Eleonora

I love this portrait from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s current Medici exhibit, painted by the Italian artist Bronzino. The subject, Eleonora di Toledo, was a Spanish noblewoman born in 1522. At seventeen she married Cosimo I de Medici, becoming Duchess of Florence. Eleonora was known for her fecundity - she gave birth to eleven children, eight of whom survived to adulthood. In her spare time, she ruled as regent of Florence during her husband’s sometimes lengthy absences for military campaigns or illness, financed many of her husband’s political campaigns and buildings such as the Pitti Palace, and founded multiple Jesuit churches. She managed to do all of this before dying at the age of forty, along with two of her teenaged sons, from malaria.

Eleonora’s raiment gives hints about her story. I was immediately struck by the red hue of the gown, and subsequently learned that this color required many hours of labor to achieve, suggesting power and wealth. The headpiece, pearl lattice, and golden braid speak to Eleonora’s social status and the luxuriousness of a noble Italian household in the Renaissance period. My favorite detail is the gold embroidery on the bodice of the dress. Eleonora wore the letter C, for her husband, and it speaks to the bond they had, political and economic, yes, but maybe personal as well. Eleonora’s story is full of grandeur - she was born into nobility, became a duchess, transcended the expected role of a noblewomen, and lived, always, in wealth and luxury – yet so universal – she was a woman, a wife, a mother, and a fashion bug. There is another beautiful portrait of her by the same artist which tells a different facet of Eleonora’s story, making a trip to this soon-to-close exhibit both interesting and pleasurable.