Around 1489–90, during the period of his service for the house of Bentivoglio, Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti wrote the Gynevera de le clare donne, a catalogue containing thirty-three lives of exemplary women, for Ginevra Sforza Bentivoglio, Giovanni II’s wife and counsellor. Even though throughout his work Sabadino insists on the virtues and perfection of his addressee, chroniclers wrote extensively about Ginevra’s cruelty, wrath, and vindictive personality as well as her unfaithfulness towards her first husband. Although all these features clearly contrast with the behaviours of the women included in the Gynevera, the perfection of the first of the protagonists of the book, Theodelinda of Bavaria, is constructed by Sabadino through allusion to a series of characteristics exactly opposed to those that the contemporary chroniclers attributed to Ginevra. In this article, I study Sabadino’s biography of Theodelinda as a paradigm of perfect woman and ruler, comparing it to the features that, according to fifteenth- and sixteenth-century chroniclers, made Ginevra Sforza Bentivoglio an imperfect wife and counsellor. ; Vers 1489–90, pendant sa période au service de la dynastie des Bentivoglio, Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti écrivait la Gynevera de le clare donne, un recueil contenant trente-trois vies de femmes exemplaires pour Ginevra Sforza Bentivoglio, femme et conseillère de Jean II. Même si tout au long de son oeuvre Sabadino insistait sur les vertus et la perfection de sa destinataire, des chroniqueurs relataient abondamment la cruauté de Ginevra, sa personnalité vindicative et colérique, ainsi que ses infidélités envers son premier époux. Bien que tous ces traits contrastent clairement avec les comportements des femmes de la Gynevera, Sabadino forge la perfection de la première des protagonistes de l’oeuvre, Théodelinde de Bavière, en faisant allusion à une série de caractéristiques qui sont exactement opposées à celles que les chroniques contemporaines attribuaient à Ginevra. Dans cet article, j’étudie la ...