Giulia de' Medici
Encyclopedia
Giulia Romola di Alessandro de' Medici (c. 1535 – c. 1588) was the illegitimate, possibly biracial, daughter of Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence
and his mistress
Taddea Malaspina
.
Following her father's assassination, she was reared at the court of Cosimo I de' Medici and married advantageously twice.
on November 5, 1535; this was probably Giulia. Close to this date, her father had commissioned a portrait of himself drawing a female profile in silverpoint
. Art historians believe the portrait may have been intended as a gift for his mistress, Taddea Malaspina, the sister of the marchioness of Massa
, to commemorate the birth of their second child, Giulia. Giulia also had an older full brother, Giulio di Alessandro de' Medici
, and at least one half-sister, Porzia de' Medici
.
After her father's assassination in 1537 and the ensuing power struggle among the Medici
for control of Florence and of the family, Giulia and her brother Giulio were taken from their mother and placed under the guardianship of Alessandro's successor, Cosimo I de' Medici. Cosimo promised to treat the children well and their rooms were as opulent as those of his own children. Maria Salviati
, the mother of Cosimo I, supervised the nurseries and watched over Giulia's bedside anxiously when the little girl became ill in February 1542. Giulia survived the fever
, but her companion in the nursery, Cosimo I's illegitimate daughter Bia de' Medici
, died.
As she grew up, Giulia was completely integrated into life at court and was educated to a high standard, as were the daughters and other female wards of Cosimo I. As much attention was paid to Giulia's appearance as to that of Cosimo I's daughters. When she was twelve or thirteen, Cosimo I's wife Eleonora of Toledo was outraged because Giulia's riding cloak did not look right; it was not decorated as she had ordered and it was the wrong length. Courtiers noted that the young Giulia was "the image of her father." Cosimo arranged an advantageous marriage for her with Francesco Cantelmo, the Count of Alvito and the Duke of Popoli, in 1550, when she was about fifteen years old, and provided a dowry for her of an amount that would be worth about eight million United States dollars today.
Giulia is likely the child depicted in a portrait by Pontormo
which shows Maria Salviati with a young child. The child had been painted out of the portrait and her image was not detected until 1937.
Some art historians once identified the child as a young Cosimo I de' Medici, but it is now generally accepted to be Giulia. The child in the portrait appears to be a little girl, rather than a boy, and her expression is anxious. Maria Salviati, who is dressed soberly as befitted a widow, is seen sheltering the vulnerable child against her side. Art historian Gabrielle Langdon argues that the girl's demeanor in the portrait is different than would have been expected for the child Cosimo, whose family anticipated his role as a strong leader from his earliest days. It would have been to Cosimo I's advantage to commission a portrait depicting his mother as an exemplary widow, affectionately bringing up the orphaned daughter of Cosimo I's predecessor. The child's full lips, round nose, and curly reddish hair also bear little resemblance to known portraits of Cosimo as a child, though they do to portraits of the young Alessandro. Other girls of about the right age who were at court during this period also do not resemble the child in the portrait. The portrait might be one of the first in Renaissance
-era Europe
of a girl of presumed African and European
ancestry. This painting is in the permanent collection of The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
line was honored; her father's assassination was compared with the assassination of Julius Caesar
by Brutus
. Through her mother, Giulia was related to Pope Innocent VIII
. She displayed great pride in her family lineage and self-assurance. After the death of her first husband, Francesco Cantelmo in 1555, the artist Alessandro Allori
painted a second well-known portrait of Giulia, who was now in her mid-twenties. She was portrayed as a widow. To her left in the portrait is an intricately carved chair. Its sloping arm may represent steep terrain; art historian Gabrielle Langdon said she detected a faint climbing figure there which may represent Hercules
. The Choice of Hercules was a popular allegory during the Renaissance about the victory of virtuous action over vice. Mario de Valdes y Cocom, a historian of the African diaspora, argues that the sloping arm of the chair also represents Monte le Verna
, which Saint Bonaventure
, a Christian Neo-Platonic philosopher, visited and was inspired to write his Itenerarium. Bonaventure visited Monte le Verna because this was the location where Francis of Assisi
had a vision of a six-winged seraph
and received the stigmata
. Mario de Valdes y Cocom writes that Giulia's grandmother Simonetta, who was possibly of North African descent, married a mule driver from Collavechio, a site associated with Monte le Verna. Her father Alessandro was insulted by people who called him Alessandro Collavechio. Historians believe that the artist is alluding to Bonaventure's Neo-Platonic view of God
as "the Divine Darkness". Some modern scholars see the painting as Giulia's response to criticism of her grandmother's north African descent and marriage to the mule driver from Collavechio.
During her widowhood she often stayed at the Augustinian convent
of San Clemente on San Gallo, where her sister Porzia was abbess
. Giulia is recorded as a patron of this convent as well as other Augustinian convents.
A second advantageous marriage was arranged for her soon after with Bernadetto de' Medici
, a first cousin of Cosimo I. She married him on August 14, 1559. Their son Alessandro, who was named for her father, was born the following year on December 17, 1560. During the early years of her marriage to Bernadetto, they entertained lavishly and she may have accompanied her husband on diplomatic
missions.
