Elena's reputation for her elegance is praised by the poets and painters of her century. Titian and Giorgio Vasari portrayed it.[2]
The poet Lelio Capilupi dedicated the ballad to her Ne l'amar e fredd'onde si bagna.[3]
The poet Fortunio Spira comparing it to the beauties of classical antiquity,[4] also the writer Lodovico Domenichi describes her as Greek for beauty and Roman for personality likes Lucretia.[5]
Elena Barozzi, for her fine intellectuality was admired and courted by the finest men of her time. She had a relationship and a daughter with Lorenzino de' Medici, the daughter named Lorenzina born in 1547, future wife of Giulio Colonna.[6]