Pope Alessandro VI, Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia Portraits

The Borgias

A Spanish "Family" from Valencia

Link to Paradoxplace page on Medieval Popes

STOP PRESS

PORTRAIT OF LUCREZIA BORGIA DISCOVERED IN AUSTRALIA

In November 2008, Dr Gerard Vaughan, Director of the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) (in Melbourne, Australia), announced that a mystery painting bought by the gallery in 1965 had been identified as being a portrait of Lucrezia Borgia painted by Renaissance artist Dosso Dossi (aka Giovanni di Niccolo de Luteri) (c1486-1542 (56)).

The 500 year old painting reached the NGV via, inter alia, a brother of Napoleon and the British Royal Family. The fascinating medieval detective story behind the restoration of the painting, then the authentication (via style and pigments) that it was by Dossi, then finally that the sitter was in fact Lucrezia Borgia, can be found in the transcript of this interview of Dr Vaughan on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

It's also a bit of fun to have something genuinely medieval revealed in Australia. Our thanks to the NGV for the photo.

Lucrezia Borgia by Dosso Dossi, National Gallery of Victoria

Dosso DOSSI, Italian c. 1486–1541/42

Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara c.1518

oil on wood panel 74.5 x 57.2 cm

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

Felton Bequest, 1966

Lucrezia Borgia, Sarah Bradford

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Lucrezia Borgia, Pinturicchio, Vatican Apartments

Lucrezia Borgia 1480 - 1519 (39)

Daughter of Pope Alessandro (Borgia) and his mistress Vannozza (Giovanna) dei Cattani (b1442)

Wife of Giovanni Sforza and later Alfonso d'Este

Towards whom history has been unjustly harsh and salacious.

Left: The salacious version painted by Bartolomeo Veneto, though it's not certain it is actually Lucrezia (in fact it's just about certain that it isn't).

Right and below: Pinturicchio's image of Lucrezia (just maybe) as Santa Catterina d'Alessandria disputing with the philosophers before Emperor Maximian, in the Sala dei Santi in the Borgia apartments of the Vatican.

Santa Caterina, Pinturicchio, Vatican Borgia Apartments

Pope Alessandro VI (Borgia), Pinturicchio, Vatican Apartments

Lucrezia's Dad

Pope Alessandro VI (the Spaniard Rodrigo Borgia)

(1431 - 1492 - 1503 (72))

One of the better known "Bad Popes"

Detail from a fresco of the Resurrection, painted 1492 - 95 by Pinturicchio (1454 - 1513 (59)) in the Sala dei Misteri in the Borgia apartments of the Vatican (restored and reopened to the public - April 2006)

The Borgias by Marion Johnson

The Renaissance Popes by Gerard Noel

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Cesare Borgia by Altobello Melone, Bergamo

Lucrezia's Brother

Cesare Borgia 1475 - 1507 (32)

Son of Pope Alessandro and his mistress Vannozza (Giovanna) dei Cattani (b1442)

A very nasty piece of work

Left: Painted posthumously in 1520 by Altobello Melone, though it may not actually be our man! Exhibited in Bergamo.

Right: Anonymous painter - Palazzo Venezia Rome

Cesare Borgia - his life and times, Sarah Bradford

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The Beautiful Giulia Farnese

A later mistress of Alessandro VI was the reputedly drop dead gorgeous Giulia Farnese (1475 - ?), sister of the future Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese (1468–1549 (81)) and technically the wife of a member of the Orsini family. Sadly not one authentic image of her survives (see this web page). Cardinal Farnese received rapid advancement under Alessandro VI, leading to his nickname of "the Petticoat Cardinal". He had four children by his Roman mistress - Pier Luigi, Paolo, Ranuccio, and Costanza - and he later made sure that two of his grandchildren were appointed cardinals whilst still in their teens.

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