Portrait of Laura Battiferri

Laura Battiferri was a poetess with links to many of the influential writers of the period and exchanged sonnets with Bronzino in Petrarch’s style. Some of the sonnets Bronzino wrote to her promote her to the status of Dante and Petrarch, as well as the women they beloved, Beatrice and Laura respectively. Her intellect was captured in this portrait, as her face in profile is Bronzino’s reference to Dante, and she holds a book with sonnets 64 and 240 from Petrarch’s Cazoniere. The palette of the portrait is quite sober with her black dress and dark grey background. The dress by this time was out of fashion, with its gathered puffed sleeves, red sleeve underneath, snood and high collared white undershirt. She is adorned with only a few small gold pieces. These may be reflecting Battiferri’s personal rejection of current fashion, as well as Bronzino’s attempt to situate her into a past like the poets he was comparing her to. 

Below [1] and [2]: This painting and sketch of Bronzino of Dante demonstrate the features he was trying to replicate and invoke in the Battiferri portrait.