Vittoria Colonna and the Virgin Mary

Modern Language Review, The, Jan, 2001 by Abigail Brundin

Some time in 1540 or 1541, a bound manuscript copy of a selection of Vittoria Colonna's published and unpublished sonnets was sent to Marguerite d'Angouleme, Queen of Navarre, who had been requesting a copy of the poet's work via the French ambassador to Rome, George d'Armagnac. Some doubt lingers over the precise role that the poet herself took in the preparation of this manuscript gift. The correspondence relating to the dispatching of the manuscript has been attributed to Carlo Gualteruzzi, who on various occasions seems to have acted as Colonna's literary agent or secretary, a fact which has led some critics to assume that the project was his own, the poet merely providing access to her work. (1) However, Colonna's apparent distance from the sending of the manuscript can justifiably be ascribed to a desire for the necessary aristocratic detachment from the indignity of self-promotion, as well perhaps as a more 'feminine' need for modesty and decorum. This manuscript and another one prepared for Michelangelo at around the same time appear in fact to have been the only instances in which Colonna was involved in the dissemination of a body of work as a gift to close friends. (2)

It was the French queen who initiated a correspondence between the two women, in which they wrote of their deep faith and spiritual concerns and gave expression to the high esteem in which they held each other. In keeping with her devout and unworldly role as a pious widow, as well as in recognition of the other woman's superior status, Colonna positions herself in her letters as vastly inferior to Navarre, and often refers to the great honour that the other has done her in seeking her out as a correspondent. Navarre in turn adopts a tone of equal self-abasement, claiming that she in fact is the imperfect one of the two, 'per il dentro io mi sento si contraria alla vostra buona openione', and expresses the hope that she will be elevated onto a higher spiritual plane through her contact with Colonna: 'mediante le vostre buone preghiere elle mi saranno uno sprone per uscire del luoco, ove io sono, et cominciar a correre appresso di voi.' (3) A self-conscious and insistent emphasis on the two women's shared humility and piety, plus a deep mutual admiration, is clearly apparent in the exchange of letters. Evidently they shared an awareness of the public nature of their friendship, and the care with which they must seek to define and 'fashion' themselves upon the page. In fact, shortly after the preparation of the manuscript under discussion, their exchange of letters was published in a volume of Lettere volgari di diversi nobilissimi huomini, (4) along with letters to Colonna from Pier Paolo Vergerio the Younger describing his meetings with Navarre in 1540, a fact which verifies the extent of public interest in the communication between two such powerful noblewomen.

One letter in particular, written by Colonna early in 1540, presents itself as central to this discussion. In it she indicates the need that, in particular, women have for female role models to act as moral and spiritual guides, in a society in which the majority of models for imitation are male, and she further suggests, in keeping with the context of mutual flattery, that Navarre may be able to fill just such a role in her life:

Havendo noi bisogno in questa lunga e difficil via della vita di guida, che ne mostri il camino con la dottrina, e con l'opre insieme ne inviti a superar la fatica; e parendomi che gli essempii del suo proprio sesso a ciascuno sian piu proportionati, et il seguir l'un l'altro piu lecito; mi rivoltavo alle donne grandi d'Italia, per imparare da loro et imitarle: et benche ne vedessi molte vertuose, non pero giudicava che giustamente l'altre tutte quasi per norma se la proponessono, in una sola fuor d'Italia s'intendeva esser congioncte le perfettioni della volonta insieme con quelle de l'intelletto (C, p. 186).

Colonna is, she claims, in a state of unhappy uncertainty with regard to questions of faith, and she hopes that through her contact with the other woman she can be 'reborn' spiritually: 'spero che poi V. M. debbia allegrarsi d'havermi si difficilmente partorita con lo spirito, et fattami di Dio et sua nuova creatura' (C, p. 187). The metaphor of giving birth seems an apt one to choose in this context, a discussion of the need for women to unite as intellectual equals and provide one another with models for imitation, as it is an experience (albeit one which Colonna herself never had) which links all women intimately to the birth of Christ and the role of the 'donna del cielo', the Virgin Mother who appears frequently in Colonna's Rime.

Navarre's response to this extraordinary assertion is swift and apt. She turns the tables by claiming that Colonna will be her spiritual guide and model, and refers specifically to the influence which the latter's prayers and writings have upon her state of being, acting as an anchor and guide in her spiritual quest: 'alla qual cosa e necessaria la continuanza delle vostre orationi et le frequenti visitationi delle vostre utili scritture' (C, p. 203). Although each woman seems to defer to the other, the indication is that they are undertaking a mutual process of self-assertion, subtly demonstrating their aptitude as models for imitation by other women, as writers, public figures and spiritual mentors. However what is clear from their careful self-presentation in the letters is that such an assertion must be couched in suitably socially acceptable terms, and it is for this reason that the emphasis found in Colonna's manuscript gift becomes particularly significant.