In this image of Eleonora Gonzaga della Rovere you see a formal portrait meant to signify marriage. The official nature stemmed from Eleonora’s concealed sexuality. Painted in her mid-forties, this painting was the counterpart to her husband’s portrait, Duke Francesco Maria I della Rovere. This pair reflected the differences between men and women of high standing during the Renaissance.
The seated Eleonora has a facial expression that is calm and reserved in comparison to the mighty concentration of the countenance of the standing duke. Attributes accompany the Duchess to prove her virtues, such as the spaniel and clock. The dog symbolizes that Eleonora is faithful to her husband and the clock represents her steady temperance.1 Goffen remarked that, “While she is seemingly indifferent to her ‘scopic encounter’ with the beholder, Francesco Maria suggests his absorption in the ‘consciousness of being beheld’ as a commemoration of his ‘ideal persona.’”2 This portrait signifies a woman’s role as the subordinate to her husband and as used to maintain the family line of power supported by Alberti’s Della Famiglia excerpt.
With this notion of concealed sexuality in mind, it is safe to assume that this painting is a portrait because it is created in the likeness of an identifiable woman who also has her own individual personality. Eleonora is also an ideal beauty according to Cropper’s article because her brows are dark in color, arc shaped, and tapered; her eyes are dark and oval shaped; the skin is an overall milky color with hints of blush at the cheek bones and chin; her cheeks and chin are also rounded but transition smoothly to other facial features; and the mouth is small with pink lips that contrast with her white skin.
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- Rona Goffen, Titian’s Women, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997), 98.
- Goffen, 98.
