"Literary Patronage in Spain 1500-1560," by Rosa Helena Chinchilla
This study explores the relationship between patrons and authors. The introduction describes centers of literary production and printing, and introduces patronage as a useful tool in understanding literary context, printing history, and gender roles. Other sections of the book discuss the activity of women patrons who passed on their wealth to their daughters, who themselves became mothers; the renowned collector Mencía de Mendoza y Fonseca, the Duchess of Brabant; and the nobleman philosopher patron Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (the Third Duke of Sessa); one patron belonging to the royal family, the Infanta Juana, “La Princesa” and regent of Spain (1554–1559). Devotional texts for women, the ideal of “magnificence,” and courtly intrigue surrounding Converso authors provides the cultural backdrop for understanding the work of poets, such as Garcilaso de la Vega, Juan Boscán and Jorge de Montemayor; and men of letters such as Joan Anyes, Francisco Decio, Diego de Estella, Alonso de Orozco, Martín de Córdoba, and Alonso de Ulloa.
By studying the dedicatory letters in early modern imprints, we see how the interests of literary patrons influenced the types of books dedicated to them, and how authors, often cited as household servants and as independent men of letters, sought out patronage.
ISBN 978-1-58871-336-0 (PB) $25