Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Construction of A Life Madonna Prope
The Construction of A Life Madonna Prope
Fredrika H. Jacobs
To cite this article: Fredrika H. Jacobs (1993) The construction of a life: Madonna
Properzia De'Rossi ‘Schultrice’ Bolognese, Word & Image, 9:2, 122-132, DOI:
10.1080/02666286.1993.10435481
Article views: 48
A lovely highly gifted woman, who is persecuted by only rare to find a woman who worked in this medium,
professional jealousy, is unsuccessful in love, and dies at the but nothing less than 'exceptional' to find one who both
height of her fame in the hey-day of her beauty - have we understood and applied the theoretical principles of this
not here all the elements for melodrama and romance? 'most difficult art' with 'perfect success'. 2
(Laura M. Ragg, 1907) Within the context of Italian Renaissance art history
On 22june 1830 Antonio Saffi the truth of Saffi's observation appears in large measure
to be correct. More than twenty-five women active in
twelve cities from Venice to Naples have been recorded as
artists during the Cinquecento. Most were painters. Two
Sirani, and those were intagliatrici, and four - all Milanesi - were ricama-
others who raised the glory of the gentle sex'. 1 But, he trici.3 De'Rossi was the sole scultrice. 4 In the words of
continued, more notable still was Properzia De'Rossi, for, Giorgio Vasari, she alone 'braved the roughness of
unlike Quistelli, Anguissola, Fontana and Sirani, marble and the unkindly chisels' 'as if to wrest from us
De' Rossi was ascultrice (figure I). It was, Saffi argued, not [that is, male artists] the palm of supremacy'.~ For this
singular achievement Vasari bestowed upon her the
honor ofbeing the only woman artist among I42 'uomini
valenti' memorialized in the first edition of his volumi-
nous history of Renaissance art, Le vile de' piit eccellenti
pittori, scultori et architettori, I 550. 6
In theory the celebrity Vasari granted Properzia was
one of great significance. As T. S. R. Boase rightly noted,
Vasari's Vite 'fixed for some 300 years the general views
... about the art of the Renaissance ... [His] grading of
artistic achievements formed a canon that was long
unquestioned, and any artist who escaped his notice has
had a retarded progress in finding appreciation'. 7 But in
reality, the privilege of having one's life recorded by
Vasari could prove to be a dubious honor. At least in the
case of Properzia De'Rossi, Boase's statement should be
amended to read that any artist who did not escape the
influential critic's notice has had to contend with
obfuscating anecdotes and moralizing evaluations of both
her work and character, for ifVasari labelled De'Rossi a
'grandissime miracolo della natura', he also character-
ized her as a woman who could not cope with the
torments of unrequited passion. Indeed, Saffi's discorso on
the merits of De'Rossi's work delivered to Bologna's
Accademia di Belli Arti three hundred years after the
death of the sculptor may be described more rightly as a
difesa.
Two years earlier, in I828, Paolo Costa's Prope~ia
Figure 1. Properzia De'Rossi, wood-cut from Giorgio Vasari, Le Viii De'Rossi had been performed and published. A reppresenta-
de' piu eccellenti pitiJJri, sculiJJri ed architettori ( 1568). ~ione tragica in four acts, Costa's play is the piteous story of
123
much faith and, for my part, I see it as a fable' -the story (Castagno, Torrigiano, Sodoma), Vasari's Vitt presents a
continued to be told. 14 Indeed, the quasi-iconic status composite portrait of what the (male) artist is or, at least,
enjoyed by Vasari's text helped the proposed likeness what he should be - a man of outstanding personal
between artist and image to be cast, quite literally, in qualities who transfers his virtue into works of virtuosity.
stone. But when Vasari's portrayal of the scultrict as a But in contrast to the many lives of pittori, scultori and
'poor love-stricken young woman [povera innamorata architettori that coalesce to reveal Vasari's concept of the
giovane] [who] came to succeed most perfectly in every- creative male persona, his characterization of De'Rossi,
thing, except in her unhappy passion', was conjoined at least in the first edition, must, because of its
with Lomazzo's suggestion that her unrequited passion singularity, represent that of the female. Here the
made her as tragic a figure as Medea and Sappho, the individual cannot be subsumed into the universal. As the
image of the Bolognese artist suffered a critical blow. She lone woman among an assemblage of talented men,
became a melancholic, or more accurately, a victim of Vasari's Properzia De'Rossi suggestively represents the
erotomania. While the analogy between Saffira and strengths and foibles of all woman artists. Exactly what
Properzia was less than complimentary, implying an these strengths and weaknesses are is set forth in the
inability to control carnal desire, the analogy between commentary on joseph and Potiphar's Wift. While she may
Sappho and the sculptor was damning, suggesting that exhibit signs of 'nobile ed eleva to ingegno', De' Rossi's
woman's lack of capacity to restrain her ardor inevitably erotic passions overrule her creative judgement. 18
results in a lack of capacity to create. The implications of If the subsequent analogies between De'Rossi and
these associations effectively undermined all that her Sappho put forth by Lomazzo and Costa at least
inclusion in the canonical history of art seemed to acknowledge a positive aspect of the female character-
promise. Rather than be admitted to the ranks of the initial, if not enduring, creative genius - the comparison
gifted and productive artist, De'Rossi was excluded from between Properzia and Potiphar's wife cannot be seen as
this elite company when she was cast into the abyss of the complimentary. Dante, for example, condemns the
irrational and inactive lovesick woman. adulterous Saffira as 'Ia falsa ch' accuso Giuseppe' and, as
other illustrations of the story indicate, her vice, which
PROPERZJA AS SAFFIRA stands in sharp contrast to Joseph's virtue, epitomized
Vasari, no less than those who made his biographies 'the dangers of a lustful woman'. 19 Certainly, sexual
objects of uncritical devotion, frequently interpreted a invitations issued by a married woman, which according
specific work as a reflection of its maker, thereby making to Vasari De'Rossi was, constituted unacceptable beha-
it a form of self-portraiture. Clearly, this is the case with vior.20 Together with silence, chastity was ~ woman's
Michelangelo's faun. With its damaged nose, the faun prized virtue. For De'Rossi to transgress social mores by
reflects the sculptor's own disfigurement by the fist of the making such advances was an offense. To then express
envious Torrigiano. 15 Similarly, Vasari, who accepted them visually, if not verbally, was a double
the story of Castagno's purported murder of Domenico contravention.
