ÉLÉONORE GONZAGUE (Empress). Autograph letter signed "Leonor - Lot 8

Lot n° 8
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Estimation :
500 - 600 EUR
Result : NC
ÉLÉONORE GONZAGUE (Empress). Autograph letter signed "Leonor - Lot 8
ÉLÉONORE GONZAGUE (Empress). Autograph letter signed "Leonora", in Italian, to Cardinal Odoardo Farnese. Vienna, February 3, 1624. One p. folio, address on back. Wishes for the New Year, in response to those she has received from the cardinal, : " ... il nostro desiderio non è manco et minore del suo, qual è grandissimo acioche l'istesso felicemente goda, tanto Vostra Signoria Illustrissima et Reverendissima quanto ancho la sua inclita Casa ducale..." Translation: "... our desire is no less than yours, which is very great that you happily enjoy the same, both Your Illustrious Lordship and your prestigious Ducal Household..." EMPRESS ELONORE GONZAGUE (1598-1655), daughter of the Duke of Mantua and a Medici, married Ferdinand II (then widower of Maria Anna of Bavaria) in 1622. Beautiful, pious and wealthy, she represented an advantageous alliance for both families: the House of Mantua, in decline, wanted to strengthen its political position, and the House of Habsburg hoped to improve its finances at the costly start of the Thirty Years' War. Marked by the sack of Mantua and the dynastic change that placed the French branch of the family, the Gonzagas-Nevers, at the head of the duchy, the House of Habsburg showed prudence at a time when Austria and France were enemies. Above all, she was an essential bridge for artistic tastes, particularly musical, between Mantua and Vienna. A PRINCE OF THE CHURCH ASPIRING TO A CROWN, ODOARDO FARNESE (1573-1626) was the youngest son of the Duke of Parma. Elevated to the rank of cardinal in 1591, he came up against the hostility of several popes hostile to his family, and did not enjoy the career he might have hoped for. A disappointed ambitious, he wanted to give up the hat and marry, for these reasons but also because his brother Duke Ranuccio was unable to have an heir. Appointed protector of England (an ecclesiastical role), he declared himself a pretender to the English throne on the strength of his Lancaster descent through his mother Mary of Portugal, but without success. On his brother's death, Odoardo took over the regency of the Duchy of Parma, and died in 1626. A great collector of antiquities and a high-flying patron of the arts, he supported the Carache brothers and the Dominiquin, and was one of those who encouraged the emergence of the Baroque style in painting. Eleonore Gonzaga and Odoardo Farnese had close family ties: Vincent Gonzague, Eleonore's father, was first married to Margherita Farnese, sister of Ranuccio and Cardinal Odoardo, from 1581 to 1582.
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