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DOCUMENT CITATION: TRANSLATION:
f. 597
ASF, MdelP, 6106, fols. 596-97 HISTORICAL CONTEXT: Customs varied from place to place. In Florence, festive gift-giving came at the end of the season at Epiphany (or "la Befana", as it was popularly known. See "Twelfth Night in Merry Old Tuscany", December 1999, in our Document of the Month Archive.) The Mantuans were evidently less inclined to delay gratification and exchanged their presents at the very beginning, on the Feast of Saint Nicholas (who was the prototype of the secularized Anglo-Saxon "Santa Claus.") Andrea Cioli, a Florentine secretary at the Gonzaga court, explicitly parallels the two celebrations. Gift-giving at court (even between husband and wife) was intensely studied and elaborately staged. Ferdinando Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua (1587-1626) regaled Caterina de' Medici (1593-1629) with a range of items that were not only splendid in themselves but laden with aesthetic and moral meaning-a system of cultural referencing that was humorously expressed but none the less deeply felt. The biggest ticket item on Duke Ferdinando's shopping list was the "gargantiglia" valued at a whopping 7,000 scudi. A "gargantiglia" (from the Spanish "gargantilla") was the showiest item of female court dress, a massive jeweled collar worn high on the neck and covering much of the breast. Since it was too large and complicated an object to tuck easily into an earthenware crock, it was represented by a "polizza" or promissory note, presumably in the Duke's own hand. The motto, "I have written that which I have written and I do not go back on my word", is presumably a playful reference to the donor's exceptional generosity. The "collana" was a necklace of a simpler sort, most probably a gold chain. The accompanying motto, "Not so that I will no longer be a servant" is an evident play on the poetic theme of the lover as servant or slave of his beloved. In making this gift, the Duke offers a whimsical protest that he is not casting off the chains of amorous devotion that bind him to the Duchess. In Cesare Ripa's "Iconologia" (an authoritative emblem book of the period), "concordia maritale" (marital harmony) is given visual expression as a gold neckchain with a pendant heart that binds both husband and wife. The "corona" with the motto "Merciful cruelty; Cruel mercy" plays on an even more complicated set of poetical contradictions. The most evident reference (supported by a long tradition in Italian love lyrics) is to the "kind but cruel" treatment of a lover by his mistress. The ultimate significance of this motto, however, turns on the identification of the gift itself. Though "corona" can be translated as "crown" (especially relevant to heads of state, like the Duke and Duchess of Mantua), its most frequent meaning in the period was "rosary", thus opening the way to a range of readings in a religious key ("pietosa" could imply "pious" or "reverent" as well as "merciful.") Rosaries, often in precious materials, figured as important fashion accessories for women in seventeenth-century Italy. "Circle that turns back on itself every hour" refers to the hourly journey of the hands of the clock (or watch.) Though this endless circle can be taken as a generalized allusion to eternity, a more evident reading (especially in the marital context of these mottos) regards the ideal faithfulness of the conjugal lover who always returns home. In the period, clocks were rare and expensive items, often depicted in portraits of rulers as emblems of civil order and administrative control. The jeweled flower and the portrait ("Springtime gracious nymph of flowers") is the most difficult of the allusions to isolate, due to the sheer ubiquity of the "springtime and flowers" motif in Italian poetry, with the traditional formula of "gracious spring" ("primavera gentile") going back as far as Dante and Guido Cavalcanti. The present reference, however, comes from a song that was presumably popular in aristocratic circles in both Florence and Mantua, "Vaga su spina ascosa", by Gabriello Chiabrera (1552-1638), a poet much patronized by the Medici Court. The relevant verse is: Addio, Ninfa de' fiori, Farewell, nymph of flowers, This lyric was published by Chiabrera in his Le Maniere de' versi toscani (Florence, 1599) and there is a musical setting for the piece by Giulio Caccini (1546-1614), a composer favored by the Medici. "Nymph of Flowers" might well have been a direct allusion to Caterina's love of gardens and gardening. In her last years in Siena, after the death of Duke Ferdinando, the Dowager Duchess created a garden of rare species, including probably the first tulips in Tuscany. (See "Tulipmania in Tuscany", April 2000, in our Document Highlights Archive.) Caterina de' Medici Gonzaga, in point of fact, was not born in April but on the second of May. SPECIAL THANKS: To Martha McCrory, for her advice regarding "collane" and "gargantiglie". To Antonio Ricci, Medici Archive Project Fellow, for researching the literary context of the mottos and identifying the Chiabrera-Caccini connection.
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