Eleonora Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino (31 December 1493 – 13 February 1550) was Duchess and sometime regent of Urbino by marriage to Francesco Maria I della Rovere, duke 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 A libertine is a person devoid of most moral principles, a sense of responsibility, or sexual restraints, which they see as unnecessary or undesirable, and is especially someone who ignores or even spurns accepted morals and forms of behaviour ob ...

, 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 Pietro Bembo, ( la, Petrus Bembus; 20 May 1470 – 18 January 1547) was an Italian scholar, poet, and literary theorist who also was a member of the Knights Hospitaller, and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. As an intellectual of the It ...

Sadolet Jacopo Sadoleto (July 12, 1477 – October 18, 1547) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal and counterreformer noted for his correspondence with and opposition to John Calvin. Life He was born at Modena in 1477, the son of a noted jurist, he ...

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

*Federico della Rovere (1511 — died aged two months). *

Guidobaldo II della Rovere Guidobaldo II della Rovere (2 April 1514 – 28 September 1574) was an Italian condottiero, who succeeded his father Francesco Maria I della Rovere as Duke of Urbino from 1538 until his death in 1574. He was a member of the House of La Rove ...

(2 April 1514 — 28 September 1574), married Giulia Varano and had issue; married Vittoria Farnese (daughter of

Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Parma Pier Luigi Farnese (19 November 1503 – 10 September 1547) was the first Duke of Castro from 1537 to 1545 and the first Duke of Parma and Piacenza from 1545 to 1547. Born in Rome, Pier Luigi was the illegitimate son of Cardinal Alessandro Farne ...

) had issue (ancestors of Maria Teresa Cybo-Malaspina). *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). *Ippolita della Rovere (1525 — 1561), reportedly married Antonio of Aragon, Duke of Montalto, son of

Fernando de Aragón, 1st Duke of Montalto Fernando de Aragón y Guardato, 1st Duke of Montalto (before 1494–1542) was the eldest bastard son of king Ferdinand I of Naples and Diana Guardato, one of his mistresses. The addition "Montalto de Aragón" is in remembrance of his grandfather, ...

. *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):IppolitoLater legitimised and named 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 and Giulio. *Violante della Rovere (1535 — 1538).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzaga, Eleonor 1493 births 1570 deaths Nobility of Mantua 16th-century Italian women 16th-century Italian nobility Della Rovere family Eleonora Gonzaga (1493-1570) Duchesses of Urbino Italian artists' models 16th-century women rulers