Isabella de Luna | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 1564 |
Nationality | Spanish |
Occupation | Courtesan |
Isabella de Luna (died 1564) was an Italian (originally Spanish) courtesan of Renaissance-era Rome. She was known as amusing company, [1] having a kind heart but also a foul tongue. [2] She was an accomplished musician. [3] Amongst her patrons were members of the nobility and cardinals.
Isabella was originally from Granada in Spain. [4] She followed a soldier in the Imperial army of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, where she prostituted herself as a camp follower [5] and was present at the Conquest of Tunis in 1535. [4] [6] Around 1536 [7] she eventually settled in Rome, [4] where she acquired a house in 1544 [8] and became known as the most famous high class courtesan, or cortigiana onesta, of her generation. [9]
As with all courtesans of her class, she had a main client, in her case Roberto Strozzi. [8] Other clients included Cardinal Carafa, the Marquis de Montebello, [10] Cardinal Farnese [11] and author Matteo Bandello. [12] According to Pierre Brantome, she was herself a client of one of her colleagues, Pandora, reputed to be one of the most beautiful in Rome, [13] whom she paid for sexual services. [14] A famous incident took place at a party, where Rocco Biancalana lost a bet to her after he had promised to make her blush, but in which she instead won the bet.
In 1555 de Luna was accused of holding a child captive in her house. Before being arrested she fled. She was captured in Rimini whilst on her way to Venice and returned to Rome's Castel Sant'Angelo to await trial. [15] Two years later, in 1557 she was a witness at the trial of Roman nobleman Pompeo Giustini. [15]
During an official crackdown on morality, de Luna and Pandora were arrested and the Pope threatened to burn them at the stake. [10] On another occasion she faced imprisonment for debt but managed to pay the merchant she owed the money before she was incarcerated. [16] However, as she had pretended to use the summons for toilet-paper and appeared before the judge drunk, she was sentenced to a public lashing of 50 strokes on her bare buttocks. [17] [18]
Isabella de Luna was portrayed in two contemporary novels by Matteo Bandello. [19] One of which was Lives of Gallant Ladies. [20]
Isabella d'Este was the Marchioness of Mantua and one of the leading women of the Italian Renaissance as a major cultural and political figure.
A courtesan is a prostitute with a courtly, wealthy, or upper-class clientele. Historically, the term referred to a courtier, a person who attended the court of a monarch or other powerful person.
Vittoria Colonna, marchioness of Pescara, was an Italian noblewoman and poet. As an educated, married noblewoman whose husband was in captivity, Colonna was able to develop relationships within the intellectual circles of Ischia and Naples. Her early poetry began to attract attention in the late 1510s and she ultimately became one of the most popular poets of 16th-century Italy. Upon the early death of her husband, she took refuge at a convent in Rome. She remained a laywoman but experienced a strong spiritual renewal and remained devoutly religious for the rest of her life. Colonna is also known to have been a muse to Michelangelo Buonarroti, himself a poet.
Carl Jacob Christoph Burckhardt was a Swiss historian of art and culture and an influential figure in the historiography of both fields. His best known work is The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860). He is known as one of the major progenitors of cultural history. Sigfried Giedion described Burckhardt's achievement in the following terms: "The great discoverer of the age of the Renaissance, he first showed how a period should be treated in its entirety, with regard not only for its painting, sculpture and architecture, but for the social institutions of its daily life as well."
Lorenzo Valla was an Italian Renaissance humanist, rhetorician, educator and scholar. He is best known for his historical-critical textual analysis that proved that the Donation of Constantine was a forgery, therefore attacking and undermining the presumption of temporal power claimed by the papacy. Lorenzo is sometimes seen as a precursor of the Reformation.
The House of Borgia was a Spanish noble family, which rose to prominence during the Italian Renaissance. They were from Xàtiva, Kingdom of Valencia, the surname being a toponymic from the town of Borja, then in the Crown of Aragon, in Spain.
Pietro Aretino was an Italian author, playwright, poet, satirist and blackmailer, who wielded influence on contemporary art and politics. He was one of the most influential writers of his time and an outspoken critic of the powerful. Owing to his communications and sympathies with religious reformers, he is considered to have been a Nicodemite Protestant. He was a good friend of the Venetian artist Titian, who painted his portrait three times.
The Portrait of a Young Woman is a painting by the Italian High Renaissance master Raphael, made between 1518 and 1519. It is in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in Palazzo Barberini, Rome.
Pietro Riario was an Italian cardinal and Papal diplomat.
Tullia d'Aragona was an Italian poet, author, and philosopher. Born in Rome sometime between 1501 and 1505, Tullia traveled throughout Venice, Ferrara, Siena, and Florence before returning to Rome. Throughout her life, Tullia was esteemed one of the best female writers, poets, and philosophers of her time. Influencing many of the most famous philosophers, Tullia's work elevated women's status in literature to equal that of men. Her intellect, literary abilities, and social graces helped her become among the most celebrated of Renaissance poet-courtesans.
Paolo Giordano Orsini was an Italian nobleman, and the first duke of Bracciano from 1560. He was a member of the Roman family of the Orsini.
Eleanor of Naples was Duchess of Ferrara by marriage to Ercole I d'Este. She was the first duchess of Ferrara, and mother of many famous Renaissance figures. She was a well known political figure, and served as regent of Ferrara during the absence of her spouse.
Olympe Pélissier was a French artists' model and courtesan and the second wife of the Italian composer Gioachino Rossini. She sat for Vernet for his painting of Judith and Holofernes. Honoré de Balzac described her as "the most beautiful courtesan in Paris".
The Insatiate Countess is an early Jacobean era stage play, a tragedy first published in 1613. The play is a problematic element in John Marston's dramatic canon.
Veronica Gambara was an Italian poet and politician. She was the ruler of the County of Correggio from 1518 until 1550.
Felice della Rovere, also known as Madonna Felice, was the illegitimate daughter of Pope Julius II. One of the most powerful women of the Italian Renaissance, she was born in Rome around 1483 to Lucrezia Normanni and Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere. Felice was well educated, became accepted into close courtly circles of aristocratic families, and formed friendships with scholars and poets through her education and genuine interest in humanism. Through the influence of her father, including an arranged marriage to Gian Giordano Orsini, she wielded extraordinary wealth and influence both within and beyond the Roman Curia. In particular, she negotiated peace between Julius II and the Queen of France, and held the position of Orsini Signora for over a decade following the death of her husband in 1517. Felice further increased her power through a castle that she bought with money received from her father, the Castle at Palo, and through her involvement in the grain trade.
Imperia Cognati, was a Roman courtesan. She has been considered the first celebrity of the class of courtesans, which was created in Rome in the late 15th century.
Margherita Costa, singer, poet, playwright and feminist, is the most Baroque of the seventeenth-century Italian women writers and stands out for her original style and themes. As a poet, she employs a variety of genres, using humor and irony to criticize prevailing attitudes towards women and to mock the politics of her times. She is the first Italian woman writer to use humor and satire in her published works. Some of her poems are partially autobiographical for they include allusions to events in her life and complaints about her lack of fortune and literary recognition. Her poetry stresses the obstacles she faced as a woman and the difficult life of women in general. Costa was a prolific writer, publishing two books of prose, six volumes of poetry, three plays, two narrative poems and an allegorical pageantry, in verse, for knights on horseback..
Fillide Melandroni was an Italian courtesan and friend of the painter Caravaggio, who used her as a model in several of his compositions.
Isabella de Luna rome.