Sometime in the 1560s, her relationship with her former guardian may have cooled when Giulia insisted that she be treated as an equal to Cosimo I's mistress, who was regarded with general disdain at court. Other sources indicate that she and her husband were still in good standing with the court when they moved to Naples in 1567. There they battled successfully to win the title and lands to the principality of Ottaiano, which their descendants hold today.
Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence
Alessandro de' Medici called "il Moro" , Duke of Penne and also Duke of Florence , ruler of Florence from 1530 until 1537...
and his mistress
Mistress (lover)
A mistress is a long-term female lover and companion who is not married to her partner; the term is used especially when her partner is married. The relationship generally is stable and at least semi-permanent; however, the couple does not live together openly. Also the relationship is usually,...
Taddea Malaspina
Taddea Malaspina
Taddea Malaspina was an Italian marchesa. She was the mistress of Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence from the early 1530s to about 1537 and was likely the mother of at least two of his children, Giulio di Alessandro de' Medici and Giulia de' Medici. Giulio de' Medici was associated with the...
.
Following her father's assassination, she was reared at the court of Cosimo I de' Medici and married advantageously twice.
Early life
A child named Giulia Romola, with an unknown father, was baptized in FlorenceFlorence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
on November 5, 1535; this was probably Giulia. Close to this date, her father had commissioned a portrait of himself drawing a female profile in silverpoint
Silverpoint
Silverpoint is a traditional drawing technique first used by Medieval scribes on manuscripts.-History:A silverpoint drawing is made by dragging a silver rod or wire across a surface, often prepared with gesso or primer. Silverpoint is one of several types of metalpoint used by scribes, craftsmen...
. Art historians believe the portrait may have been intended as a gift for his mistress, Taddea Malaspina, the sister of the marchioness of Massa
Massa
Massa is a town and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, the administrative centre of the province of Massa-Carrara. It is located in the Frigido River Valley, near the Alpi Apuane, some 5 kilometers from the Tyrrhenian Sea....
, to commemorate the birth of their second child, Giulia. Giulia also had an older full brother, Giulio di Alessandro de' Medici
Giulio di Alessandro de' Medici
Giulio de' Medici was the illegitimate son of Alessandro de' Medici, the Duke of Florence, and probably of Taddea Malaspina....
, and at least one half-sister, Porzia de' Medici
Porzia de' Medici
Porzia de' Medici was an Italian missionary and illegitimate daughter of Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence and an unknown mother. She was born after the assassination of Alessandro and was placed as a young child in the Augustinian convent of San Clemente in Via San Gallo...
.
After her father's assassination in 1537 and the ensuing power struggle among the Medici
Medici
The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...
for control of Florence and of the family, Giulia and her brother Giulio were taken from their mother and placed under the guardianship of Alessandro's successor, Cosimo I de' Medici. Cosimo promised to treat the children well and their rooms were as opulent as those of his own children. Maria Salviati
Maria Salviati
Maria Salviati was an Italian noblewoman, the daughter of Lucrezia di Lorenzo de' Medici and Jacopo Salviati. She married Giovanni dalle Bande Nere and was the mother of Cosimo I de Medici. Her husband died November 30, 1526, leaving her a widow at the age of 27...
, the mother of Cosimo I, supervised the nurseries and watched over Giulia's bedside anxiously when the little girl became ill in February 1542. Giulia survived the fever
Fever
Fever is a common medical sign characterized by an elevation of temperature above the normal range of due to an increase in the body temperature regulatory set-point. This increase in set-point triggers increased muscle tone and shivering.As a person's temperature increases, there is, in...
, but her companion in the nursery, Cosimo I's illegitimate daughter Bia de' Medici
Bia de' Medici
Bia de' Medici was the illegitimate daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, born before his first marriage....
, died.
As she grew up, Giulia was completely integrated into life at court and was educated to a high standard, as were the daughters and other female wards of Cosimo I. As much attention was paid to Giulia's appearance as to that of Cosimo I's daughters. When she was twelve or thirteen, Cosimo I's wife Eleonora of Toledo was outraged because Giulia's riding cloak did not look right; it was not decorated as she had ordered and it was the wrong length. Courtiers noted that the young Giulia was "the image of her father." Cosimo arranged an advantageous marriage for her with Francesco Cantelmo, the Count of Alvito and the Duke of Popoli, in 1550, when she was about fifteen years old, and provided a dowry for her of an amount that would be worth about eight million United States dollars today.
Pontormo portrait
Pontormo
Jacopo Carucci , usually known as Jacopo da Pontormo, Jacopo Pontormo or simply Pontormo, was an Italian Mannerist painter and portraitist from the Florentine school. His work represents a profound stylistic shift from the calm perspectival regularity that characterized the art of the Florentine...
which shows Maria Salviati with a young child. The child had been painted out of the portrait and her image was not detected until 1937.
