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Mencía de Mendoza, Marquesa de Zenete: an art collector in sixteenth‐century Spain

2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 18; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09612020903112331

1747-583X

Noelia García Pérez,

Early Modern Women Writers

Abstract Mencía de Mendoza was undoubtedly one of the most outstanding collectors of the European Renaissance, amassing a range of artworks of the most diverse provenance, styles and types. This study of Mencía de Mendoza tries to determine who she was and how she built up her unique collection, the content of which was exceptional in terms of its size and quality, encompassing more than 200 paintings, 200 tapestries, countless gold and silver items both of a domestic and religious nature, curiosities and exotic items from the new continent, not to mention her jewellery of incalculable value. However, the artistic patronage of Mencía de Mendoza did not stop at acquiring works of art, but included more public initiatives, such as the University of Valencia project or the patronage of students from Valencia, on whom she bestowed grants for studying at different Spanish and European universities. At the same time, the Marchioness of Zenete emerges as a key figure for analysing artistic‐cultural relations between Spain and the Low Countries in the first half of the sixteenth century. Her relationship with other Spaniards, both those living outside Spain, such as Felipe de Guevara or Juan Luis Vives, and those within, who acted as her intermediaries in the purchase of works of art, was also important in this respect. As patron and intermediary, Mencía de Mendoza acted as ‘cultural ambassador’ for Spanish art in Breda and for Flemish art in Castile and Aragon. Acknowledgements I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr Anne Anderson, Alejandro García Avilés and Miguel Falomir Faus for their help and useful comments in preparing this paper. Notes [1] Hesíodo (1973) Los trabajos y los días (Madrid: Aguilar), p. 34. [2] Margaret L. King (1980) Book‐Lined Cells: women and humanism in the early Italian Renaissance, in Patricia H. Labalme (Ed.) Beyond their Sex: learned women of the European past (New York: New York University Press), pp. 67–90. [3] See: Sister Prudence Allen (2002) The Early Humanist Reformation in Education for Women, in The Concept of Woman, vol. II (Cambridge: William B. Eedmans), pp. 659–760. [4] Valerie Wayne (1985) Some Sad Sentence: Vives’ instruction of a Christian woman, in Margaret Patterson (Ed.) Silent but for the Word. Tudor women as patrons, translators, and writers of religious works (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press), pp. 15–29. For a more detailed study of the books recommended for the education of women, see: Suzanne W. Hull (1982) Chaste, Silent & Obedient. English books for women 1475–1640 (San Marino: The Huntington Library). [5] See: Noelia García Pérez (2004) Miradas de Mujeres. El patronazgo artístico y el arte del Renacimiento (Murcia: Nausícaä). [6] Jaynie Anderson (1996) Rewriting the History of Art Patronage, Journal of the Society for Renaissance Studies, 10, p. 129. [7] Merry Wiesner (2000) Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, first published 1993), pp. 1–2. [8] See: Mary Nash (1982) Desde la invisibilidad a la presencia de la mujer en la historia: corrientes historiográficas y marcos conceptuales de la Nueva Historia de la Mujer, in Seminario de Estudios de la Mujer de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Ed.) Nuevas perspectivas sobre la mujer. Actas de las primeras jornadas de investigación interdisciplinaria organizadas por el Instituto de Estudios de la Mujer de la Universidad Autónoma (Madrid: Universidad Autónoma), pp. 18–37. [9] Cándida Martínez & Mary Nash (1994) Textos para la historia de las mujeres en España (Madrid: Cátedra), p. 23. [10] Margaret L. King (1991) Women of the Renaissance (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), p. 160. [11] Catherine E. King (1998) Renaissance Women Patrons: wives and widows in Italy 1300–1550 (Manchester: Manchester University Press); Cynthia Lawrence (1997) Women and Art in Early Modern Europe: patrons, collectors and connoisseurs (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press); Sheryl