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- Frontispiece from Rime d’Isabella Andreini (1603) with engraved portrait of the author, Isabella Andreini
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- Isabella Andreini
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- Isabella Andreini Commemoration Medal 1604
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- Isabella Andreini, in a print dated 1588, when the actress was 26 years old
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- Commedia dell’arte troupe
by Koren Whipp
Isabella Andreini 1562–1604, born Isabella Canali and also known as Isabella Da Padova, was an Italian actress, poet, musician and playwright. She was the first European actress to acquire social and cultural respectability and artistic fame.[1] She was a member of the Compagnia dei Comici Gelosi, an important touring theatre company that performed for the highest social circles of Italy and France. In 1578 she met and married Francesco Andreini, who would later become the director of the company. Andreini became both the leading lady and a member of the administration of the Gelosi Company. She was also an accomplished musician and played her signature piece, La pazzia di Isabella (The Madness of Isabella), for the wedding of Ferdinando I of the Medici and Christine of Lorraine.[2]
The themes of Andreini’s plays questioned the situation of women in society. Mirtilla written in 1588 is a pastoral drama of feminist advocacy. Rime, a collection of 359 poems and sonnets, was published in 1601 and translated into French in 1603. She corresponded with contemporary thinkers and in 1601 she was accepted into the male-only literary society of the Accademia degli Intenti of Pavia.
Andreini had eight children, raising them successfully while touring in the Gelosi. The eldest, Giovan Battista, would later become a professional actor, a prolific author, and the founder of the Fedeli acting troupe. She was unable to recover from the miscarriage of her ninth child and died on 11 June 1604.[3]
[1] Antonella Valoroso, “Isabella Andreini,” Mary Hays, Female Biography; or, Memoirs of Illustrious and Celebrated Women, of All Ages and Countries (1803). Chawton House Library Series: Women’s Memoirs, ed. Gina Luria Walker, Memoirs of Women Writers Part II (Pickering & Chatto: London, 2013), vol. 5, 117-19, editorial notes, 423-24, on 424.
[2] Valoroso, “Isabella Andreini,” vol. 5, 117-19, editorial notes, 423-24, on 424.
[3] Valoroso, “Isabella Andreini,” vol. 5, 117-19, editorial notes, 423-24, on 424.
Bibliography
Biographium fæmineum.The female worthies: or, memoirs of the most illustrious ladies, of all ages and nations,… Collected from history, and the most approved biographers, … In two volumes.. London: printed for S. Crowder, and J. Payne; J. Wilkie, and W. Nicoll; and J. Wren, 1766.
Guccini, G. ‘Intorno alla prima Pazzia d’Isabella. Fonti-Intersezioni-Tecniche’. In Culture Teatrali, 7/8. autunno 2002-primavera 2003: 167-207.
Hays, Mary. “Isabella Andreini.” Female Biography; or, Memoirs of illustrious and celebrated women of all ages and countries (6 volumes). London: R. Phillips, 1803, vol. 1, 91-3.
La Croix, Jean Francois de. Dictionnaire historique portatif des femmes celebres. Paris, Chez L. Cellot, 1769.
Mazzoni, S. ‘La vita di Isabella’, in L’arte dei comici. Omaggio a Isabella Andreini nel quarto centenario della morte (1604-2004), Numero speciale di Culture Teatrali, 10. primavera 2004: 85-105.
Pavoni, G. Diario descritto da Giuseppe Pavoni delle feste celebrate nelle solennissime nozze delli serenissimi sposi, il sig. don Ferdinando Medici, & e la sig. donna Christina di Loreno gran duchi di Toscana. Bologna: Giovanni Rossi, 1589.
Valoroso, Antonella. “Isabella Andreini.” Mary Hays, Female Biography; or, Memoirs of Illustrious and Celebrated Women, of All Ages and Countries (1803). Chawton House Library Series: Women’s Memoirs, ed. Gina Luria Walker, Memoirs of Women Writers Part II. Pickering & Chatto: London, 2013, vol. 5, 117-19, editorial notes, 423-24.
Resources:
Brooklyn Museum
Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art: The Dinner Party: Heritage Floor: Isabella Andreini
https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/isabella_andreini.php
Page citation:
Koren Whipp. “Isabella Andreini.” Project Continua (June 17, 2013): Ver. 1 [date accessed], http://www.projectcontinua.org/isabella-andreini/.
Tags: Actors, End of Renaissance, Playwrights, Poets, Reformation
