Artifact 2

Artifact 2 is from HUMN 530, the Renaissance, and is called “Humanism in the Renaissance.” It is a good example of my early writing and is from the middle of my paper. In the paper, I discuss different Renaissance figures and how they contributed to the Humanist movement. Vittoria Colonna is one of these, and I highlight her in the artifact.

Vittoria Colonna (1492-1547) is considered a Renaissance woman because “Burkhardt the famous 19th century Swiss historian . . . says that Vittoria Colonna was the most famous woman of Renaissance Italy and I think there's really no aspect of 16th century Italian life that she didn't have some kind of impact on or engagement with so she's a sort of embodiment in many, many ways of the period” (“Towards . . .”). Married and widowed relatively early in life and independently wealthy, she was able to do what she liked, to a point. She had to get permission from men in her life (including the Pope), but she could correspond with whom she liked and write poetry about what she liked. Her sonnets followed Petrarchan form, and like Petrarch (and humanistically), she wrote about what she knew: lost love and love of God. In memory of her husband, she wrote: “I tarry here below for, mortal pain / Defeating, I still live but loveless, lone / The while thought soareth where my Sun doth reign” (Colonna 1). The Sun refers to her husband, Ferrante. She remained faithful to him even after his death though he had not been faithful to her. From a religious sonnet: “Grant to my heart a pure fresh ray, o Lord, / Of that bright ardent faith, which makes thy will / Its best-loved law, and seeks it to fulfil / For love alone, not looking for reward” (Colonna 2). She turned to religious poetry later in life, when she felt that her mourning period was over.

In some ways, the Renaissance and humanism opened the door to religion and other kinds of reformation. Colonna “supported the work of religious reformers, including Juan de Valdés and Bernardino Ochino, and she furthered the cause of literati through her example, guidance, and patronage” (Gouwens 86). She did not simply give money; she gave her time to help better her friends. She was also a friend to Michelangelo, “with whom she discussed in detail the relationship between art and religion just as he was making original contributions to what has been termed ‘the reform of art’” (86). Michelangelo, like Da Vinci, used humanistic principles in his works of art. Colonna and Michelangelo wrote many letters to each other, often including sonnets and bits of artwork. In Paolo Giovio’s unfinished book, Notable Men and Women of Our Time (which Colonna commissioned), he said, “her magnanimity, personal distinction, prudence, chastity, and piety have enabled her not only to move beyond womanly capacity, but to equal the most widely esteemed and wisest of men” (77). He did, in fact, devote much of the book to her virtues, and to me this seems most important, that she was equal to many men in intellect and had humanist instruction.

Works Cited

Bergin, Thomas Goddard, and Jennifer Speake, editors. “Humanism.” The Encyclopaedia of the Renaissance, 1st ed., Market House Books Ltd, 1987. Credo Reference, https://search.credoreference.com/articles/Qm9va0FydGljbGU6MTM4MTY5MQ==?aid=105594.

Cook, James, Wyatt. “Humanism in the Renaissance.” Encyclopedia of Renaissance Literature, by James Wyatt Cook, 2nd ed., Facts On File, 2014. Credo Reference, https://search.credoreference.com/articles/Qm9va0FydGljbGU6NDg1NTM0MA==?aid=105594.

Da Vinci, Leonardo. The Last Supper. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Last_Supper_-_Leonardo_Da_Vinci_-_High_Resolution_32x16.jpg

Gouwens, Kenneth. “Female Virtue and the Embodiment of Beauty: Vittoria Colonna in Paolo Giovio’s Notable Men and Women.” Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 18, no. 1, Spring 2015, pp. 33-97. JSTOR, https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy2.apus.edu/stable/10.1086/681308?sid=primo&seq=1

Lumangkun, Wingga Witsi and Valentino Reykliv Mokalu. “Desiderius Erasmus and Christian Education.” Journal of Education, Teaching and Learning, vol. 7, no. 1, 2022, pp. 96-103. ROAD, https://journal.stkipsingkawang.ac.id/index.php/JETL/article/view/2909

Luther, Martin. 95 Theses. Luther.de, https://www.luther.de/en/95thesen.html

Oser, Lee. "Free Will in Hamlet?: Shakespeare's Struggle with the Issues of the Great Debate between Erasmus and Luther." Christianity & Literature, vol. 67, no. 2, 2018, pp. 253-270. ProQuest, http://ezproxy.apus.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fscholarly-journals%2Ffree-will-i-hamlet-shakespeares-struggle-with%2Fdocview%2F2447102927%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D8289.

Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Project Gutenberg, 2023, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1514/1514-h/1514-h.htm

“Towards a More Complete Biography of Vittoria Colonna with Ramie Targoff.” YouTube, uploaded by LaVoceDiNewYork, 22 May 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stPykLBnOFk&t=1s.

Trollope, Thomas Adolphus. Vittoria Colonna Her Life and Poems. http://www.larassegnadischia.it/Ischiatour/testiinglesi/colonna-trollope-en.pdf

Whitford, David M. “Erasmus Openeth the Way Before Luther.” Church History and Religious Culture, vol. 96, 2016, pp. 526-540. EBSCOHost, https://web-s-ebscohost-com.ezproxy2.apus.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=9d4a2124-a0bc-441b-bc9e-27a59cbb397a%40redis

Witoszek, Nina. “Leonardo da Vinci Our Contemporary?” Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture & Ecology, vol. 18, 2014, pp 122-143. EBSCOHost, https://web-s-ebscohost-com.ezproxy2.apus.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=c3038275-679c-439b-b33c-5e7a373c1fe4%40redis