Aurora Sanseverino (28 April 1669 – 2 July 1726) was an Italian noblewoman, salon-holder, patron and poet. One of the most celebrated women in the highest rank of the Neapolitan aristocracy, she was known for her great cultural activity as a patron and mecenat of art and for her famous cultural salon in Naples, and correspondent of several contemporary culture personalities that made her a central figure in baroque Italy. Remembered as a "very beautiful, kind and lively lady",Gérard Labrot, Carol Togneri Dowd, Anna Cera Sones, ''Collections of paintings in Naples: 1600-1780'', K. G. Saur Verlag GmbH, 1992, p. 409 she also contributed much to giving women a dignified place in the cultural circles of Neapolitan society of the time.

Biography

Born in Saponara (the actual

Grumento Nova Grumento Nova is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. The ancient name of the town was Saponara. In the locality Spineta are the remains of the Roman town of Grumentum Grumentum ( grc ...

, province of Potenza), she was the daughter of Carlo Maria Sanseverino, Prince of

Bisignano Bisignano ( Calabrian: ) is a town and '' comune'' in the province of Cosenza, part of the Calabria region of southern Italy. It is situated on hills in the Crati valley, between the Pollino and Sila National Parks. The town has historically been ...

and Count of Saponara, and Maria Fardella, Countess of Paceco. At the age of 11, she married Girolamo Acquaviva, Count of

Conversano Conversano ( Barese: ) is an ancient town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, south-eastern Italy. It is southeast of Bari and from the Adriatic coast, at above sea level. The counts of Conversano owned a stud that they u ...

, but she was widowed after few years and later remarried Nicola Gaetani dell'Aquila d'Aragona, Count of Alife, Duke of

Laurenzana Laurenzana ( Lucano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the region of Basilicata (southern Italy). It rises on a spur between the torre Camastro and the wood surrounding the Serrapotamo valley. History Laurenzana's origins ...

and Prince of Piedimonte, who would become his lifelong companion. She moved with her husband to

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, opening an important salon. Her circle included some of the kingdom's most prominent scholars and thinkers, most notably

Giambattista Vico Giambattista Vico (born Giovan Battista Vico ; ; 23 June 1668 – 23 January 1744) was an Italian philosopher, rhetorician, historian, and jurist during the Italian Enlightenment. He criticized the expansion and development of modern rationali ...

Gian Vincenzo Gravina Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina (20 January 1664 – 6 January 1718) was an Italian man of letters and jurist. He was born at Roggiano Gravina, a small town near Cosenza, in Calabria. Biography Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina was descended from a d ...

and Giuseppe Valletta. In 1691 she joined the Accademia degli Arcadi in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, under the name of ''Lucinda Coritesia'', being one of the first women to be accepted to the academy. She was one of the first members of the Colonia Sebezia in Naples and also belonged to the Accademia degli Spensierati in Rossano. Most of her production has been lost and only a few sonnets survived. Many artists worked under her tutelage including painters Francesco Solimena,

Paolo de Matteis Paolo de Matteis (also known as ''Paolo de' Matteis''; 9 February 1662 – 26 January 1728) was an Italian painter. Biography He was born in Piano Vetrale, a hamlet of Orria, in the current Province of Salerno, and died in Naples. He trained wit ...

Bernardo de' Dominici Bernardo de' Dominici or Bernardo De Dominici (13 December 1683 – c. 1759) was an Italian art historian and painter of the late- Baroque period, active mainly in Naples. As a painter he was known for his landscapes, marine vedute and genre scen ...

, Giovanni Battista Ruoppolo, Giacinto and Domenico Brandi, Teresa del Pò, Giacomo Nani, Nicola Maria Rossi, Michele Pagano (whose son Nicola played

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

in her musical performances) and composers Nicola Fago,

Nicola Porpora Nicola (or Niccolò) Antonio Porpora (17 August 16863 March 1768) was an Italian composer and teacher of singing of the Baroque music, Baroque era, whose most famous singing students were the castrati Farinelli and Caffarelli (castrato), Caffarel ...

, Giacomo Antonio Perti, Francesco Mancini,

Domenico Sarro Domenico Natale Sarro, also Sarri (24 December 1679 – 25 January 1744) was an Italian composer. Born in Trani, Apulia, he studied at the Neapolitan conservatory of S. Onofrio. He composed extensively in the early 18th century. His opera '' Di ...

.Landgraf, Vickers, p.2 She is best known for her collaboration with George Frideric Handel, commissioning the

serenata In music, a serenade (; also sometimes called a serenata, from the Italian) is a musical composition or performance delivered in honor of someone or something. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. The term comes from the Italia ...

Aci, Galatea e Polifemo Aci, Galatea e Polifemo ( HWV 72) is a dramatic cantata—also called a serenata—by George Frideric Handel. It was first performed at Naples on 19 July 1708; the completed score is dated to 16 June 1708. The serenata was commissioned by Duche ...

'' for the wedding of her niece Princess Beatrice di Montemiletto and Tolomeo Saverio Gallo, Duke of Alvito, which took place in Naples on 19 July 1708. In 1716, Aurora and her husband commissioned Alessandro Scarlatti's ''La Gloria di Primavera'', on a text by her private secretary Niccolò Giuvo, on the occasion of the birth of Archduke Leopold, son of Charles VI and Elisabeth Christine, although the child was destined to live only 7 months. Iskrena Yordanova, Paologiovanni Maione,
Serenata and Festa Teatrale in 18th Century Europe
', Hollitzer Wissenschaftsverlag, 2018 Her later life was marked by sadness for the loss her children Pasquale and Cecilia. Cecilia, who died in 1710, had recently given birth to

Raimondo di Sangro Raimondo di Sangro, Prince of Sansevero (30 January 1710 – 22 March 1771) was an Italian nobleman, inventor, soldier, writer, scientist, alchemist and freemason best remembered for his reconstruction of the Sansevero Chapel in Naples. Early l ...

, future inventor and alchemist. Aurora died in Piedimonte d'Alife (today known as Piedimonte Matese,

province of Caserta The Province of Caserta ( it, Provincia di Caserta) is a province in the Campania region of southern Italy. Its capital is the city of Caserta, situated about by road north of Naples. The province has an area of , and had a total population of ...

), aged 57.

References

Bibliography

*Thomas C. Willette, ''Massimo Stanzione and Bernardo De Dominici: The Life and Work of a Neapolitan Painter'', Johns Hopkins University, 1988 *Annette Landgraf, David Vickers, ''The Cambridge Handel Encyclopedia'', Cambridge University Press, 2009

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanseverino, Aurora 1669 births 1726 deaths Aurora Sanseverino People from the Province of Potenza Italian salon-holders Italian art patrons Italian patrons of music 17th-century Italian women 18th-century Italian women