E. Reiss & David G. Wilkins (Eds) (2001) Beyond Isabella: secular women patrons of art in Renaissance Italy (Kirksville: Truman State University Press); Paola Tinagli (1997) Women in Italian Renaissance Art: gender, representation, identity (Manchester: Manchester University Press). [12] Dagmar Eichberger (2002) Leben mit Kunst, Wirken durch Kunst: Sammelwesen und Hofkunst unter Margarete von Österreich, Regentin der Niederlande (Turnhout: Brepols); Konrad Eisenbichler (Ed.) (2004) The Cultural World of Eleanora di Toledo (Aldershot: Ashgate); Helen Hills (Ed.) (2003) Architecture and the Politics of Gender in Early Modern Europe (Aldershot: Ashgate); Annemarie Jordan (forthcoming) Catherine of Austria: patron and collector in Renaissance Portugal (Brepols: Burgundica Series); Katherine A. MacIver (2006) Women, Art and Architecture in Northern Italy, 1520–1580 (Aldershot, Ashgate); Andrea Pearson (Ed.) (2008) Women and Portraits in Early Modern Europe (Aldershot: Ashgate). [13] Noelia García Pérez (2002) La mujer del Renacimiento y la promoción artística: estado de la cuestión, Imafronte, 16, pp. 81–90. [14] A collection that only in part survives, necessitating investigation through the documentary evidence. The documents are located in several archives in Spain and the Low Countries. Most are in the Palau Requesens Archives (Jesus’ Company) placed in San Cugat del Vallés (Barcelona), in which there is valuable information concerning the Marquisate of Zenete and, especially, Mencía de Mendoza. The documentation preserved was property of Mencía and contains items ranging from her correspondence to the inventories of her goods and properties. We should also mention the Nobleza Archives, Sección Osuna, located in Archivo Histórico Nacional (Toledo), and Simancas Archives (Valladolid). Both contain several copies from her testament, different inventories and an important legate from her correspondence with members from the royal family such as Charles V or Mary of Hungary. As regards the documents located in the Low Countries, they are spread through Koninkljik Huisarchief Den Haag, Koninkljik Huisarchief Brussel, Bredase Stadarchief and contain important documentation about her stay in this country. The most relevant documentation from these archives can be found in: Noelia García Pérez (2004) Entre España y Flandes. Corpus documental de Mencía de Mendoza (Murcia: Nausícaä). [15] Mencía de Mendoza became the second Marchioness of Zenete, after her parents died in 1523. Two years later, after marriage to Henry of Nassau, she also received the title of Countess of Nassau that she kept until his death in 1538. Finally in 1541, after her marriage with her second husband, Fernando de Aragón, she became Duchess of Calabria and Viceroy of Valencia. [16] Thomas M. Roest van Limburg (1908) Een Spaansche Gravin van Nassau, Mencía de Mendoza, Markiezin van Zenete (1508–1554) (Leiden: A. W. Sitjthoff’s Uitgevers‐Maatschappi). [17] Manuel Lasso de la Vega y López de Tejada (1942) Doña Mencía de Mendoza, Marquesa del Cenete (1508–1554) (Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia). [18] Jan Karel Steppe (1969) Mencía de Mendoza et ses relations avec Erasme, Gilles de Busleyden et Jean‐Louis Vives, in Scrinium Erasmianum. Mélanges historiques publiés sous le patronage de l’Université de Louvain à l’occasion du cinquième centenaire de la naissance d’Érasme. Historische opstellen gepubliceerd onder de auspiciën van de Universiteit te Leuven naar aanleiding van het vijfde eeuwfeest van Erasmus’ geboorte, vol. II (Leiden: Brill), pp. 449–506. Jan Karel Steppe was Professor at the Department of Archaeology and Art History at the Catholic University of Louvain. He was the first to investigate the relationship between Mencía de Mendoza and the main humanists of her time, such as Erasmus, Vives or Budé, calling the Marchioness one of the main followers of Erasmus in the Spanish Renaissance. [19] Jan Karel Steppe (1985) Mécénant espagnol et art flamand au XVI siècle, in Jean‐Marie Duvosquel & Ignace Vandevivere (Eds) Splendeurs d’Espagne et les villes Belges, 1500–1700, vol. I (Brussels: Crédit Communal), pp. 247–280. [20] Simon A. Vosters: (1961) De geestelijke achtergronden van Mencía de Mendoza, vrouwre van Breda, Jaarboek van ‘de