Gaspara is the feminine of Gaspare (Caspar — one of the Three Magi). **Gaspara Stampa (1523-1554)** was the **most celebrated female poet of the Italian Renaissance** — Venetian courtesan and composer of **290 sonnets and madrigals on her tragic love affair with Count Collaltino di Collalto**. **Praised by Rilke as embodying the supreme example of "unrequited love that can outlast its object"** in his *Duino Elegies*. Died at 31, possibly by her own hand.
Subject of Rilke's First Duino Elegy.
Gaspara reduces to six — the number of Venetian sonneteer.