Portrait of Eleonora of Toledo with her son Giovanni

The Duchess of Tuscany, Elenora di Toldeo, is painted here with her second son, Giovanni. Set against a blue-sky background that creates a halo effect around Eleonora’s head, only a small piece of the land can be seen in the distance. She is seated with one arm resting around the body of her child, his hand placed on her dress. The wife of the Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo I, she was part of the ruling Medici family of Florence, and her clothing demonstrated this. The white satin dress with black velvet brocade and an ogival pattern containing gold weft-loop pomegranates, would have only been worn on extremely special occasions, as brocade as a fabric was enormously expensive. Elenora is recorded loaning the sample fabric to Bronzino so that he could copy it faithfully, which he has done in beautiful detail. The cascade of pearls from her head, ears, neck, chest, and strung by her hand, demonstrate the wealth of the Medici family. The nets on her shoulders and the partlet in her hair are typical features of pictures of the Duchess, these are especially fine as they are made with gold thread.