If you can infer anything about Marchesa Brigida Spinola Doria by looking at Peter Paul Rubens’ portrait of her, it’s that she’s ~fancy~.

There is no denying it. Just take a look at her silver wedding dress, her jewels, and the look in her eye that says that she can have whatever TF she wants and always will. This look, as captured by Rubens’ 1606 portrait, is a result of the fact that she was born into the Spinola family, which earned all of its money in the mercantile and banking industries. They were super rich and loved to spend it all on art. They also loved to make even more money by marrying their daughters off into equally wealthy families. That is why Brigida Spinola was married to Giacomo Massimiliano Doria in 1605. He may have been her cousin, but their matrimony consolidated the wealth of two of the most prominent families in Genoa #priorities. Unfortunately this marriage did not pan out well. Giacomo Massimiliano Doria died in 1613 in all likelihood due to the dangers of inbreeding, though this is not confirmed.

Genoa was deemed a "paradise for women" by the future Pope Pius II because of the civic and legal rights that women had, but that didn’t mean that Brigida here could just hang out after she was widowed. It was still quite necessary to use single women for socioeconomic climbing so Brigida was married off to Giovanni Vincenzo Imperiale, a Genoese Republic senator.

This portrait, though a definite indicator of wealth, used to be a lot bigger. A study for the painting showed that it used to expand to show a view of a garden and the rest of Brigida’s dress. It had been chopped down over the years and we are left with not even a whole Brigida, as the painting ends just below her knees. Poor girl first had the hardship of being a woman in the 1600s and doesn’t even get a full portrait to commemorate all that she endured.