Some art historians once identified the child as a young Cosimo I de' Medici, but it is now generally accepted to be Giulia. The child in the portrait appears to be a little girl, rather than a boy, and her expression is anxious. Maria Salviati, who is dressed soberly as befitted a widow, is seen sheltering the vulnerable child against her side. Art historian Gabrielle Langdon argues that the girl's demeanor in the portrait is different than would have been expected for the child Cosimo, whose family anticipated his role as a strong leader from his earliest days. It would have been to Cosimo I's advantage to commission a portrait depicting his mother as an exemplary widow, affectionately bringing up the orphaned daughter of Cosimo I's predecessor. The child's full lips, round nose, and curly reddish hair also bear little resemblance to known portraits of Cosimo as a child, though they do to portraits of the young Alessandro. Other girls of about the right age who were at court during this period also do not resemble the child in the portrait. The portrait might be one of the first in Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
-era Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
of a girl of presumed African and European
European ethnic groups
The ethnic groups in Europe are the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
ancestry. This painting is in the permanent collection of The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
Later life
Giulia's paternity was not seen as a disadvantage at court. Her descent from the main MediciMedici
The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...
line was honored; her father's assassination was compared with the assassination of Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
by Brutus
Marcus Junius Brutus
Marcus Junius Brutus , often referred to as Brutus, was a politician of the late Roman Republic. After being adopted by his uncle he used the name Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, but eventually returned to using his original name...
. Through her mother, Giulia was related to Pope Innocent VIII
Pope Innocent VIII
Pope Innocent VIII , born Giovanni Battista Cybo , was Pope from 1484 until his death.-Early years:Giovanni Battista Cybo was born at Genoa of Greek extraction...
. She displayed great pride in her family lineage and self-assurance. After the death of her first husband, Francesco Cantelmo in 1555, the artist Alessandro Allori
Alessandro Allori
Alessandro di Cristofano di Lorenzo del Bronzino Allori was an Italian portrait painter of the late Mannerist Florentine school....
painted a second well-known portrait of Giulia, who was now in her mid-twenties. She was portrayed as a widow. To her left in the portrait is an intricately carved chair. Its sloping arm may represent steep terrain; art historian Gabrielle Langdon said she detected a faint climbing figure there which may represent Hercules
Hercules
Hercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene...
. The Choice of Hercules was a popular allegory during the Renaissance about the victory of virtuous action over vice. Mario de Valdes y Cocom, a historian of the African diaspora, argues that the sloping arm of the chair also represents Monte le Verna
La Verna
La Verna, in Latin Alverna and geographically known as Monte Penna, is a locality on Mount Penna, an isolated mountain of 1,283 m situated in the centre of the Tuscan Apennines, rising above the valley of the Casentino, central Italy...
, which Saint Bonaventure
Bonaventure
Saint Bonaventure, O.F.M., , born John of Fidanza , was an Italian medieval scholastic theologian and philosopher. The seventh Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, he was also a Cardinal Bishop of Albano. He was canonized on 14 April 1482 by Pope Sixtus IV and declared a Doctor of the...
, a Christian Neo-Platonic philosopher, visited and was inspired to write his Itenerarium. Bonaventure visited Monte le Verna because this was the location where Francis of Assisi
Francis of Assisi
Saint Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis. St...
had a vision of a six-winged seraph
Seraph
A seraph is a type of celestial being in Judaism and Christianity...
and received the stigmata
Stigmata
Stigmata are bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus, such as the hands and feet...
. Mario de Valdes y Cocom writes that Giulia's grandmother Simonetta, who was possibly of North African descent, married a mule driver from Collavechio, a site associated with Monte le Verna. Her father Alessandro was insulted by people who called him Alessandro Collavechio. Historians believe that the artist is alluding to Bonaventure's Neo-Platonic view of God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
as "the Divine Darkness". Some modern scholars see the painting as Giulia's response to criticism of her grandmother's north African descent and marriage to the mule driver from Collavechio.
During her widowhood she often stayed at the Augustinian convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
of San Clemente on San Gallo, where her sister Porzia was abbess
Abbess
An abbess is the female superior, or mother superior, of a community of nuns, often an abbey....
. Giulia is recorded as a patron of this convent as well as other Augustinian convents.
A second advantageous marriage was arranged for her soon after with Bernadetto de' Medici
Bernadetto de' Medici
Bernadetto de' Medici was an Italian patrician who moved from Florence to Naples.A member to a secondary branch of the Medici Family , he was the son of Ottaviano de' Medici and Bartolomeo Giugni...
, a first cousin of Cosimo I. She married him on August 14, 1559. Their son Alessandro, who was named for her father, was born the following year on December 17, 1560. During the early years of her marriage to Bernadetto, they entertained lavishly and she may have accompanied her husband on diplomatic
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...
missions.
Sometime in the 1560s, her relationship with her former guardian may have cooled when Giulia insisted that she be treated as an equal to Cosimo I's mistress, who was regarded with general disdain at court. Other sources indicate that she and her husband were still in good standing with the court when they moved to Naples in 1567. There they battled successfully to win the title and lands to the principality of Ottaiano, which their descendants hold today.