"Donne Illustri" cycle Ferrara 1486-90 / Boiardo

Huck

http://books.google.com/books?id=TY...C_b&sig=-F41YZ0NvlOgusbVGI8alxd-Jbg#PPA197,M1
see complete article

Leonaro d'Este is assumed to have ordered 3 paintings of Ercole Roberti in 1486-1490, just in the period, when we date the Boiardo Tarocchi poem (which includes "donne illustri") made for the marriage of Lucrezia d'Este in 1487 and when the Ferrarese notary Goggio wrote his praise on women with the then new maxime "women are better than man" (text production is dated with 1487 - 1490).

The three topics chosen are

1. the unnamed wife of Hasdrubal, who killed her children and herself
2. Portia, wife of Brutus, who killed herself
3. The Roman Lucretia, who killed herself

... with the common motif in all 3 pictures, that all 3 women killed herself.

1. the wife of Hasdrubal was discontent with the behaviour of her husband
2. Portia promoted her husband.
3. Lucrezia was raped by Tarquinius Superbus and demanded revenge

The specific circumstances of the old stories are all different, of course.

Curiously in the real story of the North Italian higher society two strange occurances appeared at two of the minor courts in the relevant time (spring 1488), one with the involvement of the Bentivoglio-family of Bologna (the family, to which Lucrezia d'Este had married), another one with Catherina Sforza.

Francesca Bentivoglio (sister to Annibale, Lucrezia's husband) had married in 1482 and had trouble with her husband in 1488. She returned to the home of her parents, but was forced to go back, and she set up a trap in her bedroom with 4 assassins. When these didn't solve the bloody job, she herself took a sword and killed him. The result were various hectical actions, nearly a war, worse developments were hindered by the mediation of Lorenzo de Medici. Finally Francesca left the scene victorious.
The murder happened 31st of May, 1488.

Girolamo Riario, husband of Caterina Sforza, was killed by assassins at 14th of April, 1488. In the following scenario the young widow Catherina could escape and - ALSO - was finally victorious. Catherina behaved already rather brave in August 1484 after the death of Sixtus, and did it in a similar way later, when her second was killed, also.
Another "brave woman" Leonora herself had been in the Ferrarese war, when her husband was ill and wounded and she took the command.

So we have a series of brave activities of women in the time, when the pictures were ordered and painted:

cgfa_roberti2.jpg


Hadrubal's wife with children.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasdrubal_the_Boeotarch

"He also had a wife and two sons, who, according to an account by Polybius, threw themselves into a burning temple when they saw Hasdrubal's army defeated by the Roman attackers. Hasdrubal surrendered himself to the Romans after his family's unfortunate deaths, but what happened to him after that is not known."

roberti.jpg


Brutus and Portia ... of special signifying importance is the bloody wound at the right foot.

Portia (in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar) - "Brutus’s wife; the daughter of a noble Roman who took sides against Caesar. Portia, accustomed to being Brutus’s confidante, is upset to find him so reluctant to speak his mind when she finds him troubled. Brutus later hears that Portia has killed herself out of grief that Antony and Octavius have become so powerful."

229126.JPG


A picture estimated from 1500-1550 (Brutus and Portia), one can see the knife in the foot of Portia.

The common story ..

"Brutus and Portia's marriage appears to be based on mutual respect and love. Portia is not afraid to stand up to Brutus and demand that he treat her as a "woman well reputed." She desires to share his secrets and his worries, and she is even willing to wound herself to show her bravery. When she slashes her thigh, she is showing that she will not reveal Brutus' secrets even under pain of torture. Brutus sees how determined Portia is to prove that she is "stronger than her sex," and he rewards this sentiment with loving respect. Portia's argument with Brutus can be contrasted with Caesar's argument with Calpurnia. Caesar is far more authoritarian, and seems not to care that he is humiliating Calpurnia and causing her a great deal anguish in refusing to heed her advice regarding his meeting with the Senate. "
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_was_Brutus_and_Portia's_marriage

There's a difference of "hurting the thigh" and "hurting the right foot" in the stories, the Ferrarese version prefers the "hurted foot".

Strange enough, the wound at the right foot reminds the stigmata of Jesus and later - after the painting of Portia by Ercole Roberti - the Ferrarese duke Ercole d'Este became rather crazy about stigmated and holy virgins. He tried to get one to Ferrara already in 1497, he got one in 1499 and had 3 of them in 1501.
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/magic_ritual_and_witchcraft/v001/1.1.herzig.html

*****

Unluckily I couldn't detect the third Roberti picture in the web, which should show Lucrezia, her husband Collatinus and Junius Brutus.