Renaissance Woman

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Description

The Renaissance created a new vision of womanhood and indeed a "New Woman", proposes Gaia Servadio. Central to her theory are the lives of women like Vittoria Colonna, lover of Michelangelo, Tullia d'Aragona, the best known courtesan of her age, and the French poet Louise Labe, who fought in battle in male clothing. Servadio follows these women through the rise - and fall - of the Renaissance in Italy and France, moving northwards to the Low Countries, and, in the person of Elizabeth I, to England. They are placed centre stage to the Renaissance's power plays and wars, paintings and architecture, courtesans and popes, music and manners, fashion, food, cosmetics, changing societies, and the language of poetry and symbols. "Renaissance Women" tells the story of an age when women became more masculine and men more feminine.

Reviews

The Spectator, 25th June 2005. Review by Ian Thomson: 'This marvellous study of Renaissance women and their men.' 'Gaia Servadio is to be congratulated on her eye for memorable historical detail and flare for storytelling.' Italia!, June 2005: 'This remarkable book reminds us that behind every great man there's an even greater woman... an altogether different kind of history book.'SIXTEENTH CENTURY JOURNALServadio presents the lives of artistic and sensual women, arguing forcefully for their importance...and the reader with interest in the women of the sixteenth century will find much to value here. - Amelia J Carr

Author Bio

Gaia Servadio is a broadcaster, journalist, editor and writer, whose books include Luchino Visconti: A Biography (1981), The Real Traviata (1994), and Rossini (2003).