Ginevra d'Este

Portrait of a Princess by Pisanello - the sitter may be Ginevra.[1] The woman also wears a twig of juniper an allusion to her name.

Ginevra d'Este (24 March 1419 - 12 October 1440) was an Italian noblewoman. She and her twin sister Lucia (died 1437) were daughters of Niccolò III d'Este and his second wife Parisina Malatesta - they also had a younger brother, who died aged a few months. She was the first of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta's three wives.

Life

Her mother was accused of infidelity with Ugo d'Este, Ginevra's half-brother and he and Parisina were condemned to death by Niccolò when Ginevra was aged six. Five years later Niccolò remarried to Ricciarda di Saluzzo, giving Ginevra two other half-brothers (Ercole and Sigismondo), in addition to her father's other illegitimate children.

She married Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, lord of Rimini, in Rimini in February 1434.[2]

Death

On her death in 1440 she was buried in the Tempio Malatestiano.[3] In 1461 Pope Pius II accused Pandolfo of several crimes, including killing Ginevra, and excommunicated him.[4]

Ginevra is briefly mentioned in The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde as its claimed her husband gave her poison "in an emerald cup"

References

  1. ↑ "Le donne dei Malatesta". Archived from the original on 16 October 2008. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  2. ↑ Condottieri Archived 2007-08-15 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ Primo Casalini. "Agostino di Duccio a Rimini". arengario.net. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  4. ↑ Mattioli Service Provider. "La Signoria dei Malatesta". gradara.com. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
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