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Lot Essay
After the death of his wife Eleonora di Toledo in 1562 and his abdication in favor of his son Franceso I in 1564, Cosimo I de’ Medici began a relationship with Camilla Martelli (1547-1590). They had a daughter Virginia in 1568. Virginia was legitimized upon Cosimo’ s marriage to Camilla in 1570 (On Camilla, see V. Arrighi, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 71, 2008; for Virginia, see L. Turchi, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 99, 2020). When Cosimo died in 1574 his wife was consigned to a nunnery by Cosimo’s sons, but little Virginia continued to be brought up within the grand ducal ambit in the suburban villas. As she matured her marital prospects came into focus. First a union with a son of the Sforza was considered; but a natural son of Alfonso d’ Este ultimately was chosen. A magnificent wedding between the two was celebrated in Florence on February 6, 1586 that included in the succeeding days an historic soccer (calcio) match, a feast for one hundred and fifty distinguished guests, games in Piazza Santa Croce, and the performance of a new comedy with musical interludes and sets designed by Bernardo Buontalenti (G. de’ Ricci, Cronaca (1532-1606), Milan-Naples, 1992, p. 458).
The present painting was recognized as being a Medici portrait and published in 1987 (loc. cit.; This identification was repeated in the recent sale). However, the sitter was mistakenly confused with another Medici woman, Eleonora (or Dianora or Leonora), daughter of Garcia di Toledo who was wed to Pietro di Cosimo de’ Medici. She was the daughter of a brother of Eleonora di Toledo, Cosimo I’s wife and had grown up at the Medici court in Florence. Eleonora was married to Pietro de’ Medici, the last child of Cosimo I and Eleonora di Toledo in 1571. The marriage of the two cousins was an unhappy one.
The hairstyle of the lady in this portrait, which is voluminous at the top with a dip in the center of the forehead, dates to the 1580s (R. Orsi Landini and B. Niccoli, Moda a Firenze 1540-1580, Livorno and Florence, 2005, p. 137). This would tend to exclude Elonora who was murdered by strangulation with a dog collar by her husband Pietro de’ Medici in 1576 (for the most complete view of her life and death, see V. Bramani, Breve vita di Leonora di Toledo (1555-1576), Florence, 2007). After the murder the official Medici version was that she had indulged in behavior unbecoming to a lady. The rumor was that that she had had an affair and betrayed her husband, thus justifying her murder by Pietro (ibid., p. 106). This supplies the overwhelming reason why this portrait cannot be Eleonora. After her murder she was buried “like a commoner” and her memory expunged. There was no reason to have portraits of her made or preserved (the portrait of Eleonora from Ambras is very generic and was likely fabricated to complete the series of dynastic portraits. All that was needed was to show an attractive young woman. See K. Langedijk, op. cit., Florence, 1981, I, p. 711, no. 36,4).
It is also not possible that the sitter of the present portrait is Camilla Martelli, the second wife of Cosimo I, as suggested in Sotheby’s, Paris, 19 November 2019, lot 5. The writer of this entry did not take into consideration that no portraits of Camilla would have survived in the Medici collections because Francesco I would have had them destroyed. As there would have been no images for comparison on which the eighteenth-century print by Filippo Morghen could have based, the image that the writer uses to suggest the similarity to the painting at auction would have to have been based on images of Virginia. The sitter of the Sotheby’s portrait is in fact Virginia de’ Medici. In April 1574 Camilla was sent away to a nunnery and never permitted to leave except for her daughter’s wedding in 1586. As she was despised by Francesco I no portraits of her would have been made after Cosimo’s death and any exisiting portraits destroyed or disposed of. Since the hairstyle of this present portrait is not typical of the 1560s or early 1570s, but rather of the 1580s, the present portrait cannot possibly represent Camilla.
Instead, the young woman in this image is identical to that found in a number of portraits, including ones in the Palatine Gallery (ex-Poggio), the Walters Art Museum (37.1112), and a portrait sold at Sotheby’s New York (26 January 2017, lot 120). In several of these images she wears the same baroque pearl earrings and her hair is adorned with pearls arranged in the same manner as those in the present portrait. They are all identified as portraits of Virginia de’ Medici, the daughter of Cosimo I and Camilla Martelli.
In fact, portraits were made of Virginia and for the dynastic diplomatic purposes most common: to provide the prospective groom’s family with the bride’s likeness. On May 16, 1584 the imprisoned Camilla wrote to Francesco I’s wife Bianca Cappello relaying the request of Alfonso d’Este for a portrait of Virginia. Virginia would have been sixteen at that time, an age compatible with the very smooth, young visage in the present portrait. In addition, as time went by Virginia’s success as a wife and mother would have made her a member in good standing of the Medici network in the 1580s and 90s.
