Elisabetta Gonzaga
by RAFFAELLO Sanzio, Oil on wood, 53 x 37 cm
The delicate portrayals of Elisabetta Gonzaga and Guidobaldo da Montefeltro in the Uffizi are attributed to the young Raphael. Elisabetta Gonzaga was a sister of Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua and by marriage the Duchess of Urbino. Her husband was Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, the duke of Urbino. They married in 1489.
Elisabetta wears a scorpion on her forehead. Her hair is worn in a late fifteenth-century style, consistent with the time of her arrival in Urbino as Guidobaldo’s bride. The black and gold dress reflects the fashion of that period, while its colours are those of the Montefeltro family.
The attribution of the two portraits is debated. One possibility considered by scholars is that Giovanni Santi, the father of Raphael, may have worked on the portraits either in whole or in part.