Veneziano, claimed that the 'invidioso' and 'maligno' But Properzia's Saffira-like action was not, it seems,
Castagno unwittingly 'painted himself [in one of the her only fault. De'Rossi had a temper that ran as hot as
decorative medallions in Santa Maria Nuova] with the her passions. According to records in the Archivio
face of Judas Iscariot, whom he resembled both in Criminale, she was brought before Bologna's tribunal on
appearance and deed'. 16 The likeness Vasari perceived more than one occasion to answer to charges of disorderly
between the wife of Potiphar and the woman who carved conduct. In a series of court hearings that began on 25
this 'quasi disperata' woman falls into this category. October 1520, and extended through April of the
Properzia is Saffira. following year, 'Propertiam De Rubris ipsus Ser Antonio
Such analogies reflect Vasari's penchant for moraliza- Galeatii concubinam habitatricem in Cappella Sancti
tion as well as his debt to the genre ofepideictic rhetoric in Felicis' was accused of entering and destroying the
its classical and Christianized forms. As Carl Goldstein garden of her neighbor Francesco da Milano, a velvet
has noted, 'Vasari was concerned more with the exemp- merchant. Two days after the complaint was filed,
lary and universal than with the individual, and, Antonio Galeazzo appeared before the curia to request a
therefore, had much in common with the medieval stay of criminal proceedings in order that he and his
biographer. Both were practitioners of a type of rhetoric accomplice might first settle all civil claims lodged
tracing its origins back to the ancients, for whom it had a against them. Apparently, the request was granted.
serious ethical function: to provide models of virtue and Indeed, a series of similar supplications eventually
incite to moral conduct.' 17 By praising an artist's virtue resulted in the suspension of all charges leveled against
(Brunelleschi, Donatello, Michelangelo) and by aug- the pair.
menting this praise through a condemnation of vice But this confrontation with Bologna's civil and crimi-
125
whether 'donnesca grazia' refers to the way Saffira attempts in contrast to the unsuccessful attempt by De'Rossi (and
to disrobe the youth or to the manner in which the scultrice Saffira) to disrobe the object of her desire, Vasari
has carved this desperate and passionate act. 28 This eloquently lays bare the passions and frustrations of the
reveals something about Properzia's style, or virtuosity. subject of his text. 32 Lomazzo and Costa were to see
Consistent with the purpose of epideictic rhetoric, through this covering and seize the opportunity to
Vasari not only contrasts De' Rossi's 'donnesca grazia' with complete that which V asari initiated. The likeness
the unqualified grazia he has observed in works by male between Properzia and Potiphar's wife would be
artists, he also lays blame squarely on the scultrice for the extended to include Sappho, the archetype of the creative
dissipation of her creative powers. Once expressed, her woman abandoned by her lover.
passionate infatuation has robbed her of the desire to do
any more work. While this is not the sole example of the PROPERZIA AS SAPPHO
sad repercussions of carnal cravings - Raphael, for If the proposed likeness between Properzia and Poti-
example, 'kept up his secret love affairs and pursued his phar's wife is intriguing for what it implies about
pleasures with no sense of moderation', which led to his De'Rossi the woman, then Lomazzo's suggestion that the
demise when, 'on one occasion, he went to excess and scultrice may be compared to Sappho is still more
returned home afterwards with a violent fever'- it is the engrossing for what it insinuates about De'Rossi the
only example where irrational love is the focus of life and artist. More than in the case of Properzia De'Rossi,
art. 29 If, as stated earlier, Vasari's characterization of credible biographical details concerning Sappho's life
De'Rossi, because of its singularity, must disclose the have been overshadowed by a plethora of legendary
strengths and weaknesses of women artists, then the inventions. 33 As Dejean has noted, 'the few cliched poses
rhetoric or panegyric has fulfilled its ethical function. of classical literary figures - Socrates the teacher, for
Historical fact, tempered with moral instruction, has example- that inhabit the popular imagination can in no
been offered and the judgement of the one has become the way be compared with either the variety or the narrative
potential and potent criticism of the many. complexity of the fictions that have circulated about
Although Vasari's life of Properzia De'Rossi is unique Sappho.' 34 On the one hand there is the Sappho hailed by
in its narrowly focused attention on the unification oflife Plato, Plutarch, Catullus, Ausonius, and later Boccaccio
and art, its blend of fact and fiction is typically as the tenth muse, while on the other there is Tatian's
characteristic of the Vite as a whole. As Goldstein has Sappho, the 'love-crazy female fornicator who even sings
rightly observed, 'Vasari has been judged guilty of a about her own licentiousness.' These characterizations,
certain amount of "mythologizing". He wrote in the no less than those that define Properzia De'Rossi -
Italian novelistic tradition. But if his form drew inspi- Pompeo Vizani's gentildonna and the concubina recorded in
ration from the novelle, his content has been understood as the Archivio Criminale di Bologna - simply do not
coming from the more historically reliable sources: oral match. 35 Indeed, so great was the confusion surrounding
reports, family papers, etc. ' 30 The vita of Properzia the identity of Sappho that Aelian alleges the presence
De'Rossi appears to substantiate this assessment of the in Lesbos of two women with the same name. 36 In the
author. As noted, there are significant parallels between Varia Historia he describes one Sappho as 'the V ersifyer'.
