Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 9890
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Ajmar , Marta.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Exemplary Women in Renaissance Italy: Ambivalent Models of Behaviour? [the author argues that exemplary women from the classical past and from the ranks of the saints often embodied values that were more advanced than those in Italian Renaissance society; figures like Cornelia, daughter of Scipio Africanus renowned for her eloquence, were reinterpreted to emphasize her domestic and maternal strengths rather than her public skills in oratory; the author concludes, "The consideration of exemplary women actually enlarged the boundaries of the Renaissance notion of woman and generated a reappraisal of a woman's capacity for attaining virtue--but not her status or her role in society." (Page 260)].
  • Source: Women in Italian Renaissance Culture and Society.  Edited by Letizia Panizza.  European Humanities Research Centre, University of Oxford, 2000.  Pages 244 - 264.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Essay
  • Subject (See Also): Catalogs in Literature Catherine of Alexandria, Martyr, Saint Cornelia, Ancient Roman Matron Education Famous Women Human Behavior Morality in Literature Role Models Women in Literature
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: Italy
  • Century: 15- 16
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations: Six illustrations. Figure One Domenico Beccafumi, "Cornelia," panel painting, circa 1519 (Rome, Galleria Doria-Pamphili). Figure Two Anonymous artist, "Woman Reading," woodcut in Fra Filippo Foresti, "De plurimus claris selectisque mulieribus" (Ferrara, 1497), fol. clir (London, British Library). Figure Three Giovanni Sogliani, "St. Catherine," panel painting, circa 1530 (Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera). Figure Four Masolino da Panicale, "Disputation of St. Catherine" (detail), fresco, circa 1429- 1432 (Rome, S. Clemente). Figure Five Jacopo Tintoretto, "Disputation of St. Catherine," painting on canvas, 1582- 1585 (Venice, S. Caterina). Figure Six Anonymous artist, "Cassandra Fedele," woodcut in Fra Filippo Foresti, "De plurimus claris selectisque mulieribus" (Ferrara, 1497), fol. clivv (London, British Library).
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  • Abstract:
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: Victoria and Albert Museum
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2000.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 1900755092