Isabella d’Este (b. 1474–d. 1539) was the eldest child of Ercole I d’Este (b. 1431–d. 1505), second duke of Ferrara, and Duchess Eleonora d’Aragona (b. 1450–d. 1493). Raised in luxury and privilege, she was educated by humanists in a city that boasted an exceptionally refined court culture and one of Europe’s greatest universities. In 1490 she married Francesco II Gonzaga (b. 1466–d. 1519), Marchese of Mantua, and entered that city in triumph as its new princess. As Marchesa, she displayed extraordinary skills in management, diplomacy, and Politics, often counseling her husband and at times assuming the reins of government. All of Isabella and Francesco’s six children attained important positions among the European elite (See Family Relations). She is mainly remembered for her achievements not as a ruler, however, but as a collector of art and antiquities and the first woman in Europe to fashion a personalized gallery space in which to display her acquisitions. She called these rooms her studiolo and grotta, or her camerini. Her apartments also housed an impressive book collection, the musical instruments she was adept at playing, and other luxury items she collected (See Patronage, Collecting, Studiolo and Exhibition Catalogues). Her portraitists include Andrea Mantegna, Francesco Francia, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, and Rubens. A woman of tremendous energies and intelligence, Isabella cultivated relationships with many writers and composers of her time. She also devoted notable attention to fashion, travel, gardening, food production and exchange, and the keeping of animals. Given her wide range of interests, her keen intelligence, and her extraordinarily active public profile, Isabella d’Este has often been regarded as a female version of the period’s “Renaissance men.” Her multifaceted life is recorded most visibly in the archive of her correspondence, now housed in the Archivio di Stato di Mantova (ASMn), where many thousands of her letters survive along with a wealth of official documents related to her court. Isabella d’Este’s art collections now reside in museums around the world, chief among these the Paris Louvre and the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum.
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