Christine of Lorraine by Giusto Sustermans

Many experts initially recognised this painting as a portrait of Catherine de’ Medici, given the numerous portraits of her as a widow (National Library of France, Louvre Museum, Carnavelet Museum). However, in Florence, at the Pitti Palace, there is a very similar work, attributed to Giusto Sustermans (1597–1681) and identified as the Portrait of Christine of Lorraine (1565–1637), wife of Ferdinand^{I de’} Medici, eldest daughter of Charles III, Duke of Lorraine, and Claude of France.

Whilst the iconography of Catherine de’ Medici seems to be better known in France, a historical painting held at the Ashmolean Museum clearly depicts Christine of Lorraine as a widow, witnessing the Florentine senators’ pledge of allegiance to Ferdinand II de’ Medici. This is one of three known preparatory paintings commissioned from Sustermans to celebrate the accession of the young Ferdinando as Grand Duke (1621). The Grand Duke is seated between his mother, Maria Maddalena of Austria, on his right, and his grandmother, Christine of Lorraine, on his left.

Christine was the daughter of Claude of France, Duchess of Lorraine. Upon her mother’s death in 1575, she was placed under the guardianship of her grandmother, Catherine de’ Medici, with whom she grew up at the French court. Christine’s departure for Italy, following her marriage to the Duke of Tuscany, took place under tragic circumstances, as her grandmother had died just a few days earlier, on 5 January 1589. Christine left a divided kingdom, with most of France under the control of the League and her uncle, the king, on the verge of being deposed, heralding the end of the Valois dynasty. Her portrait as a widow is, in any case, a reference to her illustrious grandmother, Catherine de’ Medici, who pioneered the art of the widow’s portrait during equally turbulent political times, following the death of her husband, Henry II, in 1559.