Orangeboom, XIV, pp. 74–80; (1963) Mencía de Mendoza, Brabantia, pp. 24–32; (1985) Doña Mencía de Mendoza, señora de Breda y virreina de Valencia, Cuadernos de Bibliofilia, 13, pp. 3–20; (1985) Littératures espagnole et néerlandaise: les influences mutuelles, in Duvosquel & Vandevivere (Eds), Splendeurs d’Espagne et les villes belges 1500–1700, vol. I, pp. 205–224; (1987) Mencía de Mendoza, Vrouwe van Breda en Onderkoningin van Valencia (Delft: Eburon); (1989) Gheeraerdt Vorselman, Eulogist of Doña Mencía de Mendoza, Humanistica Lovaniensia. Journal of Neo‐Latin Studies, XXXVIII, pp. 152–161; (1991) Doña Mencía de Mendoza, Virreina y humanista de Valencia, Historia 16, XIV, 180, pp. 30–40; (1992) Twee onbekende portretten van Mencía de Mendoza en het eeuwfeest van callot, Engelbrecht van Nassau, 2, pp. 109–114; and (1995) Een bewonderaar van Mencía en haar Verhouding tot Hendrik van Nassau, Engelbrecht van Nassau, 4, pp. 178–185. [21] Miguel Falomir Faus (1994) El Duque de Calabria, Mencía de Mendoza y los inicios del coleccionismo pictórico en la Valencia del Renacimiento, Ars Longa, 5, pp. 121–124. [22] Juana Hidalgo Ogáyar: (1997) Libros de Horas de Doña Mencía de Mendoza, Archivo Español de Arte, 70(278), pp. 177–183; and (1997) Doña Mencía de Mendoza, Marquesa del Zenete, Condesa de Nassau y Duquesa de Calabria, ejemplo de mujer culta en el siglo XVI, in Departamento de Historia del Arte ‘Diego Velázquez’ CSIC (Ed.) La mujer en el arte español (Madrid: Alpuerto), pp. 93–102. [23] Joseph Solervicens Bo (2003) La literature Humanística a la selecta biblioteca de Mencía de Mendoza, Marquesa del Cenete, Duquessa de Calabria i deixebla de Joan Lluís Vives, in Ferran Grau Codina (Ed.) La Universitat de València i l’Humanisme: Studia Humanitatis I renovació cultural a Europa I al Nou Món (Valencia: Universitat de Valencia), pp. 313–324. [24] Joseph Martí Ferrando: (1993) Poder y Sociedad durante el virreinado del Duque de Calabria (1536–1550) (MA, University of Valencia); (2000) Una humanista en la corte virreinal: Mencía de Mendoza, in San Miguel de los Reyes: De Biblioteca Real a Biblioteca Valenciana (Valencia: Generalitat Valenciana), pp. 73–89; and (2003) La Corte Virreinal valenciana del Duque de Calabria, Reales Sitios, 158, pp. 16–31. [25] Fernando Benito Doménech (2000) De Vicent Macip a Joan Macip, alias ‘Joannes’, in Joan de Joanes. Un maestro del Renacimiento (Madrid: Fundación Santander Central Hispano), pp. 35–45; Juana Hidalgo Ogáyar (2003) Doña Mencía de Mendoza embajadora del arte español en Breda, in Departamento de Historia del Arte ‘Diego Velázquez’ CSIC El arte español fuera del España, XI Jornadas de Arte (Madrid: Departamento de Historia del Arte Diego Velázquez), pp. 187–192. [26] Simon A. Vosters (2007) La dama y el humanista (Murcia: Nausícaä). [27] Noelia García Pérez: Entre España y Flandes. Corpus documental de Mencía de Mendoza; (2004) Arte, poder y género en el Renacimiento español. El patronazgo artístico de Mencía de Mendoza (Murcia: Nausícaä). Both studies are derived from the doctoral thesis of this author. [28] Helen Nader (1979) Los Mendoza y el Renacimiento Español (Guadalajara: Institución Provincial de Cultura ‘Marqués de Santillana’; 1986 reprint edition, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press), pp. 209–214. [29] Rogelio Pérez‐Bustamante (1981) Íñigo López de Mendoza. Marqués de Santillana (1398–1458) (Madrid: Fundación Santillana); Joaquín Yarza Luaces (2001) Hombres de poder, gentes de libro, ‘viri litterati’ y encargos artísticos, in El Marqués de Santillana (1398–1458); Joaquín Yarza Luaces (2001) Los albores de a España Moderna. El Humanista (Hondarribia, Nerea), pp. 9–34 and Ángel Gómez Moreno (2001) Don Íñigo López de Mendoza, sus libros y su empresa cultural, in El Marqués de Santillana (1398–1458). Los albores de la España Moderna. El Humanista (Hondarribia: Nerea), pp. 59–81. [30] Fernando Checa Cremades (1983) Pintura y Escultura del Renacimiento en España (Madrid: Cátedra), pp. 80–89; Miguel Morán y Fernando Checa (1985) El coleccionismo en España. De la cámara de maravillas a la galería de pinturas (Madrid: Cátedra), pp. 31–34. [31] For a more detailed study of Marquis of Zenete, see: Miguel Falomir Faus (1990) Sobre el Marqués del Cenete y la participación valenciana en el Castillo