

Chapter 2 Humanism and Its Discontents 61

7 Maddalena Scrovegni to Jacopo dal Verme in praise of Giangaleazzo Visconti 63

8 Isotta Nogarola asks Guarino Guarini why he has not responded to her letter 67

9 Costanza Varano writes to Isotta Nogarola, expressing admiration for her learning 70

10 Nicolosa Castellani Sanuti to Cardinal Bessarion challenging sumptuary laws 73

11 Laura Cereta to Agostino Emilio condemning women's excessive luxury in dress 91

Suggestions for further reading 96

Chapter 3 Governing the Household/Governing the State 99

12 Margherita Datini criticizes her husband Francesco Datini for his handling of business matters 101

13 Lucrezia Tornabuoni reports her impressions of a prospective bride for their son to husband Piero de' Medici 105

14 Eleonora d'Aragona complains to husband Ercole d'Este about his soldiers' unbridled violence 109

15 Guglielmina Schianteschi informs her husband Luigi della Stufa of her management of country property 112

16 Lucrezia Borgia warns her father Pope Alexander VI Borgia to leave Rome 116

17 Maria Salviati tells Giovanni [?] of her determination not to remarry 118

18 Caterina de' Ricci advises her father Pierfrancesco de' Ricci to resolve a family quarrel 122

Suggestions for further reading 125

Chapter 4 Mothers and Children 127

19 Pandolfina Baglioni expresses her desire to see her mother, Pantastlea Salimbene 129

20 Alessandra Macinghi Strozzi to her son Filippo Strozzi on taking precautions against illness and death 131

21 Lucrezia (Nannina) de' Medici confides in her mother Lucrezia Tornabuoni about a marital disagreement 136

22 Caterina Sforza warns her son Ottaviano Riario to maintain secrecy and beware of enemies 138

23 Cassandra Chigi discusses household needs and shopping with her mother Sulpizia Petrucci 141

24 Veronica Franco reproves a woman who wants to train her daughter as a courtesan 144

25 Isabella Andreini congratulates a man on the birth of a daughter 149

Suggestions for further reading 153

Chapter 5 Love and Friendship 155

26 Camilla Pisana complains to Francesco del Nero about her lover Filippo Strozzi 157

27 Maria Savorgnan to Pietro Bembo expressing the depth of her love for him 161

28 Cecilia Liconella expresses her love to Nicolo de Lazara, a noble she met in Padua 164

29 Marietta Corsini describes their newborn son to her husband Niccolò Machiavelli 166

30 Vittoria Colonna explains to Michelangelo Buonarroti why she has not written 168

31 Ginevra Gozzadini seeks marital advice from her spiritual advisor Leone Bartolini 171

32 Celia Romana describes amusements of Roman Carnival season and expresses distress at her lover's neglect 174

33 Emilia N. Fiorentina returns her lover's letters but asks him to publish his love poems 177

34 Margherita Costa imagines a love letter written by a beautiful woman to a dwarf 179

Suggestions for further reading 181

Chapter 6 Literature and Leisure 183

35 Bartolomea degli Obizzi Alberti discusses theories of reading with a female friend 185

36 Ippolita Maria Sforza describes her impressions as a newlywed at the Aragonese court to her mother Bianca Maria Visconti 189

37 Tullia d'Aragona asks Benedetto Varchi's aid in drafting a letter to Duke Cosimo I de' Medici and Duchess Eleonora 192

38 Laura Battiferra dedicates her book of poetry to Eleonora di Toledo, Duchess of Florence 195

39 Vittoria Archilei laments her declining singing career and asks the Grand Duchess Christine to assist her son 198

40 Francesca Caccini requests a libretto for her new composition from Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger 201

41 Arcangela Tarabotti thanks friar Giovanni Battista Fusconi for sending her his musical drama 205

Suggestions for further reading 208

Chapter 7 Art: Patrons and Painters 211

42 Isabella d'Este proposes a subject for a painting to Leonardo da Vinci 213

43 Veronica Gambara recommends a work of the painter Correggio to Isabella d'Este 215

44 Cornelia Collonello appeals to Michelangelo Buonarroti in a legal dispute with her father 217

45 Margherita Aratori expresses to Costanza Colonna how she misses her 221

46 Sofonisba Anguissola asks Philip II of Spain for a recommendation for her husband 223

47 Lavinia Fontana replies to Alfonso Ciacòn, sending a self-portrait that he had requested 225

48 Artemisia Gentileschi discusses costs and terms of payment for her paintings with Don Antonio Ruffo 227

Suggestions for further reading 230

Chapter 8 Inquiring Minds: Science and Philosophy 233

49 Ceccarella Minutolo to Theophilo on how knowledge is acquired and transmitted 235

50 Chiara Matraini to Maria Cardonia on the superiority of philosophy to military "science" 239

51 Margherita Sarrocchi confirms Galileo's astronomical observations to Guido Bettoli 245

52 Camilla Erculiani Greghetti explains her theory of the interaction of physical elements at the time of the Biblical Flood to Marton Berzeviczy 248

53 Sara Copio Sullam discusses philosophical and theological views on human mortality with Baldassarre Bonifacio 253

54 Virginia Galilei sends for linens and requests a copy of The Assayer from her father Galileo Galilei 258

55 Elena Lucrezia Corner Piscopia asks university director Nicolo Venier to restore her mentor's tenure 261

Suggestions for further reading 264.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9780199342433

0199342431

OCLC:

904227319