Sappho Reborn: Portraiture of Women Poets in Renaissance Italy
Published:
Jan 29, 2026
Keywords:
Italian Renaissance Women’s Writing Poetesses Portraiture Sappho
Abstract
This article examines the cultural and artistic significance of Italian Renaissance poetesses through the lens of literary history and visual representation. Drawing on feminist scholarship, it highlights the prominence of women’s writing in sixteenth-century Italy and its connection to the rise of print culture and the vernacular. Focusing on figures such as Laura Battiferri, Vittoria Colonna, Veronica Franco, Veronica Gambara, and Tullia d’Aragona, the study analyzes portraits by artists including Bronzino, Sebastiano del Piombo, Michelangelo, Tintoretto, Antonio da Correggio and Moretto da Brescia. These images reveal how Renaissance artists employed symbolism and classical models to construct the poetess as an intellectual, moral and creative authority.
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Electronic sources
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