J. Saso - Abstract

Vittoria della Rovere (1622-1694), Grand Duchess of Tuscany, is among the most portrayed members of the House of Medici in art, and perhaps one of the most portrayed sovereigns ever. A significant part of these portraits from her lifetime depicts her in the guise of a Christian saint. As a result of this tendency, 20th-century scholarly literature has accused her of vanity and superficiality. This paper will analyse the surviving examples of her portraits, demonstrating how Vittoria della Rovere created a public persona through the medium of painting. Vittoria’s self-fashioning is expressed through this sacred theatre, and by showing herself as a saint or, occasionally, as an allegory of Art, she offered to the public the image of a perfect Christian royal consort, full of piety and a generous patron of the arts. Her portraits likewise attest to the evolution of fashion in Florence over the course of the 17th century, demonstrating the progressive abandonment of Spanish fashion in favour of that of the French.