historical records and Vasari's account of the sculptor's This Sappho, Aelian claims, was 'among such as were
life. Yet Vasari's De'Rossi, who was beautiful, talented in wise, learned and skillful.' But of the other Sappho he
the musical and visual arts, 'excellent not only in says, 'I hear also that there was another Sappho in
household matters ... but also in sciences without Lesbos, a strong whore, and an arrant strumpet.' Given
number', reflects not only Vasari's tendency to mythol- the proposed likeness between Properzia and Potiphar's
ogize (and idealize) the artist, it also mirrors contempor- wife, the analogy between the sculptor and the second
aneous notions of woman that were appearing in ever Sappho, 'a strong whore', becomes all the more
increasing numbers of tracts and treatises on the subject. intriguing.
In choosing to gloss over the more sordid details of Even if such parallels were unintended, the suggestion
De'Rossi's life, Vasari simply adhered to the didactic that De'Rossi was like the 'learned and skillful' Sappho
patterns of exemplification that shape other biographical was not wholly positive, particularly in the light of the
catalogues of illustrious personages. 31 company she shared in Lomazzo's text: Medea and
This brings us back to the previously posed question. This be. As Mary Wack notes, 'cultural ideals of ration-
Did Vasari wilfully dismiss the truth about the concubina- ality and self-control were [believed to be] threatened by
scultrice or simply veil it with his interpretation of Joseph erotic love, which overthrew reasonable governance of
and Potiphar~ Wife? As a corollary to this query, we might the body and mind .... The poetry of Sappho and Ovid
further inquire as to the exact nature of this veil. describes love's physical and psychological disruptions,
Certainly, it cannot be said to conceal anything. Indeed, while the tragic stories of Medea, Hippolytus, and
127
subtype of or precursor to the first and second of these De'Rossi's unnamed beloved, and all of the emotions
maladies. 5 1 But despite the physiological likeness of these their presence arouses - cannot be rationally evaluated.
maladies - insomnia, anorexia, depression - the differ- Because all powers are subject to the aestimativa, the
ence between melancholy and lovesickness was as great corruption of estimation brings about the derangement of
as that between hot and cold, exaltation and despair, the other faculties of the soul. Thus, rather than enter into
male and female, and, most importantly, creative produc- a state of divinely inspired madness or frenzy, victims of
tion and debilitating stasis. erotomania inevitably sink into a sluggish and despon-
In order to understand how such polarized 'diseases' dent malaise. 56 Certainly, this is the case with both the
could be associated one must consider how erotic and poet and sculptor. Before their predictable deaths, both
creative melancholy occur. Both begin with sight and ceased to work. The intellectual concentration and
sensation. The form of the object of sensation passes egoistical meditation on the higher celestial self that
through the eyes to the frontal lobe of the anterior incites creativity in the melancholic evades them. Conse-
ventricle which is occupied by the common sense (sensus quently, they are left with only a chronic incapacity to do
communis). The dorsal lobe of the same ventricle hosts more than remain fixated on the object of carnal desire.
fantasy, or retentive imagination (phanlasia, imaginalio). 52 In this pathological form of melancholy, madness
Only after the object of sensation has reached the dorsal becomes the disease of the lovesick imagination, an
lobe of the middle ventricle, which is the locus of obsessive presence of the phantasma, or as Pietro Aretino
imaginative power where fantasy comes in relation to the described it, 'poison at lunch, wormwood at dinner ...
rational soul via cognition (virtus cogitativa) causing that your fancy is always fixed on one thing; until I am
object to be evaluated (virtus aeslimaliva), will the func- astonished that it is possible for the mind to be in so
tions of erotic and creative melancholic minds diverge. continuous a tempest without losing itself.' 57
For those with erotomania, the object of sensation Such humorally induced madness, that which plagues
becomes a fixed reality. The object of desire- Sappho's 'those who are desperately in love', is not to be confused
Phaon and Properzia's 'handsome young man who with the 'amatory madness' that 'propels the lover on his
seemed to care but little for her' - becomes an obsessive flight to Saturnine oneness.' 58 According to Ficino, one
idea that polarizes all the cognitive activities, drying and comes from the brain, the other is rooted in the heart. 59
chilling the brain. Reason is overpowered and amor While the latter takes the form of a tragic impulse that
concupiscentiae takes over. But for those with creative results in a complete physiopsychological breakdown, the
melancholia the object of sensation transcends corporeal former leads to a psychic matrix of inspiration and
reality as creative heat intensifies, negating devitalizing invention. In contrast to the debilitating torpor and
cold. Thus, the source of sensation does not become an despondency that overtakes the obsessed sufferer of erotic
obsessive infatuation, rather it transmutes into a beauti- melancholy, the human ralionalis of the Saturnine melan-
ful object that mirrors aspects of the divine, refracting, as cholic remains strong. Mania is his mark of genius.
