Terms and conditions of use
Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara
(1519-1530)
Medium
oil on wood panel
Measurements
74.5 × 57.2 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1966
Gallery location
16th & 17th Century Gallery - Painting and Sculpture
Mezzanine linked to Level 1, NGV International
About this work
The recent identification of the subject of this painting as Lucrezia Borgia (1480–1519) answered a long-running mystery. Borgia married Alfonso d’Este, heir to the duchy of Ferrara, in 1502. In doing so, she farewelled the tumultuous affairs of the Borgia papacy, and settled into the highly cultured environment of Renaissance Ferrara. This portrait is flush with references to classical Antiquity: it contains symbolic references to Venus and the ancient Roman heroine Lucretia, and is thematically united by its Latin inscription, ‘brighter [than beauty] is the virtue reigning in this beautiful body’, a sophisticated adaptation of a verse from Virgil’s Aeneid.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Italy
Accession Number
1587-5
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
Allegory and Symbols Portraits
Subjects (specific)
duchesses (noblewomen) half figures nobles (aristocrats) three-quarter views women (female humans)
Movements
Renaissance