by G. J. Meyer
Bernardino Pinturicchio, 1493. Fresco. Detail of The Resurrection. Borgia Apartments, Vatican Palace. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY
LUCREZIA BORGIA, whether or not she served as model for this painting of Saint Catherine, was in fact a stunning auburn-haired beauty. She was also, contrary to the dark legend that grew up around her, everything that the ideal Renaissance princess was supposed to be.
Bernardino Pinturicchio (1454–1513). Fresco. Detail of The Disputation of Saint Catherine. Lucrezia Borgia shown as Saint Catherine. Borgia Apartments, Vatican Palace. Scala/Art Resource, NY
JUAN BORGIA, wild young duke and favorite of Pope Alexander VI, made so many dangerous enemies with his arrogant and irresponsible behavior that when he was murdered, there were myriad plausible suspects.
Portrait, early sixteenth century. Presumed to be of Giovanni (Juan) Borgia. Pinacoteca Civica, Forlì, Italy. Alinari/Art Resource, NY
CESARE BORGIA, the first man ever to resign from the College of Cardinals and said to be the handsomest man in Italy, gambled everything in the attempt to make himself a great secular prince. He might have succeeded—except for the one turn of fate that he failed to foresee.
Anonymous, sixteenth century. Palazzo Venezia, Rome. Scala/Art Resource, NY
GIULIANO DELLA ROVERE, brilliant and volcanically hot-tempered, spent much of his life in bitter conflict with the Borgias, and as Pope Julius II devoted himself to destroying their reputation.
Melozzo da Forlì (1438–1494). Detail of fresco. Pinacoteca, Vatican Museums. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY
FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, “the Catholic kings,” united Spain with Rodrigo Borgia’s help and remained his friends until the adventures of the young Borgias intervened.
Anonymous, Spanish school, fifteenth century. Portrait of the Catholic Kings. Convento de Las Augustinas, Ávila, Spain. Album/Art Resource, NY
FERRANTE OF NAPLES, illegitimate son of one of the greatest monarchs of the fifteenth century and a skillful if utterly amoral troublemaker, might never have inherited the Neapolitan crown if not for the timely death of the first Borgia pope.
Artist unknown, fifteenth century, Naples. Bust. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Gianni Dagli Orti/The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY
GALEAZZO MARIA SFORZA, sadist, murderer, and tyrannical duke of Milan, drove his subjects to such extremes of fear and humiliation that finally, in desperation, they killed him.
Antonio del Pollaiuolo and Piero del Pollaiuolo, 1471. Uffizi, Florence, Italy. Alinari/Art Resource, NY
MEHMED II, sultan of the Ottoman Turks and scourge of Europe’s Christians, conquered Constantinople the day before his twenty-second birthday and for the rest of his life was a threat to Italy and Rome.
Attributed to Gentile Bellini, 1480. Oil on canvas. National Gallery, London. © National Gallery, London/Art Resource, NY
LORENZO DE’ MEDICI, “the Magnificent,” dominated the great republic of Florence for twenty years but still died too young, exiting the stage exactly when his city, and all Italy, needed him most.
School of Agnolo Bronzino. Uffizi, Florence, Italy. Scala/Art Resource, NY
PIERO DE’ MEDICI, described by his proud father, Lorenzo, as the most promising figure their brilliant family had ever produced, failed so quickly and completely as leader of Florence that he came to be called “the Unfortunate.”
Agnolo Bronzino. Uffizi, Florence, Italy. Scala/Art Resource, NY
LUDOVICO SFORZA, “Il Moro,” displaced his nephew as ruler of Milan but then made the fatal mistake of turning to the king of France for support against his enemies.
Master of Pala Sforzesca (1490–1520). Detail from the Sforza Altarpiece. Brera Library, Milan, Italy. Gianni Dagli Orti/The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY
CHARLES VIII of France, young and as deeply foolish as he was physically clownlike, effortlessly conquered the kingdom of Naples but soon found himself fleeing for his life.
From a Book of Hours ca. 1450–1500. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Scala/White Images/Art Resource, NY
LOUIS XII of France, who coveted both Milan and Naples, raised Cesare Borgia to the highest reaches of the French nobility only to see his goodwill betrayed.
Anonymous, sixteenth century. Uffizi, Florence, Italy. Scala/Art Resource, NY
CATERINA SFORZA was a true virago, a woman with the bloodthirsty heart of a warlord, but met her match when Cesare Borgia set out to drive her from her strongholds.
Lorenzo di Credi. Portrait of a Lady (Caterina Sforza). Pinacoteca Civica, Forlì, Italy. Scala/Art Resource, NY
ALFONSO D’ESTE, scion of an ancient and proud family and heir to the duchy of Ferrara, resisted a marital alliance with the Borgias until the pressure—and the rewards—became impossible to resist.
Dosso Dossi (1479–1541). Biblioteca Estense, Modena. Alfredo Dagli Orti/The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY
GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA, the friar who turned Renaissance Florence into a “bonfire of the vanities,” failed to exhaust Pope Alexander’s patience but was burned at the stake all the same.
Fra Bartolomeo. Museo di San Marco, Florence, Italy. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY
About the Author
G. J. MEYER is the author of four previous books, including two works of history: A World Undone: The Story of the Great War and The Tudors. He has degrees in English from St. Louis University, which he attended on a National Merit Scholarship, and the University of Minnesota, where he was a Woodrow Wilson fellow. While working as a staff writer at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he was awarded a Nieman Fellowship in Journalism at Harvard University. He has taught literature and writing at colleges and universities in Des Moines, St. Louis, and New York, and now lives in Wiltshire, England.