Identifier: lucretiaborgia00greg (find matches)
Title: Lucretia Borgia
Year: 1904 (1900s)
Authors: Gregorovius, Ferdinand, 1821-1891 Garner, John Leslie
Subjects: Borgia, Lucrezia, 1480-1519 Borgia family--Biography Femmes fatales--Italy--Rome--Biography Renaissance--Italy Rome (Italy)--Court and courtiers--History--16th century Italy--History--1492-1559.
Publisher: New York : D. Appleton
Contributing Library: Rutgers University Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Lyrasis Members and Sloan Foundation

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said that Lucretia wasnot especially beautiful, but that she had what might becalled a dolce ciera,—a sweet face. The face resemblesthat of her father—as shown by the best medals which wehave of him—but slightly; the only likeness is in thestrongly outlined nose. Lucretias forehead was arched,while Alexanders was flat; her chin was somewhat re-treating while his was in line with the lips. Another medal shows Lucretia with the hair confinedand the head covered with a net, and has the so-calledlenza, a sort of fillet set with precious stones or pearls.The hair covers the ear and descends to the neck, accordingto the fashion of the day, which we also see in a beautifulmedal of Elizabetta Gonzaga of Urbino. The original sources from which the material for thisbook has been derived would place the reader in a positionto form his own opinion regarding Lucretia Borgia, andhis view would approximate a correct one, or at leastwould be nearer correct than the common conception of this 360
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LUCEETIA BOEGIA.From a painting in tlie Musee de Ximes. DEATH OF LUCEETIA BORGIA woman. Men of past ages are merely problems which weendeavor to solve. If we err in our conception of our con-temporaries how much more likely are we to be wrong whenwe endeavor to analyze men whose very forms are shadowy.All the circumstances of their personal life, of their nature,the times, and their environment,—of which they were theproduct,—all the secrets of their being exist only as dis-connected fragments from which we are forced to frameour conception of their characters. History is merely aworld-judgment based upon the law of causality. Manyof the characters of history would regard their portraitsin books as wholly distorted and would smile at the opinionformed of them. Lucretia Borgia might correspond with the one derivedfrom the documents of her time, which show her as anamiable, gentle, thoughtless, and unfortunate woman.Her misfortunes, in life, were due in part to a fate for whichshe w

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