Porzia de' Medici [SEP] place of birth
Porzia de' Medici
Porzia de' Medici (1538–1565) was an Italian missionary and illegitimate daughter of Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence and an unknown mother. She was born after the assassination of Alessandro and was placed as a young child in the Augustinian convent of San Clemente in Via San Gallo. The convent was founded by Maria Salviati, the mother of Cosimo I de' Medici, to shelter the illegitimate daughters of Alessandro. Porzia took her final vows and became a Roman Catholic nun. Eventually she became
date, her father had commissioned a portrait of himself drawing a female profile in silverpoint. Art historians believe the portrait may have been intended as a gift for his mistress, Taddea Malaspina, the sister of the marchioness of Massa, to commemorate the birth of their second child, Giulia. Giulia also had an older full brother, Giulio di Alessandro de' Medici, and at least one half-sister, Porzia de' Medici.
After her father's assassination in 1537 and the ensuing power struggle among the Medici for