it were, God's image. With fantasy having been success- If illnesses associated with madness in general were not
fully subjected to the virtus cogitaliva and judged by the gender specific - melancholy, mania, hysteria and
virtus aestimativa, it now progresses to the posterior lycanthropy - those forms of the disease specifically
ventricle, which is occupied by memory (virtus conservativa related to 'amatory madness' - creative frenzy and
el memoria/is) and preserves non-sensitive impressions. lovesickness - were. 'Why is that all men who have
Thus, the creative melancholic is poised for the quest for become outstanding in philosophy, statesmanship,
truth, an inspired quest that will lead him back to the poetry or the arts are melancholic?' - men like
source from which we all descend and enable him to Empedocles, Plato, Socrates, Ficino, Robert Burton and
become one of the privileged, elite and empowered: a Michelangelo. 60 This query spawns another: what may
creative genius. 53 be said of the opposite sex? The answer is straightfor-
In its initial phase, that is until the visible sensation ward. Women fell victim to a more moderate and cooler
reaches the middle ventricle, melancholy and its somatic form of melancholy, one that impeded rather than
symptoms are not gender specific. 54 Both sexes may promoted creative productivity. Admittedly Sappho
experience the alternating states of hot and cold that can appears on many lists of melancholies, but she does so
result from a surplus of black bile, or atra hi/is. But the precisely to the extent that she represents erotomania, a
essential coldness of women hinders their ability to form of melancholy that has little to do with what
generate enough heat to counteract the ill effects of their Michelangelo described as 'Ia mia allegrezza e Ia
humoral condition, thereby making it impossible for maniconia.' The same may be said of 'l'aspetto grave e
them to rise above the pathological aspects of the malinconico' that devastated Costa's Properzia De'Rossi.
disease. 55 This, it would appear, is the sad fate suffered by The construction of De'Rossi's life by Vasari and
Sappho and De'Rossi. The object of sensation - Phaon, Lomazzo in the sixteenth century to that by Costa in the
money for his labors. ' 62 Still more interesting is the 1 -Antonio Saffi, Discorso dell' Accademia di Belli Arti, Bologna, 22
Giungno t8p (Bologna: Volpe, 1832), pp. 6-7.
melancholy suffered by Torrigiano, Michelangelo's
2 - Saffi, p. 15.
envious attacker. Accused of heresy by the Duke of Arcos 3- The intagliatrici are the unnamed daughter of Valerio Vincentino
following a characteristic display of anger, Torrigiano - see Giorgio Vasari, Le vile deio piu eccellenti pittori, scultori ed
'was imprisoned and examined every day ... At last he arclutettori, ed. Gaetano Milanese (Florence: G. C. Sansoni, 1go6), V,
was judged worthy of a very heavy punishment. But it p. 379 - and Diana Scultori - see Stefania Massari, Jncisori Mantovani
del '5oo Giovan Battista, Adamo, e Diana Scultori et Giorgzo Ghisi (Rome:
was never carried out because [he] fell into such a state of
DeLuca, 1g8o), and Paolo Bellini, L'Opera di Adamo e Diana Scultori
melancholy [maninconia] that he remained several days (Vicenza: Neri Pozza, 1991). Veronica Sala, Margarita Barza, and
without food, and, becoming gradually weaker, he Caterina Leuca Cantona and her daughter Barbara are the
died.' 63 In characteristic fashion, Vasari reinforces ricamatrici. See Paolo Morigia, La Nobilitii di Milano (Milan: Gio.
Michelangelo's virtue by pointing to Torrigiano's vice. Battista Bidelli, 1619), libro V, capitolo iii, p. 468, and libro V,
Such a juxtaposition similarly underscores the brooding capitolo xviii, p. 495-497 ·
4- It should be noted, however, that the wife and daughter of Guido
melancholic virtues of the great master - his virtus Mazzoni reportedly worked in the family bot/ega. 'In ltalia
cogitativa and virtus aestimativa- and Torrigiano's lack of laudatissimus quondam Turanius Fregellanus nostra etate Vitus
these same qualities. He can tame his irrational anger no Mazon Mutiensis, quem nuper nobis Gallia cum plerisque rebus
better than De'Rossi can quell her unreasonable pas- adstulit. Uxor cius etiam finxit et filia.' Presumably this refers to
Mazzoni's second wife, Isabella, rather than the first, Pellegrina degli
sions. Putting aside the obvious differences in these case
Agazzi, a woman of property who figured in the entourage of the
studies - the female artist is a victim of erotomania, the Duchess Eleonora of Ferrara. See Pomponius Gauricus, De Sculptura
males are victims of humoral imbalances that induce fear seu statuaria libellus, 1504, eds. A. Chastel and R. Klein (Geneva,
and anger- the fact remains that in the 1550 edition of the 196g), p. 249; Timothy Verdon, The Art of Guido Mau;oni (New York:
Vite Properzia stands alone as a woman artist. While Garland Publishing, 1978), p. 292.
