Elizabeth van den Eynde, Princess of Belvedere

Family

Elisabeth was born into the Van den Eynde family, a powerful and influential Neapolitan noble family of Flemish origin, related to several prominent Flemish artists, including Brueghel, Jode, Lucas de Wael and Cornelis de Wael. Her father was Ferdinand van den Eynde, 1st Marquess of Castelnuovo, the son of Jan van den Eynde, a wealthy merchant from Antwerp, who became one of the richest and most prominent men in Naples. The Marquess Ferdinand married Olimpia Piccolomini, of the House of Piccolomini, a nephew of Cardinal Celio Piccolomini, by whom he had three daughters, Catherine, the eldest, Giovanna, the secondborn, and Elisabeth. or 90 Marquess Ferdinand, however, died that same year, Luca Giordano, another longtime friend of Van den Eynde, took care of the inventory for Van den Eynde's inheritance. and inherited the Palazzo Vandeneynden, which thereafter became Villa Carafa. possibly due to confusion over the last digit. However, there is enough circumstantial evidence to support the 1736 dating.

Giovanna Carafa, Nun of the order of Santa Maria Donna Regina Vecchia