de la Calahorra, Archivo Español de Arte, 250, pp. 263–269; Miguel Falomir Faus & Fernando Marías Franco (1994) El primer viaje a Italia del Marqués del Zenete, Anuario del Departamento de Historia y Teoría del Arte, VI, pp. 101–108; José María March (1951) El Primer Marqués del Cenete su vida suntuosa, Archivo Español de Arte, XXIV, pp. 47–65; Fernando Marías Franco (1990) Sobre el Castillo de la Calahorra y el Codex Escurialensis, Anuario del Departamento de Historia y Teoría del Arte, II, pp. 117–129 and Francisco Javier Sánchez Cantón (1942) La biblioteca del Marqués del Cenete, iniciada por el Cardenal Mendoza (1470–1523) (Madrid: S. Aguirre). [32] Majorat is the right of succession to property according to age and sex. A majorat would be inherited by the oldest son, or if there was no son, the oldest daughter. In case there was no direct heir or heiress, the majorat would be inherited by the nearest relative. This law existed in some European countries, such as England, France, Poland or Spain, and was designed to prevent the distribution of wealthy estates between many members of the family, thus weakening their position. In Spain it was known as mayorazgo, and became a part of the Castilian law in 1505 (Leyes de Toro) until 1820. See Juan Antonio Pérez Castillo (1991) Leyes de Toro (1505): familia, sucesiones y mayorazgos (Seville: UNED) [33] In this respect, the singularity of the Castilian laws favoured women in a way that was less determined by the masculine figure than in other European countries. In Spain, as Cristina Segura has underlined, the law looked favourably on the familiar property and, thanks to it, a woman could decide her possessions without her husband’s intervention. Cristina Segura Graíño (1997) La transición del Medievo a la Modernidad, in Historia de las Mujeres en España (Madrid: Síntesis), p. 226. [34] For more details of the relationship between Mencía de Mendoza and Gilles de Busleyden, see: Steppe ‘Mencía de Mendoza et ses relations avec Erasme, Gilles de Busleyden et Jean‐Louis Vives’, pp. 449–506. [35] For more details of the internationalisation of Spanish aristocratic tastes during the reign of Charles V, see: Miguel Falomir Faus (2001) La internacionalización del gusto de la nobleza española, in Carolus (Madrid: Sociedad Estatal para la Acción Cultural Exterior), pp. 375–378. [36] See: Luis Arciniega García (2001) El Monasterio de San Miguel de los Reyes (Valencia: Direcció General del Llibre, Arxius i Biblioteques), p. 73. [37] Mencía de Mendoza made exhaustive descriptions of the different fruit, the closest species to them, the differences between them, and the effect on the human body of their consumption, demonstrating her enthusiasm for the subject and her wide knowledge, gained through reading Historia General y Natural de las Indias. Archivo del Palau. Marquesado del Zenete (APMZ) Legajo (Leg.) 120, 3. [38] Alonso de Santa Cruz (1923) Crónica del Emperador Carlos V, IV (Madrid: Imprenta del patronato de Huérfanos de intendencia e intervención militares), p. 203. [39] Amparo Felipó (1993) La universidad de Valencia durante el siglo XVI (1499–1611) (Valencia: Departamento de Historia Moderna); (1998) El proyecto universitario de Doña Mencía de Mendoza. Las capitulaciones de 1544, in Salvador Albiñana (Ed.) Doctores y Escolares. II Congreso Internacional de Historia de las Universidades hispánicas (Valencia: Universidad de Valencia), pp. 141–155. [40] Juan Menéndez Pidal (1909) Don Francescillo de Zúñiga Bufón de Carlos V. Cartas inéditas, Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos, XI, 1, p. 92. [41] Hence, Carreres and de Calatayud tells us that it was ‘a true thing that the already mentioned Duchess could not breathe through her nose; she could only breathe through her mouth. It is also true that every morning her maids wash every single fold of her body with rose water to avoid she got rash’. Francisco de A. Carreres y de Calatayud (Ed.) (1930) Llibre de memòries de diversos sucesos e fets memorables e de coses senyalades de la ciutat e regne de Valencia, Valencia, ms. esp. 147 (Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale), pp. 630–640, quoted in José María March (1942) Infancia y Juventud de Felipe II, II (Madrid: Ministerio de Exteriores), p. 239. [42] APMZ, Leg. 122. [43] García