Ritratto di Eleonora di Toledo con il figlio Giovanni de' Medici

By the mid-1540s Cosimo de' Medici had made himself the first Duke of Florence, and a dynasty that had ruled as bankers now needed to look like royalty. This is how they did it. Eleanor of Toledo was his Spanish-born duchess, and the thing your eye goes to is her dress, a heavy silk brocade woven with pomegranates, a fruit that stood for fertility. She had already given Cosimo the heirs the family needed, and the small boy at her side is one of them, Giovanni. Bronzino paints her skin like cool enamel and her face gives away almost nothing, which was the point. This is power holding still. The fabric was so admired that some believe Eleanor was later buried in this very gown, or one very like it.