1300s and had become much more frequent by the
1430s. Initially they were represented as tiny to show
the difference in status with the religious protagonists;
in the first half of the 15th century they were depicted
of equal size. Here we see the duke and duchess freed
from any religious scene and they themselves are the
protagonists. The selfie is back!
These portraits don’t herald in a moment of rejection
of the heavenly sphere but a shift in the relationship
between how man viewed life on Earth and what he
does during this lifetime. The here and now was given
the prime importance it had held in Antiquity, and the
concept that man is the measure of all things returned.
All man’s deeds, both in virtuous and spiritual devotion
and in the extent of his earthly courage and secular
excellence would help one’s plight to heaven. So these
portraits shouldn’t be viewed in a purely superficial sense
of two people wanting to record their physical presence
but within a much deeper philosophical context.
The portraits are ingeniously double-sided. When the
diptych were closed there was still the duke and duchess’s
portraits on the exterior. They both appear in miniature
and are seated on triumphal chariots. The duchess is being
pulled by unicorns, a symbol of chastity, and accompanied
by the three theological virtues: faith, hope, charity; and
modesty. The duke is being crowned by fame and pulled
by stallions, accompanied by the four cardinal virtues:
temperance, justice, prudence, fortitude.
She has all the mystical and spiritual elements for two
reasons. First, being the woman, her role is to ensure a
domestic atmosphere most conducive to the saving of her
family’s souls. Second, she has already died and so this is
the realm where she inhabits at the time of the painting’s
execution. The duke’s role is public and he must defend
the dukedom and his family, and so his virtues reflect the
tools he must cultivate to best carry out his duties.
These earthly and heavenly virtues together form
unity and they are the instruments required for achieving
excellence. The Renaissance welcomed once more this
concept of the importance of equilibrium between matter
(body) and soul, which when in sync make it possible
for humankind to get that much closer to perfection and
perfect harmony. This is the ultimate significance of this
painting’s use of the portraits as a vehicle. They express
perfect balance, with equal attention given to male and
female, body and soul, earthly domain and spiritual realm- even the balance between word and image, because the
Latin epigraph extols the greatness of the duke in the
same number of words and lines as the epigraph for the
duchess waxing lyrical about her extreme virtue.
This selfie of the Renaissance remains resolutely
heavenly in spirit and provides so much food for thought
for us here on Earth, even in the 21st century.
ABOUT THE WRITER
FREYA MIDDLETON is a private tour guide and
writer who lives in Florence, Tuscany. You can
read her blog online or learn more about her
tours at http://www.freyasfl orence.com
Photography by Freya Middleton unless otherwise statedNovember 2016 ITALIA! 69The reverse side shows the duke
and duchess in miniatureBattista Sforza and Federico da Montefeltro, by Piero della FrancescaIT144.FastArt.sg4.indd 69 28/09/2016 14:07pm