VITTORIA COLONNA
AUTHENTICITY of a PETRARCHIST POET
INTRODUCTION
Penso un marmo breve chiuda il corpo mio col nome insieme
Vittoria Colonna
1
RESEARCH REPORT
Abstractivity, Eclecticism, Intertextualism
Shadowy Afterlife of the Spirited Renaissance Poet
4
KEY OBJECTIVES of THIS BOOK
VITTORIA COLONNA
more authentic, more complex, more lively
METHODS
Text-Centred Approach
Defining Authenticity on the meta-level
of her sonnets by means of Empirical Approach
7
VITTORIA COLONNA
MARCHESA DE PESCARA
SELF-FASHIONING IN HER RENAISSANCE SOCIETY
20
Restriction of Female Self-Fashioning
Damnation of Vittoria Colonna by the Inquisition
24
VITTORIA COLONNA
Eccelso mio Signor, questa Ti scrivo
Letter Poem to her Warfaring Husband
Authentic Features
33
VITTORIA COLONNA
MACROTHEMES and SONNETS
Translation and Interpretation
36
CORRESPONDENCE SONNETS
Self-Referential
To Reginald Pole
F iglio e Signor
47
To Pietro Bembo
Bembo mio chiaro
Spirited Romance in Letters and Sonnets
68
FAMILY SONNETS
Ironizing the Panegyric
To her late father Fabrizio Colonna
A Pangyric the daughter could not bring to paper
S’io non dipingo in carte
90
VITTORIA COLONNA
HOMMAGE TO HER HUSBAND
Replacing the Panegyric
by MYTH and PORTRAIT
Qui fece il mio lume a noi ritorno
A le Vittorie Tue
97
Amaro Lacrimar
VITTORIA COLONNA
WIDOW SONNETS
Self-Referential Expressive Unique
VITTORIA COLONNA
DE PROFUNDIS
The Female Individual in Bereavement
99
RESEARCH REPORT
Scattering the widow sonnets among RIME AMOROSE
First Print of Parma ( 1538) and Alan Bullock (1982)
105
PROEM
Turning away from Petrarch
Scrivo sol per sfogare l’interna doglia
108 Penetrating Psychic Abysses
Panic, Pschosis, Despair
S’io cerco, ahi lassa, fuggir dal pensiero
113 Isolation of the widow in Dante-esque images
Quando il gran lume appar ne l’oriente
116 Distorted Perception in Depression
Parmi che ‘l sol non porge il usato lume
121
VITTORIA COLONNA
GENRE PICTURES OF THE WIDOW
Giving the Widows Voices and Faces
145
VITTORIA COLONNA
RIME AMOROSE
Genre Picture
Young Poetess versus Literary Establishment
Felici Spirti
150
AMBIENT INFLUENCES ON HER RIME AMOROSE
Biographical Conditioning - Sociocultural Motivations
Humanist Feminism – Petrarchan Encouragement of Individualism
157
PLATONICALLY INSPIRED LOVE SONNETS
Female Critique of Platonism on the Metalevel of her Sonnets
172
SONNETS TO GOD AMOR
Amalgamation of Amor Theology, Platonism
and Sensual-Female Love Poetry
183
Extraordinary Sonnet
Quando io dal caro scoglio guardo intorno
Female-poetical coalescence of
Nature and Otherworldliness, Here and Now and Eternity
Sensual and Platonic Love
Body-Soul Unity and Body-Soul Dualism
Married Life in the Beyond
in one single sonnet
188
VITTORIA COLONNA
INCANTATION OF FEMALE SOVEREIGNTY
and INNER EMIGRATION
mirrored in natural phenomena
a juniper tree, the rock in Ischia
Quel bel ginepro
209
VITTORIA COLONNA
REMAKING THE HOLY VIRGIN
Participation of Theotokos in Divinity
Little inferior to her godson is his eternal mother.