5- Vasari, V, p. 74· When, in his life ofEiisabetta Sirani, Malvasia
Torrigiano's form of melancholia is offset by that of
quotes this statement from Vasari he makes clear that the 'us' is,
Michelangelo, De'Rossi's 'malinconico' cannot be indeed, 'gl'uomini.' Carlo Cesare Malvasia, Felsina Pittrice, ed.
assessed in light of an example of a woman melancholic Marcella Brascaglia (Bologna: Edizioni ALFA, 1971), p. 6o6.
who recuperates loss through creative frenzy. She Documents from the Archivio della fabbrica di San Petronio,
remains, therefore, as Lomazzo and Costa claim, a Bologna, confirm De'Rossi's active presence in the profession. Two
payments dated •:;January and 5 April 1526 record payments made
progeny of Sappho.
to Tribolo and Alfonso Lombardi for 'modelli fatti a Ia Propertia'.
In its formal structural elements Vasari's life of See Vera Fortunati Pietrantonio, 'Per una storia della presenza
Properzia De'Rossi is not unusual. Analogy and anecdote femminile nella vita artistica del cinquecento bolognese: Properzia
characteristically reveal the personality of the artist while De Rossi "schultrice,"' II Carrobbio, VII (1981), pp. J68-•n
simultaneously conveying the moral point of view of the 6 - Giorgio V asari, Le vite de 'piU eccellnrti architetti, pittori, et scultori
italiani, da Cimabue insino a'tempi nostri, eds. Luciano Bellosi and Aldo
author. 64 If we follow a time-honored tradition and seek
Rossi (Torino: Giulio Einaudi, 1g86), pp. 728-731. Proper.da is less
'the explanation of the work of art . . . in the man or of an anomaly in the second edition of 1568. To her vita, V, pp. 73-
woman who produced it,' then Vasari's biography of 81, are appended brief discussions of the lives of Suor Plautilla Nelli,
Properzia will not be a disappointment. 65 And if we Lucrezia Quistelli, Sofonisba Anguissola and her sisters. She
129
remained, therefore, the only woman honored with her own De'Rossi's situation, a married woman in love with another man,
biographical entry which now was embellished with her portrait. finds parallels with Sappho as well as Saffira. Some sources name
Further comments concerning the activities of Anguissola and her Sappho's husband: Cercola.
own sisters were included in the life ofGiulio Campi, VI, pp. 498-502. 21 - Mazzoni-Toselli, II, p. 118.
7- T. S. R. Boase, Giorgio Vasari: The Man and The Book (Princeton, 22 - Pompeo Vizani, I due ultimi libri delle historia della sua patria,
NJ: Princeton University Press, 1979), p. 3· (Bologna: Gio. Rossi, 16o8), p. 1.
8- Paolo Costa, Opere Complete (Florence: G. Formigli E. P. 23- Vasari, I, p. g2.
Fraticdli, 1839), III, p. 30. The attempted seduction of the 24 - It should be noted that the testimony of the 1520-21 trial has
'handsome and good-looking' Joseph by Potiphar's wife is in Genesis been lost.
39: 1-23. 25- Vasari, V, p. 77· In truth, De'Rossi was paid a fee
9- Vasari, V, pp. 76-77. commensurate with that given to other artists for similar works. See
10- RaffaeUo Borghini, II Riposo (Florence, 1584), libro III, M. Gualandi, Memorit originalr italiane rigardanti le Belle Arti (Bologna:
PP· 427-428. 184o-45), Series V, pp. 93-95; Mazzoni-Toselli, II, pp. 10of.; and
11 - Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Libro dei Sogni, sesto regionamento, in Ragg, pp. 178-181. Not surprisingly, the character of a malicious
Scritti sulle Arti, ed. Roberto Paolo Ciardi (Florence: Marchi & Aspertini also makes an appearance in Costa's play. Costa, II, p. 27.
Bertolli, 1973), I, pp. 155-156. It should be noted that Sappho, like 26- Vasari, V, pp. 76-77-
De'Rossi, was the subject of plays. See, for example, Gaetano Gioja, 27- For an example of Vasari's use of the interdependence of virtue
Sa.ffo; ballo mitologico, 18 10; Giovanni Pacini, Sa.ffo, tragedia lirica in Ire and virtuosity see his life of Filippo Lippi in the first edition of the
part1, 1858; and Jessie Norton, Sappho, a c/assico-historical play for girls, Vile. Vasari, 1g86, p. 372. 'If someone who is truly a virtuoso has some
c. 1894. vice that is blameworthy and ugly, then it [virtuosity) greatly
12- Costa, Ill, P. 23. restores virtu, for in a virtuoso it seems almost not a sin, whereas in
13 - Costa's play is, in fact, a story of true love recognized too late. someone who is not a virtuoso, it [vice) will he ridiculed and
Obsessed by 'un uomo di bell' aspeuo e di animo gentile,' Properzia punished.'
