Strategies of women patrons of music and theatre in Rome: Maria Mancini Colonna, Queen Christina of Sweden, and women of their circles

De Lucca, Valeria (2011) Strategies of women patrons of music and theatre in Rome: Maria Mancini Colonna, Queen Christina of Sweden, and women of their circles. Renaissance Studies, 25 (3), 374-392. (doi:10.1111/j.1477-4658.2010.00676.x).

Abstract

Cultural life in late seventeenth-century Rome was enormously enriched by women's support of music and musicians, theatre, and public entertainments. This essay explores the patronage of Maria Mancini Colonna, Queen Christina of Sweden and women of their circles, the resonance of their sponsorship of musical or theatrical events in Rome during the 1660s and 1670s, and their self-fashioning as patrons. The picture that results from this investigation shows that patronage offered women the possibility to express their desires, accomplish diplomatic endeavours, and even respond to the criticisms of their detractors in acceptable ways.

Furthermore, by examining mostly chronicles compiled by their male contemporaries (avvisi di Roma), correspondence, and memoirs, this essay aims also at exploring the challenges and methodological avenues available to scholars whose study of women's patronage cannot be supported by the proof of financial support to a musician or to sponsor an event.

The much broader idea of patronage that emerges from such a study indicates that the path is open for music historians for more studies on women's struggles to produce, inspire, influence, and commission music, theatrical entertainment, and cultural activities in early modern Rome.

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