Italian Renaissance Learning Resources

Two years before he became duke, Ercole d’Este married Eleanora of Aragon, daughter of the king of Naples. It was probably Eleanora who commissioned this painting. Eleanora was noted by contemporaries for taking an unusually active role in Ferrara. When her husband was absent she was said to have governed wisely as regent. During travels to other cities, she was an astute observer, reporting diplomatic exchanges back to her husband and advisors. She also figured in at least three published compilations of biographies of famous women. One of them, which dealt with good governing, had been dedicated to her in Naples before her marriage and was presented to her again when she married Ercole in 1473. Praise for the virtue and heroism of rulers’ consorts was a familiar literary trope, but in Eleanora’s case there may have been some basis for it. When Ercole’s nephew Niccolò attempted a coup d’etat, she escaped the besieged palace with her children Isabella, Beatrice, and Alfonso, who was only a few weeks old.

This painting speaks to the theme of virtuous women. It is one of three surviving panels by Ercole de’ Roberti that depict sacrifices made for family and state by strong, duty-minded women. Hasdrubal’s wife (her name is never given) was praised by Roman historian Appian for honor surpassing that of her husband. When his army was defeated, he was willing to endure capture and humiliation while his wife chose death over dishonor, flinging her children and herself into the flames of a burning temple. The artist downplayed the grisly aspects of the narrative in favor of a more decorative work. It is typical of paintings made in a courtly milieu, with brilliant color and attention to fine details. The children are nude, presented like putti and intertwined in an almost balletic dance with their mother. At their feet, bits of architectural ruins and small laps of flame only hint at their fate. The figures stand out dramatically against a crisply folded red curtain, the complementary green of the mother’s dress enhancing the linear elegance of her pose against it.

Ercole de’ Roberti, a native of Ferrara, joined the Ferrarese court in 1486 and remained until his death ten years later. Although the duke worked closely with him to design decorations at Belriguardo and other large projects, much of what the artist produced was ephemera such as pennants or pageant pavilions. He decorated wedding chests for Eleanora’s daughters Isabella and Beatrice, and he designed the triumphal chariot for Isabella’s wedding.