is unable to see and accept the love proffered by Alfonso. She only 28- Va.~ri, V, pp. 76-77. 'Dove (percioche in quel tempo Ia misera
recognizes it as she takes her dying breath. donna era innamoratissimia d'un bel giovane, il quale pareva che
14- Saffi, p. 20. For a discussion of the relief and its proposed poco di lei si curasse) fecr Ia moglie del maestro di casa di Farone,
likeness to the sculptor see V. Davia, Le sculture delle porte di s. Petronia chc innamoratosi di Giosep, quasi disperata del tanto pregarlo,
(Bologna, 1834), p. 24; M. Minghetti, 'Ledonne italiane nelle belle all' ultimo gli togli Ia veste d'auorno con una donnesca grazia e piu
arti al secoli XV e XVI', in Nuova Antologia di scitn<.e lellere e arti, 2nd che mirabile.'
series, vol. XXXV (Florence, 1877), part II, pp. 5-21; Laura M. 29- Vasari, IV, p. 381.
Ragg, The Women ArtiSts of Bologna (London: Methuen, 1907), 30- Goldstein, p. 644. Also see Soussloff, pp. 154-162; E. Kris and
pp. 174-181, Ignio Supino, Le sculture delle porte dis. petronio in Bologna 0. Kurz, Legend, Myth, and Magic in the Image of the Artist: A Historical
(Florence, 1914), pp. 55-61. Experiment (New Haven .tnd London: Yale University Press, 1979).
15- Paul Barolsky, Michelangelo's Nose, A Myth and its Maker 31 -For a discussion of characterizations of the ideal lady see Ian
(University Park and London: Pennsylvania State University Press, Maclean, The RenaiSsance Notion of Woman (Cambridge, London and
1ggo), pp. 23-30. The nose incident also explains, according to New York: Cambridge University Press, 1g8o), pp. 47-67;
Vasari, Torrigiano's own inadequacies as an artist. Had he expended Margaret L. King, Women of the Renaissance (Chicago and London:
his energies on perfecting his art he would have been a better University of Chicago Press, 1991); and Pamela Benson, The Invention
sculptor. Vasari, IV, pp. 256-257. ~f the Renaissance Woman (University Park and London: Pennsylvania
16- Vasari, II, p. 678. State University Press, 1992).
17 - Carl Goldstein, 'Rhetoric and art history in the Italian 32 - I''or a discussion of veiling and unveiling in mannerist poetry see
Renaissance and Baroque', The Art Bulletin, LXXIII, 4 ( 1991 ), James V. Mirollo, Mannerism and Renaissance Poetry, Concept, Mode, Inner
p. 646. Also see C. M. Soussloff, 'Lives of poets and painters in the Design (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1g84),
Renaissance', Word & Image, 6/2 (1ggo), pp. 154-162; and Barolsky. pp. 99-124.
18 - Vasari, V, pp. 77-78. 33- Jane Mcintosh Snyder, The Woman and the Lyre, Women Writers in
19- Dante Alighieri, Inferno (Toronto, New York, London: Bantam Classical Greece and Rome (Carbondale and Edwardsville, IL: Southern
Books, 1g82), 30: 97, p. 278. For other didactic representations of Illinois University Press, 198g), pp. 1-37.
this theme see H. Diane Russell, Eva/Ave. Women in RenaiSsance and 34- Joan Dejean, Fictions of Sappho, 1546-1937 (Chicago and London:
Baroque Prints (Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, •ggo), Univrrsity nfChic.ago Prl'ss, 1g8g), p. 1.
p. 156; Denis Mahon, Guercino, Master Painter of the Baroque 35 - Vizani, p. 1; Plato, Anthologia Palatina g. so6; Plutarch,
(Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1992), pp. 284-286. Amatorius, 18; and Tatianus, Ad Graecos, 53A, cited in Snyder, pp. 1,
Artemisia Gentileschi'sjoseph and Potiphar's W!{e, c. 1622-21, differs g.
radically from other versions. 'Potiphar's wife is no longer a 36 - Claudius Aelian, Varia Historia, ed. Mervin R. Dilts (Leipzig:
caricatured blowsy wench, but rather - surely a conscious inversion - Teuber, 1974). Also see Edith Mora, Sappho: Histoire d'un poete et
more plausibly human than Joseph, a natural, flesh-and-blood traduction intigrale dt /'oeuvre (Paris: Flammarion, 1966), pp. 16, 129,
character, whose sexuality is the more convincing for its and Mary R. Lefkowitz, 'Critical stereotypes and the poetry of
understatement, in the exposure of a single breast, a shoulder, and a Sappho', Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, XIV (1973), pp. 113-123.
knee'. See Mary D. Garrard, Artemisia Gentikschi (Princeton, NJ: 37- Mary Frances Wack, Lovesickness in the Middle Ages. The VIATICUM
Princeton University Press, 198g). pp. 78-83. and Its Commentaries (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania
20 - V asari, V, p. 76, notes that 'by means of her husband', Press, tggo), p. 6.
Properzia secured work from the Operai di San Petronio. The 38 - Ovid, Heroides and Amores, trans. Grant Showermann
sculptor's marital status is corroborated by a document of 18 March (Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press and
1515. See Ottavio Mazzoni-Toselli, Racconti storici estratti dall' Archivia William Heinemann, 1!)86), XV, pp. 18o-197.
Criminate d1 Bologna (Bologna: Antonio Chierici, 1868), II, p. So. 39- Dejean, 1g8g, p. 67.
