Donna Ippolita Albonico had a great air of princely nobility in her whole person, and bore some resemblance to Maria Maddalena of Austria, wife of Cosimo II.

of Medici, whose portrait by Suttermans is at Florence in the possession of the Corsinis.

She affected a sumptuous style of dress--brocades, velvets, laces--and the high Medici collars which seemed the most appropriate setting to her superb and imperial head.
One day at the races, when seated beside her, Andrea was suddenly seized with the whim to get her to promise to come to the Palazzo Zuccari and receive the mysterious little clock dedicated to her namesake.

Hearing his audacious words, she frowned, wavering between curiosity and prudence; but as he, nothing daunted, persevered in the attack, an irrepressible smile quivered on her lips.

Under the shadow of her large hat with its white plumes, and with her lace-flounced parasol as a background, she was marvellously handsome.
'_Tibi, Hippolyta!_ Then you will come?
I shall be on the look-out for you all the afternoon, from two o'clock till evening--Is that settled ?' 'You must be mad!' 'What have you to fear?
I swear that I will not rob Your Majesty of so much as a glove.