Patronage in Sixteenth Century Italy by Hollingsworth Mary

Author:Hollingsworth, Mary [Hollingsworth, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Art, History, Renaissance
ISBN: 9781910198568
Google: s4fPrQEACAAJ
Publisher: Thistle Publishing
Published: 2014-12-02T05:00:00+00:00

The Della Rovere in Urbino and Pesaro

Federigo da Montefeltro, created Duke of Urbino by Sixtus IV (1474), amassed a fortune as a soldier and went on to transform his mountain fortress into a superb city, his patronage of scholars making it a major intellectual centre.16 His son Guidobaldo (1482–1508) fostered the city's reputation for courtly elegance and learning, eloquently described by Castiglione in Il Cortegiano, and in turn made his nephew Francesco Maria della Rovere (1508–38) his heir, celebrating the event in Raphael's diptych of St George and St Michael (1504). The choice of saints alluded to their membership of royal chivalric orders: Guidobaldo was a Knight of the Garter and Francesco Maria a Knight of St Michael.17 Francesco Maria I was also a nephew of Julius II, who appointed him Prefect of Rome and added the papal fief of Pesaro to his dominions (1512). He was expelled by Leo X, who gave Urbino to his nephew, Lorenzo de' Medici (1516–21),18 but returned after Leo X's death and the family ruled Urbino and Pesaro until the early seventeenth century. He was succeeded by his son Guidobaldo II (1538–74) and grandson Francesco Maria II (1574–1626). The latter died without a son, and the fief then reverted to Rome. The duchy was not rich – annual revenues in 1516 from its three main cities, Urbino, Senigallia and Pesaro, amounted to only 25,000 ducats19 – but all three dukes augmented this with income from military service. Determined to rival the richer dukes to whom they were related, the Gonzaga and the Farnese, they spent lavishly on embellishing their dominions with impressive evidence of their prestige.

A successful but hot-tempered soldier, Francesco Maria I (1508–38) fought for Florence, the Papacy, Venice and the Emperor, wrote a treatise on defence,20 and murdered the unscrupulous Cardinal Alidosi, whom he blamed for his defeat at Bologna (1511). He married Eleonora, daughter of Marquis Francesco Gonzaga, cementing links between Urbino and Mantua, and he secured his title to Urbino by abandoning his French allies in favour of Charles V, becoming one of the Emperor's generals and carrying the imperial sword at the coronation. The arts provided propaganda for his prestige – as Julius II's heir, he was involved in Michelangelo's ill-fated project for the Pope's tomb.21 Under his rule Urbino's cultural reputation flourished: Cardinal Bibbiena's comedy, La Calandria, was first performed at Carnival (1513)22 and lavish entertainments were staged for state ceremonies. Influenced by his brother-in-law, Federigo Gonzaga (see Chapter 16), he commissioned Titian for religious and mythological paintings, and portraits of his ancestors, Sixtus IV, Julius II and Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, and of famous rulers, notably Charles V and François I.23 He owned Titian's La Bella (1536), an example of the fashion for images of female beauty.24 Titian's portraits of Francesco Maria I (pl. 40) and Eleonora (1536–7) proclaimed their rank. Eleonora was ostentatiously dressed in expensive clothes and jewels, while the Duke wore shining black armour, sent to Venice for Titian to copy, and held his baton as commander of the Venetian armies.

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