Pérez, Arte, poder y género. [44] Noelia García Pérez (2006) Emoción y memoria en la biblioteca de Mencía de Mendoza, Goya, 313–314, pp. 227–236. [45] ‘Covered and hidden paintings are deprived of their value. This value lies in the judgement that men of good understanding and imagination made of them’. Felipe de Guevara Comentarios de la pintura, pp. 4–5, quoted in Miguel Falomir Faus (2000) Entre el ‘divino’ Apeles y el ‘cornudo’ Pitas Payas. La imagen del pintor en la España de Carlos V, in Carolus (Madrid: Sociedad Estatal para la Acción Cultural Exterior), p. 117. [46] See: Faus, ‘La internacionalización del gusto de la nobleza española’, p. 403. [47] APMZ, Leg 122, 6 and 142, 5. Also see APMZ, Leg. 122, 30. [48] García Pérez, Arte, poder y género, pp. 157–313. [49] Noelia García Pérez (2002) Mencía de Mendoza y el patronazgo artístico en el arte de la platería, in Jesús Rivas (Ed.) Estudios de Platería: San Eloy 2002 (Murcia: Universidad), pp. 143–162; (2003) Legados, obsequios y adquisiciones de Mencía de Mendoza: tres cauces para atesorar piezas de platería, in Jesús Rivas (Ed.) Estudios de Platería: San Eloy 2003 (Murcia: Universidad), pp. 213–238. [50] Noelia García Pérez (forthcoming) Age of Discoveries. Age of Curiosities. ‘Naturalia et Artificialia’ in the Collection of Mencía de Mendoza, in Markus Neuwirth (Ed.) Theatrum Mundi Die Kunstkammern als Spiegel der spanischen und portugiesischen ExpansionVeranstaltet vom Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Universität Innsbruck und der Carl Justi Vereinigung e. V. [51] See: Noelia García Pérez (2004) Mencía de Mendoza y las joyas, in Jesús Rivas (Ed.) Estudios de Platería: San Eloy 2004 (Murcia: Universidad), pp. 183–196. [52] For a detailed study of Mencía de Mendoza’s library, see: Noelia García Pérez (forthcoming) Mencía de Mendoza’s Reading. The Library of a Learned Lady from Early Modern Spain, The Book Collector. [53] APMZ, Leg. 122, 21. [54] In 1573, twenty years after Mencía’s death, an inventory of the jewels was taken, proceeding from her inheritance, were in power of the Major Commander of Castile, to try to sell them on the European markets of Italy and Flanders. The inrentory can be found in APMZ, Leg. 123, 12. [55] APMZ, Leg. 142. See: Steppe, ‘Mencía de Mendoza et ses relations avec Erasme, Gilles de Busleyden et Jean‐Louis Vives’, pp. 478–481. [56] Thomas Kren (2003) Simon Bening, in Thomas Kren & Scot McKendrick (Eds) Illuminating the Renaissance: the triumph of Flemish manuscript painting in Europe (Los Angeles: Paul Getty Museum), p. 466. [57] APMZ, Leg. 119, 45. [58] Miguel Falomir Faus, ‘Joanes y su entorno: relaciones sociales y afinidades culturales’, forthcoming [59] APMZ, Leg. 122, 34. [60] APMZ, Leg. 122, 34. [61] APMZ, Leg. 122, 34. [62] APMZ, Leg. 122, 34. [63] APMZ, Leg. 144, 1. [64] García Pérez, Arte, poder y género, p. 241. [65] ‘Item [description]: another painting by Jerome Bosch of an old man holding an egg basket in his hand and an old woman. Item [description]: another painting by Jerome Bosch of The tower of Babel. Item [description]: another painting by Jerome Bosch of Saint John the Evangelist holding a chalice in his hand. Item[description]: a long painting by Jerome Bosch of a wedding with people eating and dancing’. APMZ, Leg. 122, 34. [66] This hypothesis is based on ‘memorial de las cosas que su excelencia dejó encomendadas a Arnao del Plano y Madama de Marsella’ signed on the eighth of August, 1539. APMZ Leg. 144, 1. [67] For a detailed study of her artistic and cultural projects, see: García Pérez, Arte, poder y género, pp. 352–369. [68] Steppe, ‘Mécénant espagnol et art flamand au XVI siècle’, pp. 247–280. As it has been mentioned at the beginning of this text, until 2004 only a few studies had been published about Mencía de Mendoza’s biography. In September 2004, Noelia García Pérez defends her PhD dissertation about Mencía de Mendoza and female artistic patronage in Renaissance Spain. Some investigations have been published from this thesis, among them is worth mentioning Arte, poder y género and Entre España y Flandes. Corpus documental de Mencía de Mendoza. [69] APMZ, Leg. 122, 17. [70] Falomir Faus, ‘El Duque de Calabria, Mencía de Mendoza y los inicios del coleccionismo pictórico en la Valencia del Renacimiento’, pp. 121–124.