Women of the Italian Renaissance | ISABELLA D’ESTE (1474-1539)
One of the leading women of the Italian Renaissance, Isabella d’Este played a powerful role in the culture and politics of Mantua. Mario Equicola described her as “the tenth Muse”; Matteo Bandello dubbed her “supreme among women”. Diplomat Niccoló da Correggio went further still, calling her “the First Lady of the world”.
The oldest child of Duke Ercole d’Este of Ferrara and Eleonora d’Aragona (and sister to Beatrice), Isabella enjoyed the benefits of a classical education in one of Italy’s most distinguished courts. By the time of her marriage, at age 16, to Marchese of Mantua Francesco Gonzaga, she was already recognised as an intelligent and cultivated woman, fluent in Latin and skilled in debate, dance, politics and music. Contemporary accounts describe her as a precocious girl, with a prodigious memory, a thirst for learning, and a love of dancing, horseback riding and card games. She sang, played several musical instruments and read widely — she loved both classical literature and chivalric romances, and she adored poetry. She even tried her hand at verse in private, though she refused to share her efforts, claiming they’d be more likely to earn her ridicule than fame.
Isabella was passionate about art and culture, and a generous patron of philosophers, poets and painters including Titian, Raphael, Bellini and da Vinci. She was a leader in fashion, with courtiers throughout Italy and France imitating her style, and she would actively collaborate on the production of her perfumes and work with advisers on inventions for her clothing and jewellery. She had fine taste and a critical eye, and many a piece that failed to meet her exacting standards was promptly returned to the seller.
Within her personal apartments she had built a studiolo and grotta, a pair of private rooms designed to display her impressive collection of artwork and antiquities. Beautifully decorated with frescoes, sculpted doorways, gilded ceilings and decorated tiles, these rooms featured paintings by Andrea Mantegna, Lorenzo Costa, Pietro Perugino and Correggio; as well as intarsia panels, bronze and marble statuary, cameos, medallions, antique coins and other treasures. It also contained her personal library, which at the time of her death consisted of 130 books, including Greek and Roman classics, books of music, chivalric romances, theatrical comedies, religions sermons, lives of saints, biographies, prophecies and contemporary works. Due in no small part to her patronage, Mantua became a major centre for antiquarian studies.
With such expensive tastes, Isabella frequently spent more than she could afford. She was often in debt and repeatedly had to pawn her jewels in order to raise funds for political ends. In one such case, her husband Francesco wrote a letter asking her to raise seven thousand ducats, and if necessary to pledge her jewels for those purpose. Isabella, who had already pawned the majority of her jewels in an attempt to buy her brother-in-law a cardinal’s hat, wrote back,
I am of course always ready to obey Your Excellency’s commands, but perhaps you have forgotten that most of my jewels are at present in pawn at Venice, not only those which you have given me, but those which I brought when I came as a bride to Mantua or have bought myself since my marriage. I say this, not because I wish to make any difference between yours and mine, but to show you that I have parted from everything and have only four jewels left in the house — the large balass ruby which you gave me when my first child was born, my favourite big diamond, and the last ones which you gave me. If I pledge these, I shall be left entirely without jewels and shall be obliged to wear black, because to appear in coloured silks and brocades without jewels would be ridiculous. Your Excellency will understand that I only say this out of regard for your honour and mine, and for this cause I pray and entreat you not to rob me of these few things, since I would rather give you my camora embroidered with gems than be left without jewels. On this account I will not send away my jewels until I have received Your Excellency’s reply.
She was also a key political player. Letters from the earliest months of her marriage see her adjudicating pardons, addressing tax and agricultural issues, ordering goods for the palace, commissioning artworks and contributing to cordial relations with other centres of power; and from there, her influence only grew. With her husband frequently away at war, Isabella frequently took the reigns of government, excelling in diplomacy and showing administrative astuteness. In 1500 she met with the French King Louis XII in Milan on a diplomatic mission, during which she succeeded in ensuring against a French invasion of Mantua. When Francesco was captured and imprisoned by the Venetians between 1509 and 1510, Isabella took control, successfully fending off foreign contenders and negotiating her husband’s release.
Her marriage to Francesco was not a happy one, her husband being less interested in her than he was in food, hunting, fighting and sleeping with other women. He had a long affair with Lucrezia Borgia, who was married to Isabella’s brother and who Isabella rather despised. During the later years of her marriage she spent much of her time travelling and living independently from her husband, who ultimately died in 1519 of syphilis.
While her son Federico took the reins of power in Mantua, Isabella continued to play an active role in politics and to travel widely. She was present in Rome during its sacking in 1527 — she had come to secure a cardinal’s hat for her son Ercole and despite the danger she refused to leave until she had achieved that goal. She was indeed successful, but in holding out so long she found herself trapped. She acted quickly, asking for and receiving assurances of immunity from the invading army’s commander, Charles de Bourbon (it helped that her son Ferrante was one of the invaders). As many as 3000 Romans took shelter in her house as their city was torn apart.
In her later years she bought Solarolo, a small fief near Imola, which she ruled over until her death, aged 65, in 1539.
Isabella d'Este tells it like it is.
