A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Ammanati, (Laura Battiferri)
AMMANATI, (LAURA BATTIFERRI,) an Italian Poetess. Born at Urbino, 1513, died at Florence, November, 1589, aged 76.
Daughter of John Anthony Battiferri, and wife of Bartholomew Ammanati, a celebrated sculptor and architect, of Florence. She applied herself all her life to the study of philosophy and polite literature; and cultivated Italian poetry with so much success, that she is esteemed one of the best poets of the sixteenth century. Her translations of the Penitential Psalms, in odes; the Prayer of Jeremiah, in blank verse; and a hymn on the Glory of Paradise, written originally by Peter Damien, and falsely attributed to St. Augastin, are the most generally approved by men of letters, and especially by Annibal Caro, and Bernard Tasso, father of the famous Tasso, who speaks very highly of her in his Amadis. Her works are distinguished by a noble and elevated stile; by the excellence of the morality, and the spirit of piety which pervades them. Her death was regretted by all who loved the fine arts, and particularly by the court of Tuscany, where she was highly esteemed. The Academy of the Intronati, at Sienna, chose her for one of their members; and the famous German painter, Ans d'Aken, requested permission to take a portrait of her, that he might carry a copy back to his own country, and make a lady known to it, whose praises were celebrated throughout Italy. A collection of her poems were printed, first at Florence, and then at Naples, in 1694.