Eleonora di Toledo
Sillabe 2023
Italian translation of the exhibition catalogue by Scriptum
If, before May 15, you traipse over to the Pitti Palace to peek into Eleonora di Toledo’s show in the Grand Duke Treasury rooms, you will soon realize that the 100-piece display honoring her memory won’t let you leave until you’ve paid proper tribute. A peek is not going to do it. You may have heard Eleonora di Toledo (1522-62) described as one of Florence’s earliest influencers, but here is what there is to know: the one she is influencing is you. Kudos to New York University’s Bruce Edelstein, the show’s curator, who faced a daunting task by exploring all the themes that make Eleonora endure, timeless as the Boboli. The woman tasked with educating Cosimo as to the ways of the courtly elite brought all the ribbons and laces of noble Spanish protocol with her to Florence.
Still, she was forever a gambler, a hunter, an art patron supreme and, besides all that, the woman who knew what gown to wear. What more could a Florentine husband desire, besides all the heirs she gave him?