ELEONORA DI TOLEDO E L’INVENZIONE DELLA CORTE DEI MEDICI A FIRENZE

The catalogue celebrates Eleonora of Toledo, the Spanish wife of Cosimo I de’ Medici, on the 500th anniversary of her birth. 
She arrived in Florence in 1539, bringing with her an exceptional cultural world for the time. Eleonora was the patron of artists like Bronzino, literati and poets like Laura Battiferri and the controversial courtesan Tullia d’Aragona, but also of religious clients like the new order of the Jesuits. 
She was an illuminated sovereign who transferred the Medicean court from Palazzo Vecchio (which was refurbished and decorated by some of the greatest painters of the period in order to house her apartments) to Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens, which she purchased in February 1550 using her own funds, transforming them in line with her personal planning ideals and playing an active role in managing these assets.
This exhibition catalogue examines a golden age not just for art, but also for clothing, music, and tapestry weaving.
It is edited by Bruce Edelstein, one of the leading scholars in the field, and by Valentina Conticelli, who is in charge of the Treasury of the Grand Dukes which will house the exhibition until 14 May.
The catalogue contains essays and entries by Italian and international scholars like Lucia Meoni, Riccardo Gennaioli, Philippe Costamagna, Jessica Goethals, Carlos Hernando Sάnchez, and Virginia Cox.