Maddelena

The sitter is positioned in a three-quarter view against a sprawling, light-filled landscape, her hands folded in her lap in a manner influenced by Leonardo da Vinci. She wears a voluminous blue damask gown and a coral-colored bodice, set off by a gold pendant featuring a ruby, emerald, sapphire, and a large pear-shaped pearl. Her direct gaze and the meticulous rendering of her jewelry and silk attire signify her high social status and the wealth of her family.

As a member of the prominent Strozzi family and wife of Agnolo Doni, the subject belonged to the elite Florentine merchant class that patronized the High Renaissance and the Neoplatonic revival. The specific choice of gemstones in her pendant—ruby, sapphire, and emerald—corresponds to contemporary lapidary traditions and natural philosophy, which ascribed specific moral virtues and planetary influences to precious stones.