Medici Women Portraits of Power, Love, and Betrayal from the Court of Duke Cosimo I The ducal court of Cosimo I de' Medici in sixteenth-century Florence was one of absolutist rule and rigid protocol, but also a flourishing centre for the arts. Portraiture especially served the dynastic pretensions of its ambitious ruler, the Duke, and his Spanish consort, Eleonora di Toledo, and was part of a Herculean program of propaganda to establish legitimacy and prestige for the parvenu dynasty in the European arena. In this engaging and original study, Gabrielle Langdon analyses selected por- traits of women by Jacopo Pontormo, Agnolo Bronzino, Alessandro Allori, and other masters. She defines their function as works of art, as dynastic declarations, and as encoded documents of court culture and propaganda, illuminating Cosimo’s conscious fashioning of his court portraiture in imitation of the great courts of Europe. Langdon explores the use of portraiture as a vehicle to express Medici political policy, such as with Cosimo’s Hapsburg and Papal alliances in his bid to be made Grand Duke with hegemony over rival Italian princes. Stories from archives, letters, diaries, chronicles, and secret ambassadorial briefs open up a world of fascinating personalities, personal triumphs, human frailty, rumour, intrigue, and appalling tragedies. Lavishly illustrated, Medici Women: Por- traits of Power, Love, and Betrayal from the Court of Duke Cosimo I is an indispensable work for anyone with a passion for Italian renaissance history, art, and court cul- ture. gabrielle langdon, a former museum educator, is adjunct professor for the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Western Ontario. She has taught Renaissance art history in Europe, the United States, and Canada. This page intentionally left blank Medici Women Portraits of Power, Love, and Betrayal from the Court of Duke Cosimo I GABRIELLE LANGDON UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS Toronto Buffalo London Prelims.fm Page iv Thursday, June 14, 2007 9:12 AM www.utppublishing.com © University of Toronto Press Incorporated 2006 Toronto Buffalo London Printed in Canada Reprinted in paperback 2007 isbn 978-0-8020-3825-8 (cloth) isbn 978-0-8020-9527-5 (paper) Printed on acid-free paper Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Langdon, Gabrielle Medici women: portraits of power, love and betrayal from the court of Duke Cosimo I / Gabrielle Langdon. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-8020-3825-8 (bound). – isbn 978-0-8020-9527-5 (pbk.) 1. Women – Italy – Florence – Portraits. 2. Medici, House of – Portraits. 3. Cosimo I, Grand-Duke of Tuscany, 1519–1574 – Art patronage. 4. Medici, House of – Art patronage. 5. Portraits, Italian – 16th century. 6. Portrait painting, Italian – 16th century. 7. Women – Italy – Florence – Biography. 8. Women – Italy – Florence – History – 16th century. I. Title. nd1318.2.l35 2006 7579.409455109031 c2005-906418-8 University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support for its publishing activities of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP). To Abe, our daughters, and to the future, con amore: Marcus and Claire Alexander, and Rachel and Aoife Nolan This page intentionally left blank Contents list of illustrations ix acknowledgments xiii Introduction 3 1 Bloodlines: Portraits of Maria Salviati de’ Medici by Bronzino and Pontormo 23 2 Declarations of Dynasty: The State Portrait of Eleonora di Toledo 59 3 ‘These tender and well-born plants’: Young Daughters and Wards of Cosimo and Eleonora 98 4 A ‘Medici’ Papacy and a Counter-Reformation in Portraiture: Allori’s Giulia d’Alessandro de’ Medici 121 5 The New Medicean Cosmos: Lucrezia de’ Medici, Duchess of Ferrara 137 6 Damnatio Memoriae: Isabella de’ Medici Orsini, ‘La stella di casa Medici’ 146 7 Up Close and Personal: Patronage and the Miniature Eleonora (‘Dianora’) di Toledo de’ Medici 171 Epilogue 194 appendices 199 terminology and abbreviations 209 notes 211 bibliography 311 photograph credits 349 index 351 This page intentionally left blank Illustrations Plates (Plates 1–16 follow page 16) 1 Agnolo Bronzino, Lady in Red / Lady with a Lapdog (here identified as Maria Salviati), ca. 1526 2 Pontormo (Jacopo da Carucci), Maria Salviati with Giulia de’ Medici, ca. 1540 3 Agnolo Bronzino, Cosimo I in Armour, 1543–4 4 Agnolo Bronzino, Eleonora di Toledo with Her Son Giovanni, 1545 5 Agnolo Bronzino, Eleonora di Toledo, 1543 6 Agnolo Bronzino, Bia de’ Medici, ca. 1542 7 Agnolo Bronzino, Maria de’ Medici as a Girl, 1551 8 Bronzino workshop, Medici family, miniatures, after 1553 9 Agnolo Bronzino, Girl with a Book, 1541–5 10 Alessandro Allori, Lucrezia de’ Medici d’Este, ca. 1560 11 Alessandro Allori, Isabella de’ Medici Orsini with Her Son Virginio, 1574 12 Alessandro Allori, Isabella de’ Medici Orsini with a