The birth of the celebrity couple in Renaissance Italy

Ready to take your journey of Discovery? Renaissance: Journeys of Discovery at BRLSI is a year-long programme of talks and events exploring the many joys, revelations and something of the broader cultural legacy of a movement still making waves in the 21st century.  Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Martin Luther, Brunelleschi, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Machiavelli, Hieronymus Bosch… if you love culture then you’ll love our new talks series!

But how did the new Renaissance stress on individualism influence society? Who were the first celebrity couples and which forces influenced their self-fashioning and marketing strategies?

These questions are at the core of a talk which explores the birth of a phenomenon, the couple in show business. It will focus on the promotional strategies devised by two professional performers: Giovan Battista Andreini (1576-1654) and Virginia Ramponi (1583-ca.1631) and examine their artistic path – a deliberately crafted and mutually beneficial joint career – and links it to the historical, social, and cultural context of post-Tridentine Italy.

Dr Serena Laiena, University of Dublin

Please note that Serena will join us live from Dublin to an audience at BRLSI and online.

To learn more about the Renaissance and our exciting year long programme, don’t forget to follow our Renaissance: Journeys of Discovery webpage:

https://www.brlsi.org/renaissance/