Cecilia Gallerani
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Cecilia Gallerani (; early 1473 – 1536) was the favourite and most celebrated of the many mistresses of
Ludovico Sforza Ludovico Maria Sforza (; 27 July 1452 – 27 May 1508), also known as Ludovico il Moro (; 'the Moor'), and called the "arbiter of Italy" by historian Francesco Guicciardini,
, known as Lodovico il Moro,
Duke of Milan Milan was ruled by dukes from the 13th century to 1814, after which it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia by the Congress of Vienna. List of dukes of Milan House of Visconti In 1395, Gian Galeazzo Visconti was titled Duke ...
. She is best known as the subject of
Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...
's painting '' Lady with an Ermine'' (). While posing for the painting, she invited Leonardo, who at the time was working as court artist for Sforza, to meetings at which
Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
ese intellectuals discussed
philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
and other subjects. Gallerani herself presided over these discussions.


Family and early life

Cecilia was born in early 1473 into a large family from
Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...
. Her father's name was Fazio Gallerani. He was not a member of the nobility, but he occupied several important posts at the Milanese court, including the position of ambassador to
Republic of Florence The Republic of Florence (; Old Italian: ), known officially as the Florentine Republic, was a medieval and early modern state that was centered on the Italian city of Florence in Tuscany, Italy. The republic originated in 1115, when the Flor ...
and
Republic of Lucca The Republic of Lucca () was a medieval and early modern state that was centered on the Italian city of Lucca in Tuscany, which lasted from 1160 to 1805. Its territory extended beyond the city of Lucca, reaching the surrounding countryside in th ...
. Her mother was Margherita Busti, the daughter of a noted doctor of law. She was educated alongside her six brothers in
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
and literature. In 1483 at the age of ten, Cecilia was betrothed to Stefano Visconti, but the betrothal was broken off in 1487 for unknown reasons. In May 1489, she left home for the Monastero Nuovo, and it was possibly there that she met Ludovico.


Mistress of Ludovico Sforza

Gallerani was a lifelong scholar with a musical gift and love of poetry, which she composed in Latin and Italian. She became a mistress of the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza "il Moro" when she was 16 or 18 and enjoyed entertaining the intellectual elite out of her apartments in his Milanese castle and seat of the ducal court at the Porta Giovia. It is supposed that she was Sforza's preferred partner but too low in social rank to be a politically acceptable match; after their son Cesare was born on 3 May 1491, Sforza continued to provide for the family with palatial homes, an arranged marriage for Gallerani with an Italian count, and senior church appointments for Cesare in Milan. Gallerani and son continued to live in Castello Sforza for up to a year, around when the duke's long-negotiated marriage to a daughter of the Duke of Ferrara (and niece of the Queen of Hungary) could be celebrated. The 16-year-old Duchess
Beatrice d'Este Beatrice d'Este (29 June 1475 – 3 January 1497) a noblewoman from Duchy of Ferrara, Ferrara, duchess of Bari and Milan by her marriage to Ludovico Sforza (known as "Ludovico il Moro"). She was known as a woman of culture, an important patron ...
discovered the liaison and insisted on their removal. They were first installed in the Verme Palace until Gallerani was given a palace in
Carmagnola Carmagnola (; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located south of Turin. The town is on the right side of the Po river. The nature of the soil determined over time how the river's ...
in 1492, when she married the son of a duke of the House of Carminati who had pledged service to Sforza.


''Lady with an Ermine''

Although at times the details have been disputed,
Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...
's famous lifelike portrait is considered by experts to be of Cecilia Gallerani while she still lived in Castello Sforzeco; in 1992 Shell and Sironi concluded it to have been painted around 1490 by cross-referencing and correcting the interpretation of contemporaneous evidence. Da Vinci was the Castello Sforza court artist and engineer, yet it is believed he never painted the Duchess, which could mean she refused her own sitting on the basis of insult relating to the mistress. (He later painted other mistresses and the second wife of Sforza.) Da Vinci used the ermine/stoat as a symbol of purity in his works and wrote about its meaning. But other theories on its meaning include that it is a play on Cecilia's last name and the Greek word for the animal (gallay) and/or an emblem of Sforza, whose sobriquet became 'l'Ermellino' after being awarded the Order of the Ermine by the King of Naples. Art critics have noted that the skulls and hands/paws of the two figures are remarkably similar and these subtle details not only a testament to the skill of Da Vinci but also a hint at symbolism. The academic disagreements over the year and subject of the painting (but not its authenticity) owe to a lack of artifacts describing the work before its purchase in 1800 by Polish Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski as a gift to his mother Princess Isabella. But correspondence exists about a portrait of Gallerani once borrowed by
Isabella d'Este Isabella d'Este (19 May 1474 – 13 February 1539) was the Marchioness of Mantua and one of the leading women of the Italian Renaissance as a major cultural and political figure. She was a patron of the arts as well as a leader of fashion ...
who was herself a known admirer of da Vinci's artwork. In her reply to the request, Gallerani said it no longer looked like her because she had been so young then and "nobody seeing it and me together would suppose it was made for me". "Though reluctant because it no longer resembled her, Cecilia complied, and by the following month the picture was gratefully returned".(L'Arte (1969). pp. 189-91.)


Later life, death, and legacy

The Countess and Count Ludovico "Il Bergamino" were given a palace, as their wedding gift by Duke Sforza in 1492. They had five children. After the deaths of both her son in 1512 and husband in 1515, she retired to San Giovanni in Croce, a castle near
Cremona Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...
that had been enfeoffed to the Count's father by the Duke. Gallerani died on an unknown date in 1536. She was purportedly buried in the Carminati family tomb in the Church of San Zavedro in San Giovanni in Croce. Bandello described her as a patron of the arts. According to others, her
salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...
was the first in Europe.


Issue

By her lover Ludovico Sforza, she had a son: * Cesare Sforza (3 May 1493 – 4 January 1514), a cleric who was made the
abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...
of the Church of San Nazaro Maggiore of Milan in 1498 and became
canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...
of Milan in 1505. By her husband, she had four sons and a daughter: * Giovan Pietro, Earl of San Giovanni in Croce; he married Bona Monastirolo, daughter of Lucrezia Crivelli (another former mistress of Ludovico Sforza) and her husband; * Girolamo; * Francesco; in 1534 he married Isabella Sforza (1503–1561), natural daughter of Giovanni Sforza, but the marriage was declared '' nullius'' for "spiritual relative" (his mother was Isabella's godmother); he later married Ludovica Secca; * Ascanio; * Maria Felice; she married Anchise Visconti d'Aragona, lord of Oleggio Castello.


Cultural references

The Leonardo portrait of Gallerani plays an important role in the plot of the alternative historical novel ''
Fatherland A homeland is a place where a national or ethnic identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethnic nation ...
'' by Robert Harris. In the novel, the painting is misappropriated by corrupt
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
officials during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. The book's epilogue states that in real life, the portrait "was recovered from Germany at the end of the war and returned to Poland." The portrait also takes center stage in the novel ''The Night Portrait'' by Laura Morelli. The novel splits timelines between the late 1400s to depict Leonardo painting the portrait, and the 1940s, as the Nazis and the "Monument Men" contend over the painting.


References


Further reading

* . * * * * .


External links


''Leonardo da Vinci: anatomical drawings from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle''
exhibition catalog fully online as PDF from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Cecilia Gallerani (see index) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallerani, Cecilia 1473 births 1536 deaths 15th-century Italian women 15th-century Italian people 16th-century Italian people House of Sforza Italian artists' models Italian Renaissance people Italian salon-holders 16th-century Italian women Renaissance women Italian patrons of the arts