Bia de 'Medici
Bianca de 'Medici (* 1536 ; † March 1, 1542 in Florence ), usually also known as Bia de' Medici, was the illegitimate daughter of Cosimo I de 'Medici , Grand Duke of Tuscany, before his first marriage was born.
After her death from a fever at the age of about six, her father had Agnolo Bronzino paint a painting for her , which is now one of his most famous works. The painting by Bia has inspired some modern artists such as the American sculptor Joseph Cornell to work.
Life
The identity of Bia's mother is unknown, but Cosimo was likely no more than sixteen when she was conceived. According to some stories, Bia's mother was a village girl from Trebbio, while others said she was a lady from Florence . Only Cosimo herself and the girl's paternal grandmother, Maria Salviati , knew the mother's identity, but Salviati refused to reveal it.
Edgcumbe Staley wrote in Die Tragedies der Medici , English The Tragedies of the Medici , that the little girl was called La Bia, short for Bambina ( little girl or baby ). The name could also have been short for Bianca. According to Staley, the father's new wife, Eleonora di Toledo , refused to tolerate Bias presence in the palace, so Cosimo sent her to the Villa di Castello , the residence of her grandmother Maria Salviati north of Florence, where other Medici children also grew up. Other reliable sources report that Eleonora treated her with love. Bia shared her nursery with Giulia de 'Medici , the illegitimate daughter of Alessandro de' Medici , Duke of Florence, who was about the same age. Bia grew up to be a spirited little girl who was very much loved by her father.
Both Bia and her cousin Giulia fell ill with a fever in February 1542, from which Giulia recovered, but Bia did not. Cosimo received news of the worsening condition of his firstborn daughter almost daily. The child weakened between February 25 and 28 and finally died on March 1, 1542. She was buried in the Medicis' crypt in the Basilica di San Lorenzo .
Maike Vogt-Lüerssen showed in an essay in Medicea - Rivista interdisciplinare di studi medicei that the portrait of Bronzino, which was previously thought to be that of Bia, is actually her half-sister Maria de 'Medici (1540–1557). This is also the opinion of Lothar Schultes, who considers a picture from Paolo Veronese's circle that recently appeared in a Viennese auction to be a real portrait bias. This is supported by an old inscription which describes the child depicted as "La Bia Fanciulla grazz (io) sa Figlia di Cosimo (pr) imo".
literature
- Marcello Vannucci: Le donne di casa Medici. Newton Compton Editori, Roma 1999, reprint 2006. ISBN 88-541-0526-0
- Konrad Eisenbichler: The Cultural World of Eleanora Di Toledo. Ashgate 2004. ISBN 0-7546-3774-3
- Gabrielle Langdon: Medici Women: Portraits of Power, Love, and Betrayal. Toronto: University of Toronto Press 2006. ISBN 0-8020-3825-5
- Maike Vogt-Lüerssen: The True Faces of the Daughters and Sons of Cosimo I de 'Medici.
- Lothar Schultes: Death and the Maiden - Bia or Maria de 'Medici? In: Communications from the Society for Comparative Art Research in Vienna, vol. 69, No. 1/2, February 2017, pp. 1–6.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Vogt-Lüerssen, Maike :: The True Faces of the Daughters and Sons of Cosimo I de 'Medici .
- ↑ Lothar Schultes: Death and the Maiden - Bia or Maria de 'Medici? In: Communications from the Society for Comparative Art Research in Vienna . 69, volume, no. 1/2 . Vienna February 2017, p. 3 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Medici, Bia de ' |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | illegitimate daughter of Cosimo I de 'Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1536 |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 1, 1542 |
| Place of death | Florence |