Renaissance Woman, Ramie Targoff
Renaissance Woman, Ramie Targoff
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Renaissance Woman
The Life of Vittoria Colonna

Author: Ramie Targoff

Narrator: Justine Eyre

Unabridged: 10 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 04/17/2018


Synopsis

Ramie Targoff's Renaissance Woman tells of the most remarkable woman of the Italian Renaissance: Vittoria Colonna, Marchesa of Pescara.

Vittoria has long been celebrated by scholars of Michelangelo as the artist's best friend—the two of them exchanged beautiful letters, poems, and works of art that bear witness to their intimacy—but she also had close ties to Charles V, Pope Clement VII and Pope Paul III, Pietro Bembo, Baldassare Castiglione, Pietro Aretino, Queen Marguerite de Navarre, Reginald Pole, and Isabella d'Este, among others.

Vittoria was the scion of an immensely powerful family in Rome during that city's most explosively creative era. Art and literature flourished, but political and religious life were under terrific strain. Personally involved with nearly every major development of this period—through both her marriage and her own talents—Vittoria was not only a critical political actor and negotiator but also the first woman to publish a book of poems in Italy, an event that launched a revolution for Italian women's writing.

Vittoria was, in short, at the very heart of what we celebrate when we think about sixteenth-century Italy; through her story the Renaissance comes to life anew.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Samantha on May 22, 2018

This book provides a unique glimpse into the 16th century. Vittoria Colonna was an intriguing historical figure, and her poetry and letters leave us a record of her life that give perspective on the church, treatment of women, and art of the era. I was particularly interested in the analysis of her......more

Goodreads review by Jeffrey on January 28, 2019

It may seem odd to judge a book by its use of punctuation, but I was delighted with Targoff's semi-colons, hyphens, parenthesis and so forth; they expressed her greater style: well-chiseled prose that was clear and flowed at a steady pace through the work. And what a life worth exploring. Colonna was......more

Goodreads review by Caroline on September 08, 2018

Extraordinary book. Beautifully written, researched with care and excitement. Story of a complicated sixteenth century woman and the interrelationships of the Italian and broader European elite. For someone versed in art history but not political or religio-political history this book brought to lif......more

Goodreads review by Linda on December 21, 2018

This book is not completely successful as a biography. It starts in the middle of Vittoria’s life, and spends a lot of time on her poetry, which I didn’t find all that appealing. The author does a good job, though, chronicling the two outstanding friendships of Vittoria’s life - one with Michelangel......more

Goodreads review by Michelle on November 23, 2018

I did not finish this book; I made it about 1/4 of the way through. The first several chapters were especially interesting, while after chapter 4, Targoff seemingly focuses on the more general history. Very interesting, but very dense, and the sheer amount of information presented was done in such a......more