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.Especially the actresses, who in their pastoral rolesperpetuated the stereotypes of virtuous, learned innamorate while their own deportment was rumored to be spiced with transgressive behaviors similar to thoseof the cortigiane, seemed to influence the ladies of Catherine de Medici’s and Marguerite de Valois’s court circles, including the ladies of the escadron volant.It thus took skill and a propensity for inspiring and fostering positive querellerhetoric regarding themselves for women such as Retz and Andreini to escapebeing categorically labeled among the negative exempla of their times.While the similarities between Retz and Andreini are clearly due more to thefostering of Italianate literary and performative practices for women by Catherinede Medici and those around her than direct influence between the two women, it isnot as far-fetched as it might first appear to compare the careers of a lady of the French court and a famous actress to illustrate further the mimetic nature of their activities.Retz’s association with the Academie du palais, of which D’Aubigné writes, is comparable to Andreini’s later inclusion in the Intenti, as well as the 58See Timmermans, note 28, p.67.59Rime d’ Isabella Andreini comica gelosa, & academica intenta detta l’ Accesa.Parte seconda (Milano: Bordone and Locarni, 1605), 44–8.60 Andreini,Rime, parte seconda, Sonnet LV.MacNeil has suggested that“Madamoisella di Chiaramonte” might refer to Clermont, since Chiaramonte would be the Italian version of her name (“Music and the Life,” 173), but Timmermans’s identification of Chiaramonte as Beaulieu, in light of the correspondence between Andreini and Beaulieu, makes the most sense (Timmermans, 65).Pastoral Defenses87interactions of earlier Italian noblewomen, such as Vittoria Colonna (1492–1574)and Veronica Gambara (1485–1550), in Italian academies.According to Pierre deL’Anglois in his Discours des Hieroglyphes Aegyptiens, Emblemes, Devises etArmoiries (Paris, 1584), Retz’s academic devices were the rose, the lily, amaranth, shrubs, and brambles.61 Her interaction in salon society under the pastoralpseudonym Dictynne also recalls the use of pseudonyms in Italian salon andacademic society.Andreini was called “l’Accesa” among the Intenti, according to the title of her second book of Rime (1605), and Gaspara Stampa (1523–1554) was known as “Anassilla” among the Dubbiosi.62 Also like Andreini, Retz was touted for her musical abilities, especially her playing of the lute, which she studied with the renowned musician Adrian Le Roy.63 Performances of several kinds, then, wereas crucial to Retz’s success in courtly society as they were to Andreini’s, and both women used to their advantage the positive querelle rhetoric that suchperformances could inspire.For Andreini, the laudatory attention was a boon to her professional career, and for Retz, it was an insurance policy regarding themaintenance of her high stature in courtly and literary society.Protective strategies and circles of influenceUnlike Andreini, who clearly sought publication, a move that makes sense sinceher status as an actor thrust her into the public eye anyway, Retz was apparentlyreluctant to have her works printed, as the points made by D’Aubigné and La Croixdu Maine suggest.Instead she circulated them in manuscript among a select group,with the possible exception of Les diverses assiettes d’ amour, traduit d’ Espagnol en François, “par Madame la Marechalle de Retz,” the translation mentioned in a catalogue of books entitled “Bibliotheque de Madame de Montpensier mise enlumiere par l’advis de Cornac avec le consentement du Sr.de Beaulieu sonEcuyer” in L’Estoile’s Memoires pour servir à L’ histoire de France (1515–1611).64 Avoiding print publication constituted a measure for preserving one’sreputation for a noblewoman, as well as served as a marker of class.Mosteschewed print except in special cases when invited to participate in a worthycause, such as a tombeau on the death of a close friend or loved one, or when they chose to publish something either anonymously or under a pseudonym.Thesepractices are exemplified in the cases of Antoinette de Loynes, Madame de Morel61 See Pierre L’Anglois, Tableaux Hieroglyphiques pour exprimer toutesconceptions à la façon des Ægyptiens, par figures & images des choses, au lieu de lettres: avec plusieurs interpretations des songes & prodiges (Paris: Abel l’Angelier, 1584), 106vo–107vo.See also Yates, The French Academies, 34.62 Bassanese,17.63See the commentary on Retz’s patronage of musicians along with lists ofinstruments in her possession in St-John, 151–4.64 L’Estoile,Memoires pour servir à L’ histoire de France, 1: 236
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