The couple are facing one another and the spatial element is suggested by the light and the continuity of the rolling landscape in the background representing the area of the Marches which the Duke ruled. The chromatic contrast between the bronze skin tones used for Federico da Montefeltro and the pale tones of Battista Sforza is striking. The portrait’s pallor not only respects the aesthetic conventions which were fashionable during the Renaissance but also might allude to an untimely death. On the back of the panels the pair are featured being carried triumphantly on ancient wagons surrounded by the Christian virtues in the Latin inscriptions paying tribute to the couple’s moral values.
One of the most celebrated portraits of the Italian Renaissance in the diptych features the Duke of Urbino Federico da Montefeltro born in 1422 with his death in 1482 and his wife Battista Sforza date of birth in 1446 and of death in 1472 and is inspired by the design of ancient coins traditionally during the period of the fourteenth century. The two oil paintings are in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
The presence of the images on the reverse side suggests that the two paintings after being separate in a modern frame once would have been part of a diptych. An angle in profile signified that it ensured a good likeness and a faithful representation of facial details without allowing the sentiments to show through of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino appearing to be unaffected by turmoil and emotions.
The aristocratic and hieratic art of Piero della Francesca achieves a noble goal making the memory of the Duke and his Duchess seem eternal. On the reverse side including the two antique wagons in the company of the Virtues the Duke wears Armour like a leader while his head is crowned by Victory and the Duchess seated in a chariot pulled by two unicorns is accompanied by symbols of chastity to emphasize a pious gentle soul.
With a rational but metaphysical style the great artist creates the perfect representation of the Renaissance man aware of the centrality of a role in the universe and the importance of intelligence and culture. Classical portrait medals give an ancient solemnity to the two figures. The busts in the foreground dominate the wonderful landscape in the background in order to refer to the majesty of the court of Urbino.
Lorenzo di Piero de Medici was the ruler of Florence from 1516 until his death three years later and was also Duke of Urbino during the same period. The daughter Catherine de Medici became Queen Consort of France while his illegitimate son became the first Duke of Florence.
Ambitious by nature Lorenzo II despite being appointed Captain of the Florentine militia lacked patience with Florence’s republican system of government in 1516 and thus convinced his uncle Pope Leo X to make him Duke of Urbino at the age of twenty four years beginning a conflict with the preceding rulers in the person of the Duke Francesco Maria della Rovere. During the protracted war in Urbino della Rovere recaptured the city only to have a Papal army led by de Medici in turn to retake the city. Battle for control in the region ended with Lorenzo wounded which prompted the Medici to retire to Tuscany. By September of 1517 the city of Urbino was regained in a treaty and remained under the rule of the Medici family for only two years prior to the eventual return of the duchy in 1521 to the della Rovere family.
Lorenzo II married Madeleine de la Tour the daughter of the Count of Auvergne. and the marriage produced a daughter Catherine de Medici who became Queen by a marriage to the future King Henry II of France. Only days after the birth of Catherine in 1519 Lorenzo II died worn out by disease and excess.
Catherine was raised primarily by the Medici Popes Leo X and Clement VII with the surrogates in France and Rome. The Bourbon Princess was educated and disciplined by the nuns in Rome and Florence until the marriage in April of the year 1533 by her uncle Pope Clement VII to Henry the Duke of Orleans as the inheritor of the French Crown from his father Francis I at whose court she was esteemed greatly.
Along a long reign until 1589 with her son Francis II fraught with religious wars the kingdom was saved ultimately by the achievement of ensuring the succession of the Bourbon King Henry IV of Navarre by whom royal authority was restored. Catherine was renowned for the building of chateaus of the Tuileries and for the original design of Chenonceau.
The tomb of Lorenzo II in the Medici Chapel of the Church of San Lorenzo in Florence is adorned by the sculpture titled Pensieroso by Michelangelo. The disagreement has arisen over which of the two tombs is received viewing that it offers an idealized portrait of Lorenzo II but much is uncertain about that it is its companion piece also sculpted by Michelangelo which represented the uncle of Lorenzo II holding a mappa Giuliano di Lorenzo de Medici who was appointed Captain of Roman forces.
Ivory notebook diptychs from Late Antiquity featured covers carved in low relief on the outer faces. The consular diptychs celebrated persons becoming a Roman consul and sometimes were distributed as sets to inner circles and followers. Others presented as adjoining panels in mediaeval times commemorated a marriage or were in private use.
Some of the best works surviving from the later Roman Empire are panels of a diptych preserved by being reversed for use as book covers and consisted of a pair of wooden tablets with surfaces for writing. Byzantine ivory panels like one featuring an archangel exemplify the art form.
The Middle Ages have a rich history of artworks serving artistic and practical purposes with many panel paintings in diptych form especially as small portable works. Whether as writing tablets or decorative objects the diptych exemplified the mobile lives of the gentry in the Mediaeval Age. Religious scenes carved in relief were circulated in the Gothic period in the European spheres particularly in Paris.
Beyond collectors the Medici were great patrons of art and without the patronage many of these works never might have been created. At some point in history one woman had assured that the great collection including the Birth of Venus and Primavera by Sandro Botticelli and the other Medici art works would stay in Florence.
The collections were bequeathed to the city by Anna Maria Ludovica von der Pfalz the last heiress of the house of Medici who died in 1743 after the family’s descendant stipulated that they must remain in Florence. The highlight of the greatest treasure is the unique collection of Florentine Renaissance painting in a vital part of the city’s fine contribution to the development of European art. The works from between about 1300 and 1500 set the path that followed for the whole of the art in the Western world. Some of the works are no longer in chronological order but according to schools, regions and countries covering works from about 1500 to 1700.
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