After 1561
Portrait of Leonora, Duchess of Mantua (Eleonora of Austria)
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This wax sculpture was likely cast from an original bronze medal by Pastorino Pastorini and then worked by hand.
Pastorini was one of the most accomplished medal sculptors of the Italian Renaissance, employed in the mints of Ferrara, Bologna, Novellara, and Florence. While in Mantua in 1561 he produced a bronze medal to commemorate the marriage of Princess Eleonora of Austria to Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga of Mantua. Eleonora was from the Hapsburg royal family and had aspired to become a nun before consenting to marriage. She was famously devout and was instrumental in establishing a Jesuit presence in the city.
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