[53] _Die Entstehung der Universitaeten des Mittelalters bis 1400_, Band I, p. 233, Berlin, 1885, von P. Heinrick Denifle, assistant archivist of the Vatican Library, and _Histoire Literaire de la France, Commence par des Religieux Benedictins de S. Maur et Continue par des Membres de l'Institut_, Tom. IX, 281, Paris, 1733-1906. [54] "Une de ces nuits lumineuses ou les dernieres clartes du soir se prolongent jusqu'aux premieres blancheurs du matin." _Documents Inedits_, p. 78, Paris, 1850. [55] _The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages_, Vol. I, p. 31, Oxford, 1895. [56] _A Short History of the Renaissance in Italy_, p. 277, London, 1893. [57] Cecelia Gonzaga, a pupil of the celebrated humanist, Vittorino da Feltre, read the Gospels in Greek when she was only seven years old. Isotta and Ginevra Nogorola, pupils of the humanist, Guarino Verronese, likewise distinguished themselves at an early age by their rare knowledge of Latin and Greek. In later years all three enjoyed great celebrity for their learning, and were, like Battista di Montefeltro, women of genuine humanist sympathies. Cecelia Gonzaga's scholarship was in no wise inferior to that of her learned brothers, who were among the most noted students of the famous Casa Zoyosa in Mantua, where Vittorino da Feltre achieved such distinction as an educator in the early part of the Italian Renaissance. The learned Italian writer, Sabbadini, beautifully expressed the relation of women to Humanism, when he declares, in his _Vida di Guarino, "L'Humanismo si sposa alla gentilezza feminile_,"--humanism weds feminine gentility. [58] Among them are the pictures of Caterina Vigri, which are preserved in the Pinacoteca of Bologna and in the Academia of Venice. [59] No less an authority than the illustrious sculptor, Canova, declared that her early death was one of the greatest losses ever suffered by Italian art. [60] It was also said of the Venetian artist, Irene di Spilimbergo, that her pictures were of such excellence that they were frequently mistaken for those of her illustrious master, Titian. [61] Among these works may be mentioned _Il Merito delle Donne_, by Modesta Pozzo di Zorgi, Venice, 1600; _La Nobilita e l'Excellenza delle Donne_, by Lucrezia Marinelli, Venice, 1601; _De Ingenii Muliebris ad Doctrinam et Meliores Litteras Aptitudine_, by Anna van Schurman, Leyden, 1641; _Les Dames Illustres_, by Jaquette Guillame, Paris, 1665, and _L'Egalite des Hommes et des Femmes_, by Marie le Jars de Gournay, Paris, 1622. The last named work was by the celebrated _fille d'alliance_--adopted daughter--of Montaigne. It is to her that we owe the _textus receptus_ of the _Essais_ of the illustrious litterateur. [62] _The Women of the Renaissance_, p. 290, by R. de Maulde la Claviere, New York, 1901. [63] Called _La Latina_, because of her thorough knowledge of the Latin language.