130 FRE0 RI K A H • JA C0 BS
40- Dejean, 1989, p. 66. on Plato's Symposium on Love, trans. Sears R. Jayne (Dallas: Spring
41 - Howard Jacobson, Ovid's 'Heroules' (Princeton: Princeton Publications, 1985); Ruth A. Fox, The Tangled Chain: The Structure of
University Press, 1974), p. 286. Disorder in the Anato"!)) of Melancholy (Berkeley, CA: University of
42- It is worth noting that Vasari introduces De'Rossi by listing the California Press, 1976); Bernard Gorceix, 'La melancholie au XVIe
names of 39 illustrious women. Sappho is among them. She was, he et XVIIe siecles: Paracelse etjacob Bohme', &cherches Gmnaniques,
says, 'a woman who surpassed the foremost writers of her day, if she IX (1979), pp. 18-29; Ruth E. Harvey, The Inward Wits: Psychological
really was a woman' (La quale in vero se benfo donna, ellafo periJ tale). Theory in the Middle Ages and the Rtnaissance (London: Warburg
Vasari, V, p. 73· For a brief overview of interpretations of Sappho's Institute, 1975); Stanley W. Jackson, Melancholia and Depression from
sexual preference see Sarah B. Pomeroy, Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Hzppocratic Times to Modern Times (New Haven, CT and London: Yale
Slaves (New York, 1975), pp. 53-56; judith P. Hallet, 'Sappho and University Press, 1986); RobertS. Kinsman, 'Folly, melancholy, and
her context: sense and sensuality', Signs, IV (1979), pp. 447-464; Eva madness: a study in shifting styles of medical analysis and treatment,
Stehle Stigers, 'Romantic sensuality, poetic sense: a response to 145o--1675', The Darker Vuzon of the Rmaissance (Berkeley and Los
Hallet on Sappho', Szgns, IV (1979), pp. 465-471;joan E. DeJean, Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1974), pp. 273-320;
'Fictions ofSappho', Cntzcal/nquiry, XIII (1987), pp. 787-805. For John Charles Nelson, &nazssance Theory of Love: The Context of Giordano
Ovid on Sappho see Linda Kauffman. DIScourses of Desire; Gender, Bruno's 'Erozcrjuron' (New York and London: Columbia University
Genre and Epistolary Fictions (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, Press, 1963); Mario Pozzi, Trattat1 d'amore del Cinquecento (Rome-Bari:
lg86), pp. 3o-61. Laterza, 1975); Rudolph E. Siegel, Galen on Psychology, Psychopathology,
43- Jacobson, pp. 277-299; Dejean, and Mora. Also see Florence and Functions and Dzseases of the Nervous System (Basel: S. Kargen,
Verducci, Ovid's Toyshop of the Heart: Epistulae Herodium (Princeton, 1973); and Hubertus Tallenbach, Melancholy: History of the Problem,
NJ: Princeton University Press, 1985), and Glenda McLeod, Vzrtue Endogentity, Typology, Pathogenesis, CliniCal Consideratfons, trans.
and Venom, Catalogs of Women from Antiquzty to the Rmazssance (Ann Erlingeng (Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 198o). For a
Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1991). concise overview see Beecher and Ciavolella's introduction to
Ferrand, pp. 7o-82, gS-112.
44- Dejean, 1990, p. 67.
45 - Costa, III p. 34· 54 - The similarity extends to at least one form of melancholy:
46 - Ovid is explicit on this point, having Sappho, as she is poised to erotomania. See, for example, Galen's commentary on Hippocrates'
leap to her death, say, 'My genius had its power from him; with him Epidemics in Wack, p. 8. 'I know men and women who burned in hot
they are swept away,' Herozdes, XV, 206, p. 195· love. Depression and lack of sleep overcame them. Then, one day, as
47- The translation is by Snyder, pp. 18-19. Beecher and Ciavolella a result of their love-sorrows they became fevered ... .' The torments
offer a different translation of these lines: •y ca, my tongue is broken, of justus' wife (Galen, Prognostics) and Pndica's Malady detail the
and through and through me/ 'Neath the flesh, impalpable fire runs effects of lovesickness in women and men.
tingling;/ Nothing see mine eyes, and a noise of roaring/ Waves in 55- See Juan Huarte, The Examination of Men's Wits (Examen de
my ears sounds;/ Sweat runs down in rivers, a tremor seizes/ All my lngenios, 1975), trans. Richard Carew (London: Adam Islip for
limbs, and a paler than grass autumn,/ Caught by pains of menacing Thomas Man, 1594), p. 5· For an overview of humoral theory and
death, I falter,/ Lost in the love trance.' For the complete poem, as female physiology see Maclean, pp. 28-46.
well as Longinus's commentary on it (On the Sublime), see Jacques 56 - Sibyls are an exception to the rule. See pseudo Aristotle,
Ferrand, A Treatise on Lovesickness, trans. and eds. Donald A. Beecher Problems, XXX, 954a. Juliana Schiesari, The Gendtring of Melancholia
and Massimo Ciavolella (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1992), p. 6, notes that
1990), P· 40·
while these women possess a moderate amount of heat that
48- Costa, III, p. 34: 'Gii Dei fermo uguaglia, anzi si gode/ Gaudio distinguishes them as 'uncommon' they are nonetheless 'generic'
piu che divin quei che sedente/ AI tuo cospetto te rimira ed ode/ inasmuch as men of similar disposition are named: Plato,
Dolce ridente./ Che se !'alta ventura unqua mi tocca/ D'esserti Empedocles, Ajax, etc.
