エレオノーラ・ゴンザーガ・デッラ・ローヴェレの肖像

Titian painted Eleonora Gonzaga in the winter of 1536, while the duchess was staying in Venice, as one half of a pair. Her husband, Francesco Maria della Rovere, the Duke of Urbino, hangs beside her in a soldier's armour. She sits in a rich dark gown by a window, and the whole portrait is arranged to say what a good wife should be. On the little table a small spotted dog lies asleep, an old symbol of fidelity, beside a golden clock that speaks of order and measured time. Eleonora was a daughter of Isabella d'Este, one of the sharpest women of the age, and she had grown up among the finest art in Italy. When the two portraits were finished, the writer Pietro Aretino honoured Titian with a pair of sonnets praising his gift for likeness.