Saturday, March 3, 2012

The Wedding of Clarice and Lorenzo

 
"The wedding was celebrated in the Church of San Lorenzo. The bride brought with her a small Book of Hours with gold writing on ultramarine pages and bound in crystal and silver, given to her by Gentile Becchi.
No expense was spared in the celebrations. For the five banquets that continued over three days, 150 calves and 4,000 capons had been procured, and many kegs of wine from Italy and abroad. Over the festivities 17 tons of sweetmeats and sugared almonds were consumed. The magnificent tables were set up in the garden and courtyard of the palazzo. The banquets were attended, among others, by fifty young ladies seated at the table of Clarice, set beneath the loggia in the garden; the older ladies instead sat with Lucrezia in the upper balcony. The young ladies and gentlemen enlivened the feasts with dancing. Copper goblets holding wines of various kinds were placed in the garden around the pedestal of Donatello’s David, set in the centre." (from the web-site for the Medici Palace:  http://www.palazzo-medici.it).

While the above portrait is widely held to be that of Clarice, from the looks of it, it seems to be a plate done in the 19th century.  I have not been able to find the source.  The collar looks more finely constructed than was common in the Quattrocento.

1 comment:

  1. After posting the above, I found the source. According to Piero Bargellini in "The Medici Women, This engraving of Allegrini, dated 1761, could have been inspired by a portrait extant at that time, or even, quite simply, by a description." A reader has suggested the engraving was taken from a coin with with a similar image.

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