Camilla Martelli Medici, the bride of private fortune of Cosimo I

As part of the celebrations for the 500th anniversary of the birth of Cosimo I and Caterina de’ Medici (1519-2019), the Museo di Casa Martelli in Florence is hosting an exhibition dedicated to Camilla Martelli Medici, the bride of private fortune of Cosimo I de’ Medici, until February 25, 2020.

Curated by Francesca de Luca, head of the museum, the exhibition brings together archival evidence, engravings and medals in order to trace the story of this illustrious member of the Medici family: Camilla’s rise in the good graces of Cosimo, whose mistress she was initially; the wedding celebrated in 1570 in secret according to the morganatic rite, aimed at the denial of rights to her spouse’s titles and privileges; and the sudden fall, a victim of the pitfalls waged by the Grand Ducal family and the logic of social and political opportunity.

Although Camilla’s family belonged to the Florentine patriciate, it was economically modest, and the behavior of the young woman, who had obtained gifts for herself, titles for her father, and a dowry for her sister, was not loving toward her husband for long. After a disabling stroke struck Cosimo in 1573, his son Francesco wrote a document to obtain his father’s donations in favor of Camilla and his daughter Virginia; he also had Camilla escorted to seclusion at the Murate when Cosimo died. From the State Archives come inventories of her possessions, including many pieces of jewelry, which she was obliged to give to her daughter. Except on very rare occasions, Camilla remained a recluse, amid depression and nervous disorders, until her death in May 1590.

The only preservedlive portrait of the woman is depicted on Pastorino Pastorini ’s 1584 medal. However, following the extinction of the Medici lineage in 1737, interest in this personage revived again, as attested by three medals minted by Antonio Selvi in 1737-39, modeled after Pastorini’s portrait but with three different emblems on the reverse, and a 1761 engraving designed by Giuseppe Zocchi from a prototype known from a late copy, which, however, critics say more likely depicts Eleonora de Toledo.

Camilla’s wedding, on the other hand, is depicted in a fresco on one of the three ceilings of the Casa Martelli picture gallery, in which the young woman flanks Cosimo who invites her to enter the Pitti Palace.

The exhibition can be visited free of charge according to the Casa Martelli Museum’s public opening hours .

Image: Pastorino Pastorini, Medal depicting Camilla Martelli (1584; Florence, Museo di Casa Martelli)

Camilla Martelli Medici, the bride of private fortune of Cosimo I

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