While in several images of Virginia she wears the heavy gold chain her mother Camilla gave her, in this painting she wears pearls, also a documented gift from her mother. Her garment is elaborately detailed with arabesque designs delineated in red and gold, small silver, gold, and red teardrops, twisted red and gold threads, red bands, scattered pearls and tiny feather-like poufs of red. The almost infinite differentiations of angles and light and shadow on these elements is masterfully executed. The symphony of red and gold may well have been intended to suggest the colors of the coats-of-arms of Virginia’s heritage: Medici and Martelli.
Elizabeth Pilliod
The present painting was recognized as being a Medici portrait and published in 1987 (loc. cit.; This identification was repeated in the recent sale). However, the sitter was mistakenly confused with another Medici woman, Eleonora (or Dianora or Leonora), daughter of Garcia di Toledo who was wed to Pietro di Cosimo de’ Medici. She was the daughter of a brother of Eleonora di Toledo, Cosimo I’s wife and had grown up at the Medici court in Florence. Eleonora was married to Pietro de’ Medici, the last child of Cosimo I and Eleonora di Toledo in 1571. The marriage of the two cousins was an unhappy one.
The hairstyle of the lady in this portrait, which is voluminous at the top with a dip in the center of the forehead, dates to the 1580s (R. Orsi Landini and B. Niccoli, Moda a Firenze 1540-1580, Livorno and Florence, 2005, p. 137). This would tend to exclude Elonora who was murdered by strangulation with a dog collar by her husband Pietro de’ Medici in 1576 (for the most complete view of her life and death, see V. Bramani, Breve vita di Leonora di Toledo (1555-1576), Florence, 2007). After the murder the official Medici version was that she had indulged in behavior unbecoming to a lady. The rumor was that that she had had an affair and betrayed her husband, thus justifying her murder by Pietro (ibid., p. 106). This supplies the overwhelming reason why this portrait cannot be Eleonora. After her murder she was buried “like a commoner” and her memory expunged. There was no reason to have portraits of her made or preserved (the portrait of Eleonora from Ambras is very generic and was likely fabricated to complete the series of dynastic portraits. All that was needed was to show an attractive young woman. See K. Langedijk, op. cit., Florence, 1981, I, p. 711, no. 36,4).
It is also not possible that the sitter of the present portrait is Camilla Martelli, the second wife of Cosimo I, as suggested in Sotheby’s, Paris, 19 November 2019, lot 5. The writer of this entry did not take into consideration that no portraits of Camilla would have survived in the Medici collections because Francesco I would have had them destroyed. As there would have been no images for comparison on which the eighteenth-century print by Filippo Morghen could have based, the image that the writer uses to suggest the similarity to the painting at auction would have to have been based on images of Virginia. The sitter of the Sotheby’s portrait is in fact Virginia de’ Medici. In April 1574 Camilla was sent away to a nunnery and never permitted to leave except for her daughter’s wedding in 1586. As she was despised by Francesco I no portraits of her would have been made after Cosimo’s death and any exisiting portraits destroyed or disposed of. Since the hairstyle of this present portrait is not typical of the 1560s or early 1570s, but rather of the 1580s, the present portrait cannot possibly represent Camilla.
Instead, the young woman in this image is identical to that found in a number of portraits, including ones in the Palatine Gallery (ex-Poggio), the Walters Art Museum (37.1112), and a portrait sold at Sotheby’s New York (26 January 2017, lot 120). In several of these images she wears the same baroque pearl earrings and her hair is adorned with pearls arranged in the same manner as those in the present portrait. They are all identified as portraits of Virginia de’ Medici, the daughter of Cosimo I and Camilla Martelli.
In fact, portraits were made of Virginia and for the dynastic diplomatic purposes most common: to provide the prospective groom’s family with the bride’s likeness. On May 16, 1584 the imprisoned Camilla wrote to Francesco I’s wife Bianca Cappello relaying the request of Alfonso d’Este for a portrait of Virginia. Virginia would have been sixteen at that time, an age compatible with the very smooth, young visage in the present portrait. In addition, as time went by Virginia’s success as a wife and mother would have made her a member in good standing of the Medici network in the 1580s and 90s.
While in several images of Virginia she wears the heavy gold chain her mother Camilla gave her, in this painting she wears pearls, also a documented gift from her mother. Her garment is elaborately detailed with arabesque designs delineated in red and gold, small silver, gold, and red teardrops, twisted red and gold threads, red bands, scattered pearls and tiny feather-like poufs of red. The almost infinite differentiations of angles and light and shadow on these elements is masterfully executed. The symphony of red and gold may well have been intended to suggest the colors of the coats-of-arms of Virginia’s heritage: Medici and Martelli.
Elizabeth Pilliod