‘A Man within a Woman, or even a God’: Vittoria Colonna and 16th-Century Italian Poetic Culture

This essay focuses on the famous friendship between Vittoria Colonna (1490–1547) and Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564). The pair met in Rome some time in the 1530s, and continued to correspond until Colonna’s death. Despite Michelangelo’s towering artistic reputation, Colonna was the dominant party in the friendship. Michelangelo looked to her for spiritual guidance and openly acknowledged his need for her support in ‘refashioning’ him as a better man and Christian. In the poetry that these friends exchanged, the Neoplatonic emphasis is clearly in evidence. In particular, in a manuscript gift of 103 sonnets that Colonna sent to Michelangelo in around 1540, Colonna demonstrates how far she has advanced in her journey towards God, and offers her example as a model for Michelangelo’s own spiritual ascent. Notably, the Neoplatonic frame allows the female poet to adopt the role of teacher and leader, confidently claiming this status as a result of her greater spiritual understanding, which ultimately transcends gender so that Michelangelo describes her as ‘a man within a woman, or even a god’.