Dog, early 1560s 13 Domenico Puligo, Barbara Salutati, ca. 1525 14 Alessandro Allori, Eleonora (‘Dianora’) di Don Garzia di Toledo di Pietro de’ Medici, portrait miniature, 1571 15 Alessandro Allori, Eleonora (‘Dianora’) di Don Garzia di Toledo di Pietro de’ Medici, portrait miniature, reverse of pl. 14: Juno, with Nymphs of the Air 16 Alessandro Allori, Eleonora (‘Dianora’) di Don Garzia di Toledo di Pietro de’ Medici, ca. 1571 Figures (Figures 1–26 follow page 48) 1 Peter Paul Rubens, The Presentation of the Portrait of Maria de’ Medici to Henry IV, ca. 1623 2 Agnolo Bronzino, Lady in Red / Lady with a Lapdog (here identified as Maria Salviati), detail of pl. 1 3 Agnolo Bronzino, Elderly Lady, ca. 1540 4 Giorgio Vasari, Maria Salviati de’ Medici, 1556–9. Ceiling tondo, Sala Giovanni delle Bande Nere, Florence, Palazzo Vecchio x Illustrations 5 Battista Naldini, Maria Salviati with Giovanni delle Bande Nere, 1585–6 (Serie Aulica) 6 Agnolo Bronzino, Maria Salviati, drawing, ca. 1526 7Anonymous, Maria Salviati, 1587 (Ambras Series) 8 Francesco Allegrini, Maria Salviati, engraving, 1761 9 Pontormo (Jacopo da Carucci), Maria Salviati, drawing, ca. 1544 10 Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, Cosimo de’ Medici at Age Twelve, 1531 11 Pontormo (Jacopo da Carucci), Alessandro de’ Medici, 1534–5 12 Bronzino workshop, after Pontormo, Alessandro de’ Medici, after 1553 13 Pontormo (Jacopo da Carucci), Maria Salviati with Giulia de’ Medici, detail of pl. 2: lower area 14 Pontormo (Jacopo da Carucci), Maria Salviati with a Book, ca. 1544–5 15 Agnolo Bronzino, Eleonora di Toledo with Her Son Giovanni, ca. 1545, detail of pl. 4: dress and landscape 16 Agnolo Bronzino, Giovanni de’ Medici with a Goldfinch, 1545 17 Agnolo Bronzino and workshop, Eleonora di Toledo with Her Son Giovanni, ca. 1545 18 Lorenzo della Sciorina, Eleonora di Toledo with Her Son Garzia, 1584 (Serie Aulica) 19 Agnolo Bronzino, Eleonora di Toledo, 1543, detail of pl. 5: face 20 Agnolo Bronzino, Eleonora di Toledo, 1543, detail of pl. 5: hand 21 Anonymous, Cosimo de’ Medici and Eleonora di Toledo with Maps, 1546 22 Giulio Clovio, Eleonora di Toledo, portrait miniature, 1551–3 23 Anonymous copy of Titian, Isabella of Portugal in Black, 1543–4 24 Titian (Tiziano Vecellio), Isabella of Portugal in Red, 1545–8 25 Baccio Bandinelli, Eleonora di Toledo, portrait bust, 1544 26 Francesco Salviati? Woman with a Statue of Eros, early 1530s (Figures 27–46 follow page 112) 27 Agnolo Bronzino, Lucrezia Panciatichi, ca. 1540 28 Title page, Aldo Mannucci, Vita di Cosimo de’ Medici Primo Gran Duca di Toscana descritta da Aldo Manucci, Bologna, 1586 29 Agnolo Bronzino, Allegory of Venus and Cupid, 1544–5, detail: Fraude 30 After Marco Moro, View of the nave of the Santuario di S. Maria delle Grazie, Mantua (before removal of boti figures in armour), ca. 1840 31 Adriaen Haelwegh, Maria de’ Medici, engraving, 1675. Giuseppe Zocchi, Chronologica series simulacrorum regiae familiae Medicea, Florence, 1761 32 After Bronzino, Isabella de’ Medici as a Girl, ca. 1552–4 33 Diagram, ‘cornucopia’ earring, after figure 32, Isabella de’ Medici as a Girl 34 Juan de Flandes, Infanta, ca. 1495 35 Lorenzo Costa, Woman with a Lapdog, ca. 1500 36 Michel Sittow, Catherine of Aragon, ca. 1501 37 Alessandro Allori, Portrait of a Woman (here identified as Giulia d’Alessandro de’ Medici), 1559 38 Alessandro Allori, Portrait of a Woman (here identified as Giulia d’Alessandro de’ Medici), detail of fig. 37: face Illustrations xi 39 Raphael / Giulio Romano. Alessandro de’ Medici as a Boy, ca. 1520 40 Alessandro Allori, Portrait of a Woman (here identified as Giulia d’Alessandro de’ Medici), detail of fig. 37: chair 41 Giorgio Vasari, Bernardetto de’ Medici, 1549 42 Alessandro Allori, Erythraean Sibyl, 1560. Fresco, vault pendentive, Montauto Chapel, Santissima Annunziata, Florence 43 Alessandro Allori, Francesco de’ Medici with a Miniature of Lucrezia de’ Medici, ca. 1560 44 Adriaen Haelwegh, Lucrezia de’ Medici, engraving, 1675. Giuseppe Zocchi, Chronologica series simulacrorum regiae familiae Medicea, Florence, 1761 45 Alessandro Allori? Lucrezia de’ Medici, before 1559 46 Anonymous, Isabella de’ Medici Orsini, 1587 (Ambras Series) (Figures 47–65 follow page 144) 47 Alessandro Allori, Isabella de’ Medici Orsini with Her Son Virginio, detail of pl. 11: kerchief inscription 48 Alessandro Allori, Isabella de’ Medici Orsini, 1574 49 Anonymous, Isabella de’ Medici Orsini, after 1563. Fresco fragment from Santa Maria ad Olmi, Mugello 50 Anonymous, Isabella de’ Medici Orsini, 1587 (Ambras Series) 51 Alessandro Allori workshop (Santi di Tito?), Isabella de’ Medici Orsini 52 Alessandro Allori workshop, Isabella de’ Medici Orsini with Music, ca. 1565 53 Alessandro Allori, Isabella de’ Medici Orsini, ca. 1565 54 Alessandro Allori, Isabella de’ Medici Orsini with a Fur Pelt, ca.