In an Italian portrait dating to 1510, Francesco Francia, a Bolognese artist, portrays a ten-year-old boy called Federico Gonzaga (born 1500 – 1540).¹ Federico’s fashionable clothes, his soft cap and simple dark tunic over a white undergarment, are enhanced by a decorative jewelled chain-link gold collar with a large pendant pearl suspended at the front, and in his hands he holds the hilt of a sword.²

Federico’s family was prosperous: his father, Francesco Gonzaga, Fourth Margrave of Mantua and Isabella d’Este, his mother, were themselves from influential families who commissioned and collected famous works of art, and developed the famous Mantuan horse stables.³

It was Federico’s mother who ordered this portrait from Francia, an ‘outstanding’ artist who initially trained as a goldsmith, and an accompanying letter thanking Isabella for payment was signed by him as ‘Francia, Goldsmith, Bologna’.⁴

It is possible that the collar piece worn by Federico was made especially for him as the ‘delicacy’ of the necklace was ‘scaled for a child’.⁵ However, the gold collar it is not thought to have been made by Francia himself, who had to paint the image in less than a week, instead the artist concentrated on an accurate portrayal of the item to convey Federico’s affluence.⁶

Isabella wanted the portrait in tribute of her son who, shortly after, was forced to live in the Vatican court as a diplomatic hostage (1510-1513) – said to ‘guarantee that Mantua’s political actions would always favour the interests of the Papacy’.⁷

The painting, therefore, is not only a memento for Federico’s mother, but marks an important occasion in the boy’s life expressing the end of living with his parents and his transition to adulthood – further noted by the sword which was to ‘suggest his future military career’.⁸

Federico Gonzaga lived for forty years and is now renowned for amassing one of the most impressive art collections of the Renaissance.⁹

References:

Fig 194: 1510

Portrait ‘Frederico Gonzaga’ depicting the ten year old son of Francesco Gonzaga, Fourth Margrave of Mantua, wearing a jewelled chain-linked gold collar with a large pearl-drop pendant

Francesco Francia, Bolognese

Metropolitan Museum Of Art, New York

Image available via:

The Metropolitan Museum Of Art (USA), Accession no. 14.40.638

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436333

Wikimedia Commons:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Federico_II_Gonzaga_(age_10)_-_Francesco_Francia.jpg

Selected literature:

McConnell: Metropolitan Jewellery: 1991: p30

1. McConnell: Metropolitan Jewellery: 1991: p30
   Chilvers: Art and Artists: 1990 / 1996: p186 ‘Francesco Francia’
   Francesco Francia: Bolognese artist c.1450 – 1517/1518
   NET ART: Zeitz: Federico Gonzaga (1500-1540): (http://www.axa-art.com/cw/cc/0601/) 2001 ↩︎
2. McConnell: Metropolitan Jewellery: 1991: p30 ↩︎
3. NET ART: Zeitz: Federico Gonzaga (1500-1540): (http://www.axa-art.com/cw/cc/0601/) 2001 ↩︎
4. Ibid
   McConnell: Metropolitan Jewellery: 1991: p30
   Chilvers: Art and Artists: 1990 / 1996: p186 ‘Francesco Francia’
   Francesco Francia: Bolognese artist c.1450 – 1517/1518 ↩︎
5. Ibid ↩︎
6. Ibid ↩︎
7. Ibid ↩︎
8. Ibid ↩︎
9. NET ART: Zeitz: Federico Gonzaga (1500-1540): (http://www.axa-art.com/cw/cc/0601/) 2001 ↩︎