appresso, o mio soave amore,/ Non io ti guardo ancor chi' su Ia
57- Ferrand, p. 12.
bocca/ La voce muore;/ Fassi inerte Ia lingua, il pensier tardo,/ Un
sottil fuoco va di vena in vena,/ Fischian gli orecchi, mi si appanna il 58 - Marsilio Ficino, De Vita Triplici, trans. Charles Boer (Dallas,
guardo, E veggo appena;/ Un gelido sudor tutta m'innonda,/ Mi TX: .Spring Publications, 1g8o), p. 7·
trema il cor, rabbrivida ogni membro;/ Mancami il fiato, e pallida 59 - Ancient sources vary on the source of melancholy and its
qual fronda/ Morta rassembro.' various forms. Aristotle, for example, assigns central roles in the
49 - For the relationship between Sappho and Catullus see Richard generation of erotic appetites to the reproductive organs as well as
Jenkyns, Three Classical Poets: Sappho, Catullus, andjuvenal (Cambridge, the heart. On the Soul, I, iv, 4o8b 1-15. For Plato, Phaedrus, 25od, eros
MA: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann, 1953), is love of the beautiful, and the beautiful pleases because it is a
XXX, 1, 954b. reflection of the Idea, whose presence is felt by the human soul.
51 - Not surprisingly, perhaps, the symptoms of melancholy parallel According to the pseudo Aristotle, Problems, XXX, 9543, 'Those with
the oxymorons found in Sappho's lyrics, such as bittersweet, which, whom this temperament exists by nature, at once develop various
not coincidentally, is a term Sappho has been credited with types of character, differing according to their different
inventing. temperaments; those for instance in whom the bile is considerable
52 - For the relationship between phantasia and sensus communis see and cold become sluggish and stupid, while those with whom it is
David Summers, A judgement of Sense (Cambridge, London and New excessive and hot become mad, clever, or amorous ... But many,
York: Cambridge University Press, 1987), pp. 71-109. because this heat is near to the seat of the mind, are affected by the
53 - Discussions of the 'disease' and commentaries on the texts that diseases of madness or frenzy, which accounts for the Sibyls,
describe it are numerous. See, for example, Andre DuLaurens, A soothsayers and all inspired persons.' Another proposed source for
Discourse of the Preservation of the Sight; of Melancholik Diseases; of the clouding vapors that invade the lungs and brain of the
Rheumes, and of Old Age, trans. Richard Surphlet (London: Felix melancholic was the womb (Jvrstera). Accordingly, 'the hysterical
Kingston for Ralph Lacson, 1599); Mario Equicola, Libro de natura dt woman was a shadowy (cold, wet, and vaporous) imitation of the
amore (Venice: L. Lorio da Portes, 1525); Marsilio Ficino, Commentary fiery melancholic male.' See Christine Battersby, Gender and Gemus.
Towards a Feminist Aesthetic (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana 61 -Seneca, 'De Tranquillitate Animi', Moral Essays, trans. John W.
University Press, 1989), p. 33· Basore (Ca~bridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press and
6o - Aristotle, Probkms, XXX, 953a; Ficino and Burton were sel~
William Heinemann, 1965), XVII, pp. IQ-12. For a discussion of
proclaimed melancholies. See The Letters of Marsilio Ficino (London, female insanity and creativity see Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan
1978), II, pp. 33--34; Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy Gubar, The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-
(Oxford: Chipps, 1621), p. 3· Raphael's supposed casting of Century Literary Imagination (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,
Michelangelo as Heraclitus in The School of Athens, Stanza della 1979).
Segnatura, is a visual demonstration of the association of the 62- Vasari, V, pp. 2o8, 210.
melancholic temperament with artists. See David Summers,
63- Vasari, IV, pp. 262-263.
Michelangelo and the Language of Art (Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1981), p. 117: 'The connection between painting, 64 - For studies of early biography see D. Stauffer, English Biography
fantasy and melancholy followed easily from the postulates of Befort 1700 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1930), and
Renaissance medicine, as explained by the late Cinquecento writer, J. A. Garraty, The Nature of Biography (New York: Knopf, 1957). For
Romano Alberti. This account, it should be noted, is not simply a a discussion of some of the formal structural elements in artists' lives
justification for eccentric behavior; it is also a demonstration of the see E. Kris and 0. Kurz.
intellectual nature of painting ... "we sec that painters become 65- Roland Barthes, 'The death of the author,' in Stephen Heath,
melancholies because, since they wish to imitate fantasms, they must Roland Bart/res: Image, Music and Text (New York: Hill and Wang,
keep them fixed in the intellect, so that they may express them in the 1977), p. 142.
way they had previously been present to the sight."' Michelangelo's
self-identification with Socrates is further evidence of this association. 66 - Soussloff, p. 161.
See Barolsky, pp. 24-25. Also see Rudolf and Margot Wittkower, 67- Kathleen Barry, 'The new historical syntheses: women's
Born Uruk-1 Saturn (New York: W. W. Norton, 196g). biography', journal of Women's History, I ( 1990), pp. 75-76.