Lucrezia di Cosimo de' Medici

Lucrezia de' Medici (14 February 1545 – 21 April 1561)[1] was the daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici and Eleanor of Toledo.

Born in Florence, she was the first wife of Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Modena and Ferrara, whom she married on 3 July 1558. She moved to Ferrara only two years later, after being abandoned by her husband, who preferred the court of Henry II of France. Her sudden death spurred rumours that she was poisoned, but it is more likely that she instead died of tuberculosis.

After the ground-breaking book of Louis S. Friedland of 1936, experts claim she is the Duchess on the painting referred to in Robert Browning's poem My Last Duchess.