RUSCELLI, Girolamo.

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Lettura sopra un sonetto dell'Illustriss. Signor Marchese della Terza alla Divina Signora Marchesa del Vasto. First edition of this early Italian philosophical essay demonstrating "with new and clear reasons... the high perfection of women" and their superiority over men. A tribute to Maria d'Aragona, marquise and patron of the arts, this work contains her only extant portrait and a long list of notable women then living in the major cities of Italy.The essay is a detailed commentary on a sonnet celebrating Maria d'Aragona as an example of divine perfection. Granddaughter of King Ferrante of Naples and wife of Alfonso D'Avalois, marchese del Vasto and later governor of Milan, Maria was at the centre of numerous literary salons in Naples, Milan, and Pavia, and was acquainted with the most famous poets of the time, including Vittoria Colonna, Sannazzaro, and Tasso. Girolamo Ruscelli (1518-1566), polygraph, cartographer, and a friend of Tasso, moved to Naples on the occasion of Maria's return from Milan after the death of her husband, and became close to her academic circles.Inspired by the contents of the sonnet, Ruscelli here defines the correct criteria for establishing perfection. Drawing from Neoplatonic and theological doctrines, he concludes that, since men is God's most perfect creation, and women are superior to men in all aspects, then women are the "most noble and worthy being on Earth" (p. 15). By contemplating women's perfection and beauty, men can discover "the sec

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