Ercole da Ferrara (c.1456-1482)

ANGELICA DA NOBILI-BANDINI

Angelica da Nobili-Bandini, the subject of this small panel, had the misfortune to bear the family name of a conspirator who joined with the Riarios and Papal interests in removing a Medici family hold on the government of Tuscany and its capitol, Florence. This produced the so-called Pazzi Conspiracy which rocked Florence on Sunday morning, April 26, 1478. A distant cousin of Angelica’s, Bernardo Bandini, was personally responsible for striking down Guiliano, brother of Lorenzo de’ Medici, just as the Host was raised during High Mass that morning in the Cathedral, the raising of the Host having been agreed upon by the conspirators as the signal for the assault. The plot failed. The men who originally agreed to attack the person of Lorenzo backed out, pleading profound misgivings at a blatant misuse of sacred ritual. The substitute assassins bungled their attack on Lorenzo, who, though slightly wounded, escaped with his attendants to the safety of the sacristy.

The response of the citizenry of Florence, who adored Guiliano and resented any plot against their rulers by forces from away, was sudden and terrible. The streets of the city and the windows of its public buildings were either littered or festooned with the bodies of those suspected of being party to the conspiracy. Bernardo Bandini managed to escape to faraway Constantinople, but was returned to Florence a year later, in chains, at the order of the Sultan. A drawing by Leonardo da Vinci of Bandini’s body hanging on the wall of the Bargello survives as a record of Florentine justice and retribution. Difficult times were ahead for the Nobili-Bandinis.

Angelica’s family lost their real-estate and other holdings situated within the walls of Florence, and were exiled to a comparably rude and rural way of life in a villa outside Urbino. It was there, not long after the family was introduced to the painter, Ercole da Ferrara, that Angelica’s portrait was painted. Tomasso, Angelica’s older brother and heir to the family name and fortune, had met Ercole in the Ducal Palace in Urbino. Ercole’s conservative style of painting while still popular with a few of the older families of Ferrara, had apparently failed to impress the Este family, even then famous for their support of the leading artists in Italy of the day. The artist’s move to Urbino was probably inspired by hopes of gaining the attention of Federigo da Montafeltro, Duke d’Urbino, another great patron of the arts.

Family legends tell us that Angelica fell madly in love with the dashing young artist from Ferrara. Tomasso, taking note of an unsuitable dalliance between his fifteen year old sister, the daughter of a noble family, and his friend Ercole, the son of a drover, was apparently not pleased. Ercole’s romantic adventure with Angelica probably had the effect on Tomasso of adding insult to injury, perhaps "rubbing salt in the wounds" his pride had suffered at the family’s disgrace and exile. Whether Ercole died by stiletto or poison is not clear; it is certain that three months after his demise, Angelica gave birth to twin boys, Ercole and Giorgio.

Angelica never married. Her sons, adopted by Tomasso and given the Nobili-Bandini family name, went on to fame and glory in the service of the Riarios, the Borgias and the Papal States, Ercole as a soldier and patron of the arts, Giorgio as Cardinal and Titular Bishop of the Diocese of the Church of the Blessed Virgin in Natividad.

Provenance : Ercole, as the eldest (by three minutes) of the sons, would by rights have inherited this work. He had no heirs. An arrow received in battle below the cuirrass and next to the cuisse rendered him incapable of reproduction. None of Giorgio’s "nephews" survived him. Therefore, we have no clear idea how the painting found its way into the next significant collection of record.

Only recently a fresh evaluation* of Ferrarese painters, sculptors and architects has led to the identification of hitherto ignored, misunderstood and misattributed works by our painter, Ercole da Ferrara. This painting has been singled out as very likely the "Portrait of a Young Maiden of the Nobili Family" by Ercole da Ferrara reported to have been an adornment of the bedchamber of Guilio de Medici, later Pope Clement VII. If true, this report will occasion more than a few raised eyebrows among those who recall the day that saw the downfall of the Bandini family, April 26, 1478. As it happens, this was the natal day of a son , sired by Guiliano de Medici, slain by a Bandini that very morning. Born out of wedlock to one Antonia Gorini, the child entered the Medici household as Guilio de Medici, later Pope Clement VII !

The work disappeared from the Medici household sometime prior to the eighteenth century when the Medici collections were turned over to the Commune of Florence by the last of the Medici, Anna Maria Ludovica de’ Medici. The work reappeared recently in a hitherto unpublished Swiss collection.

* Little Known Painters of Ferrara and Environs , Beatrice Hispano-Suida (2 vols.), Trans. Vittorio Siccore, Alinari Press, 1984. Hispano-Suida conjectures that this painting was at some time in the French royal collection, (carried thither by either Catherine or, more likely, Marie), noting in support of this notion the style and richness of the work’s present frame. She further noted that if this were the case, the work must have been separated from the royal collection prior to the establishment of Neufchateau’s Temple de Memoire and the formation of the French National Collections.

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