Behind the Walls: Creativity, visions and horrors in Renaissance Italian convents
By the middle of the 16th century dowries in Italy were so expensive that most respectable families could not afford to marry off more than one or two daughters. The rest became nuns, entering convents at puberty and never leaving. Not surprisingly not all of them went willingly. But along with stories of enforced incarceration and horror, there was also unexpected space for creativity: art, scholarship, writing, drama and music. As well there was the possibility of another kind of fulfilment – and power – that of ecstatic union with the spiritual husband, Jesus Christ. Behind those walls a great deal was going on.
The Creative Courtesan: the art of high class prostitution in Renaissance Italy
Titian’s Venus of Urbino is just one of a number of Renaissance masterpieces that celebrate the beauty of the female form. But who were the women who modelled for such paintings? In an age where the church demanded celibacy but turned a blind eye to chastity, and where rich high class men married late to virginal women they were not expected to be faithful to, where did all that male desire go? The answer, in cities like Rome and Venice, was the birth of courtesan culture: women as cultured, clever and fashionable as they were lovely. This lecture names names and tells stories, with wonderful images to match.
Sarah Dunant is a novelist, broadcaster and critic. Sarah read history at Cambridge, then worked for many years as a cultural journalist in radio and television on such programmes as Kaleidoscope (BBC Radio 4), The Late Show (BBC 2), and Night Waves/Free thinking (BBC Radio 3). She has published thirteen novels, taught renaissance studies at Washington University, St Louis and lectured around the world at festivals and conferences. She is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s A Point of View and these talks, alongside her series on history for Radio 4, When Greeks Flew Kites are available on podcast or BBC sounds. Her last six novels have been set within the Italian Renaissance, including the lives of women and the - true - story of the Borgias. Isabella d'Este, an illustrated novel about the life of the first ever female patron and collector is published in June 2025. And Sarah delivers a series of vie 15 talks to BBC Radio 4 "Unearthing the Past" as book of the week to coincide with publication.