Elisabetta Gonzaga by Raphael in Pushkin museum (2016) by shakko 03

The Duchess is shown in a rigid, frontal pose wearing a black gown with gold rectangular embroidery. A small jewel in the shape of a scorpion is suspended from a cord onto her forehead, and her hair is styled in a long coif reaching her shoulders. A vast, calm landscape with blue mountains and hills sits under a clear sky in the background.

Elisabetta Gonzaga was the central figure and hostess of the dialogues in Baldassare Castiglione's 'The Book of the Courtier,' a definitive text on Renaissance humanist conduct and Neoplatonic social ideals. Her court at Urbino served as a primary center for the intellectual and philosophical life of the Italian Renaissance.