Portrait of Eleanor of Toledo

Eleanor of Toledo (1522—1562) was the daughter of the Viceroy of Naples Don Pedro de Toledo. This beautiful woman was represented by the Florentine painter Agnolo Bronzino several times. Here she is painted at about the age of twenty-four, in the dress which she wore in 1539, on the occasion of a ceremonial arrival in Florence, where she got married to Duke Cosimo I de´ Medici. The pearls on her luxurious dress of Spanish style simultaneously represent the emblem of Cosimo’s family – the Medici palle – balls. The Duchess is touching her bodice – which could be a hint on her pregnancy, for between 1540 and 1543 she gave birth to four children (later on, four more were born). She is wearing two rings – the diamond one was given to Eleanor by Cosimo at the wedding. The one worn on her small finger is decorated with a motif of joined hands symbolizing a firm marriage, and a plover in profile. With the end of her lifetime Eleanor suffered from tuberculosis, and her exhaustion was probably also caused by frequent deliveries.