Female Sovereignty of the Godmother
210 Letter to the Duchess of Amalfi
211 Vittoria Colonna’s Holy Virgin in Michelangelo’s Last Judgement
212
Hymnal Praise of Theotokos
in Cosmic Imagery and Earthly Light Symbolism
Stella del nostro mar In forma di un mosaico un alto muro
221
Ontological Research
into the life of the Godmother on Earth
Profanation of the Divine Mystery
by unruly empathy into physical sensations
of MADONNA LACTANS
Donna dal Ciel Gradita
226
ANNUNCIATION and CRUCIFIXION
Fateful Scenes in the Godmother’s Life
Angel Beato
229 THE CATASTROPHE
Pietà with her dead godson on her lap
Theotokos between mourning and prophesies
238
VITTORIA COLONNA
ICONOGRAPHY of the HOLY VIRGIN
Critique of Apostle Luke as Icon Painter
Mentre che quanto
244
VITTORIA COLONNA
Ontological Remake of Theotokos
FRANCESCO PETRARCA
Canzone alla Vergine
257
VITTORIA COLONNA
POETESS of RENAISSANCE-HUMANISM
and of REFORMED THEOLOGY
No Lily Saint on the Iter Spirituale
From Rime Amorose to Rime Spirituali
Thematic Change and no Conversion
Understanding zeitgeist intuitively
Creating the Spiritual Petrarca Sonnet as the order of the day
The Secret of Publicist Success of her Rime Spirituali
262
VITTORIA COLONNA
THEOLOGICAL DISCOURSES at EYE-LEVEL
with leading Reform Theologians
JUAN DE VALDES; GASPARO CONTARINI;
BERNARDINO OCHINO, REGINALD POLE and the SPIRITUALI
291
VITTORIA COLONNA
PERSONA SFUMATA
In ECCLESIA VITERBIENSIS
Theological Self-Study
299
VITTORIA COLONNA
SPIRITUAL MENTOR of MICHELANGELO
301
Inner Dynamics of their Relationship 1541-1543
310
HERETICAL PAIR
Il CANZONIERE for MICHELANGELO
reflects the religious authenticity in her
RIME SPIRITUALI
314
VITTORIA COLONNA
INFLUENCE ON MICHELANGELO´S
ICONOGRAPHY
The Crucified for Vittoria Colonna
Madonna/alias Vittoria in the Last Judgement
Spirituality of VITERBO in CAPPELLA PAOLINA
321
VITTORIA COLONNA
Seeking the DIVINE
Rime Spirituali
322
PREFACE
A GODSEEKER
Sans Pareil
327
RESEARCH REPORT
Reasons for the Shadowy Tradition
of Vittoria Colonna and of her Rime Spirituali
332
AIMS AND METHODS
of INTERPRETATION
Necessity of Empirical Approach
335
VITTORIA COLONNA
SELF-CONCEPTION of the RENAISSANCE POETESS
MEDIUM OF THE DIVINE
Ma dal foco divin, che il mio intelletto infiamma
convien ché escan queste faville
343
OVERVIEW
RIME SPIRITUALI
Macrothemes and Sonnets
349
THEOLOGIA CRUCIS
350
PROEM
354
Theologia crucis and Appollinian Divinity
L’Alto Signor
355 Vittoria Colonna versus Ochino
Vedea l’Alto Signor
360 Meditation of the Crucified
Veggio in Croce
362 Theologia Crucis and Human Wickedness
Dimmi Lume
365 The Vicious World and the Corrupted Church
Veggio di mille veli avolto
368 Theologia crucis in poetical perfection
Braccia aprende in croce
372
SOLA FIDE
374 Lively Faith and God’s Absence
Deh potess´io
376 Faith and Hope
Se con l’armi celesti
379 Faith and Scepticism
Con la croce a gran passi
381
VITTORIA COLONNA
SPIRITUALITY of ECCLESIA VITERBIENSIS
Authentic Response to VITERBO
ENLIGHTENMENT through THE HOLY SPIRIT
as POETICAL INSPIRATION
382 Divino Spirto,il cui soave ardore
383 Questo ver noi meraviglioso effetto
385 Doi modi abbiamo
387 Qual digiuno augellin
VITTORIA COLONNA
Spirituality fails in Angst, Panic, Depression
389 Non si puo aver
Absence of the Holy Spirit in her soul
392 Con vomer d’umilità
393 Padre Eterno del Ciel
VITTORIA COLONNA
A Utopian Proposal to God
396 Vorrei, che `l vero sol
397
VITTORIA COLONNA
Estrangement from Viterbo
Religious Subjectivism
God-Seeker in This World
399
Magic and Religion
The scream GESU in Armageddon
Vorrei che sempre un grido
400
RELIGIO
Recconnection to God
401
Quando il turbato mar
404
VITTORIA COLONNA
Longing for the Divine
Here and Now in this world
E sereno dal bel lume il desio
405
Truth appears to a serene spirit
In a beautiful world
Quando, mercé del Ciel
407
Résumé
VITTORIA COLONNA
Renaissance Mentality
in her
RIME SPIRITUALI
409
Tempo é pur ch´io
EPILOGUE
VITTORIA COLONNA
EXPERIMENTING wth the DIVINE
413
APPENDIXES
413
SONNETS
in Alphebetical Order
416
DRAWINGS of MICHELANGELO
for VITTORIA COLONNA
421
PRIMARY TEXTS
422
COLLECTIVE WORKS
424
REFERENTIAL LITERATURE