The year is 1559, and I am currently residing in Spain as court painter and lady-in-waiting to Elisabeth of Valois. However, I still write home and I have heard that Pope Paul IV has actually started to banish books. (He calls it the Pauline Index) Being a painter, my own work is not affected by this act, but my appall is no less. To prohibit knowledge is to put restraints on the growth of the state.
The Church claims to be protecting their people from incorrect and immoral information that would reduce their faith, but we all know that is not the case. They are scared of losing power. Already I hear the people complaining about the Pope's actions, saying that it was most unwise of him to do so.
Anyways, the people who have had their works censored must have been intelligent to make the Church feel threatened. If these men are that intelligent, they will find ways around the bans and continue to publish.
I never had much love for Church officials, those close-minded men. It was partly due to their influence that I was not allowed to study anatomy or draw from life, because ladies are not allowed to view nudes. Therefore, I am not able to paint those complex and wonderful large-scale religious or historical paintings one sees and reveres so often these days. It is a shame, but I have simply learned to paint other things.
Again, the Church's censorship has clearly gone too far. Hopefully, it is only a matter of time before the cultural rebirth of Italy begins to influence the Church's views as well.
- Sofonisba Anguissola, 27 years old
Sources: wikipedia.org, fordham.edu, timelineindex.com
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