The myth of the Duchess
The bright star of Elisabetta Gonzaga shines on the whole of Baldassarre Castiglione’s literary production: in his Latin poems and in his poems in vulgar tongue, in the Tirsi and in the pages of the commemoration of Guidubaldo, up to the eulogy traced in the Libro del Cortegiano. Elisabetta is the secret inspiration to which Castiglione traces back the most intimate reasons for his writing: in the themes, in the genres and in the forms. From her, and from meeting her, he evolves the discovery of a new way of existing in this world: the Duchess is a unique woman, exclusive prototype of virtue and valour, the only female companion at the level of the refined soul of Guidubaldo, despite the political misfortunes of the state, and the sadness provoked by a sterile marriage and by widowhood. Baldassarre always speaks of her in tones of emotional trepidation, right from the first lines of The Cortegiano: “perché essa molto più di tutti gli altri valeva, e io a essa molto più che a tutti gli altri ero tenuto” (Because she was worth far more than all the others and I to her more than anyone was tied) (B. Castiglione, Il Cortigiano, edited by A. Quondam, Milan 2002, I, 5).
The Cortegiano presents itself as the extreme tribute by its author to the suffering life, the meek and steadfast courage of the lady, who seems to him to be very close to the feminine ideal elaborated in the third book of the dialogue: gentle, reserved and strong, Elisabetta is the emblem of the woman who, during her bitter existence, never renounced her integrity, never gave up on herself. Thus, in the absence of the Duke due to infirmity, the principle role is assigned to her, and she must, with both authority and benevolence, guide the conversations, ensuring that they always proceed influenced by beauty and elegance. In this manner the image of the Duchess, who had already been the subject of many literary compositions at the start of the 16th Century, is projected by Castiglione onto a new stage: no longer simply the inspiration for poetic compositions but, at last, mistress of the court, capable of shaping, with her own image, the way of life of the court itself.
