Exam 16: Classical Humanism

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As the Renaissance women were encouraged to participate in education,more opportunities for self-expression became possible.The seeds of feminism planted by Christine de Pisan flowered among increasing numbers of women writers and patrons.The Duchess of Urbino was admired for her knowledge of Greek and Latin and for her role as patron of the arts.Isabella d'Este commissioned and collected sculptures and paintings with Classical themes.Displaying ancient and modern artworks together in her castle at Mantua,this eminent patron of the arts may be said to have anticipated the modern concept of the museum.
Even so,most female humanists had to contend with the criticism of their male peers.In their writings they repeatedly defend their own efforts by citing the achievements of famous women who preceded them.Laura Cereta,for example,denounced the frivolous attention to outward forms of luxury among the women of her time and described the difficulties encountered by intelligent women.The most extraordinary of sixteenth-century female humanists,the Venetian writer Lucretia Marinella wrote a direct response to a contemporary diatribe on the defects of women.Using the very techniques that prevailed in humanist polemics,Marinella presents each defect-brutality,obstinacy,ingratitude,discourtesy,inconstancy,vanity-and proceeds to illustrate each by the evidence of illustrious men from Classical and biblical antiquity.Moreover,she attempts to analyze the psychological basis for misogyny,contending that certain flaws-specifically anger,envy,and self-love-drive even the wisest and most learned men to attack women.