Eleonora Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino

Life

She was the eldest of the seven children of Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua, and Isabella d'Este. Her father was a notorious libertine, her mother a famous patroness of the arts. On 25 September 1509 she married Francesco Maria I della Rovere, duke of Urbino, son of Giovanni della Rovere, duca di Sora e Senegaglia, and Giovanna da Montefeltro, and nephew of Pope Julius II. Their surviving children, two sons and three daughters, would all have progeny.

Eleonora, who was largely responsible for the internal government of Urbino during her husband's exile, was an important patron of the arts in her own right. A princess of the highest culture, she was the friend of Pietro Bembo, Sadolet and Baldassarre Castiglione, as well as Torquato Tasso. Titian painted her once formally, in 1537, a companion to his portrait of her husband Francesco from the same year, but her face appears to be recognisable in three other Titian paintings of about that time: La Bella, Girl in the Fur Cloak and possibly the Venus of Urbino commissioned by her son Guidobaldo.

Issue

By her husband, she had 13 children:

• Federico della Rovere (1511 — died aged two months).
• Guidobaldo II della Rovere (2 April 1514 — 28 September 1574), married Giulia Varano and had issue; married Vittoria Farnese (daughter of Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Parma) had issue (ancestors of Maria Teresa Cybo-Malaspina).
• Ippolita della Rovere (1515 — 1561), reportedly married Antonio of Aragon, Duke of Montalto, son of Fernando de Aragón, 1st Duke of Montalto.
• Giovanna della Rovere (1515 — 1518).
• Giovanni della Rovere (1516 — 1518).
• Caterina della Rovere (1518 — 1520).
• Beatrice della Rovere (1521 — 1522).
• Francesco Maria della Rovere (1523 — 1525).
• Maria della Rovere (1527 — 1528).
• Elisabetta della Rovere (1529 — 6 June 1561), married Alberico I Cybo-Malaspina, Marquis of Massa and had issue (ancestors of Maria Teresa Cybo-Malaspina).
• Giulia Feltria della Rovere (1531 — 4 April 1563), married Alfonso d'Este, Lord of Montecchio and had issue (were parents of Cesare d'Este, Duke of Modena).
• Giulio Feltrio della Rovere (1533 — 1578), became a cardinal then later had issue (illegitimate): Ippolito and Giulio.
• Violante della Rovere (1535 — 1538).

References

1. Sally Anne Hickson, "Women, Art and Architectural Patronage in Renaissance Mantua: Matrons, Mystics and Monasteries," (New York: Routledge, 2016), 87.
2. Louis Mayeul Chaudon, “Nuovo dizionario istorico: ovvero, Istoria in compendio,” (Naples: Michele Morelli, 1794), 98.
3. ELEONORA Gonzaga, duchessa di Urbino. di Sonia Pellizzer - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 42 (1993)
4. Later legitimised and named [[San Lorenzo in Campo. Marchese di San Lorenzo]]. Ippolito's daughter Lucrezia married Marcantonio Lante and their son assumed the new extended surname as [[Ippolito Lante Montefeltro della Rovere]]