Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Bianca de' Medici Pazzi



The painting, Botticelli's Madonna of the Magnificat, today in the Uffizi, is said to portray the family of Piero de' Medici, de facto lord of Florence from 1464.  His wife Lucrezia Tornabuoni as Mary, Lorenzo as the young man with the ink-pot, flanked by his brother Guilano de' Medici who is holding a book.  Behind the two boys is Maria, while the two older sisters are holding the crown in the background, Bianca on the left and Nannina on the right.   The newborn would be the daughter of Lorenzo, Lucrezia de' Medici.  One would think that the one dressed in white would be the one called "Bianca," which translates "white," and while I don't know if there is any truth to the story that it is the Medici family portrayed hereit makes a pretty story. 

More on Bianca:  Because she had married Guglielmo Pazzi in 1458, he was allowed exile as his punishment for being a member of the family creating the conspiracy.  Bianca and Guglielmo had a large family, at least 14 children who lived to adulthood.  In a letter Bianca wrote to her mother Lucrezia in 1479, after the conspiracy, she is again pregnant.

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