Page:The Life of Michael Angelo.djvu/155

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LOVE

101

Her mother, Agnese di Montefeltro, was daughter of the great Federigo, Prince of Urbino. Her family was one of the noblest in Italy, one of those in whom the luminous spirit of the Renaissance was in the highest degree manifest. At seventeen years of age she married the Marquis of Pescara, Ferrante Francesco d'Avalos, a great general and the conqueror of Pavia. She loved him, but her love was not returned. She was not a beautiful woman.^[1] The medals on which she is represented show that she possessed a virile, self-willed and rather hard face, with a high forehead, a long, straight nose, a short, morose, upper lip, a slightly protruding lower lip, a tightly-shut mouth and a prominent chin.^[2]

↑ The beautiful portraits which are said to represent her are not authentic. Take, for instance, the celebrated drawing of the Uffizi, in which Michael Angelo has represented a young woman wearing a helmet. The most that can be said is that, when drawing it, he was unconsciously influenced by the recollection of Vittoria, idealised and rejuvenated; for the face possesses Vittoria's regular features and her severe expression. The eyes are absorbed in thought and the look is hard. The neck is bare, the breasts uncovered. The expression is cold and concentrated in its violence.
↑ So is she represented on an anonymous medal reproduced in the "Carteggio di Vittoria Colonna," published by Ermanno Ferrero and Giuseppe Müller, and thus, doubtless, Michael Angelo saw her. Her hair is hidden by a large striped head-dress, and she wears a dress severely closed, with an indentation at the neck. Another anonymous medal represents her young and idealised. (Reproduced in Müntz's "Histoire de l'Art pendant la Renaissance," iii, p. 248, and in "L'Œuvre et la Vie de Michel-Ange," published by the Gazette des Beaux- Arts.) Her hair is gathered up and tied above her forehead by means of a ribbon; a curl hangs down on her cheek and finely plaited tresses fall on her neck. Her forehead is high and straight; her eyes look with a somewhat indolent attention; her long, regular nose has broad nostrils; her cheeks are full, her ears large and well formed; her straight, strong chin is raised; her neck,

[1] The beautiful portraits which are said to represent her are not authentic. Take, for instance, the celebrated drawing of the Uffizi, in which Michael Angelo has represented a young woman wearing a helmet. The most that can be said is that, when drawing it, he was unconsciously influenced by the recollection of Vittoria, idealised and rejuvenated; for the face possesses Vittoria's regular features and her severe expression. The eyes are absorbed in thought and the look is hard. The neck is bare, the breasts uncovered. The expression is cold and concentrated in its violence.

[p101-2] So is she represented on an anonymous medal reproduced in the "Carteggio di Vittoria Colonna," published by Ermanno Ferrero and Giuseppe Müller, and thus, doubtless, Michael Angelo saw her. Her hair is hidden by a large striped head-dress, and she wears a dress severely closed, with an indentation at the neck. Another anonymous medal represents her young and idealised. (Reproduced in Müntz's "Histoire de l'Art pendant la Renaissance," iii, p. 248, and in "L'Œuvre et la Vie de Michel-Ange," published by the Gazette des Beaux- Arts.) Her hair is gathered up and tied above her forehead by means of a ribbon; a curl hangs down on her cheek and finely plaited tresses fall on her neck. Her forehead is high and straight; her eyes look with a somewhat indolent attention; her long, regular nose has broad nostrils; her cheeks are full, her ears large and well formed; her straight, strong chin is raised; her neck,

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