Isabel de Este. Italian nobleman. She was a Marchioness of Mantua and is especially known for being a great patron of the arts. He made his court the finest in Renaissance Italy . A cultured, intelligent, elegant woman with a passion for art, she became an important patron and directed her marquisate with great political rigor. A friend of great painters, she died with a thorn in the back of not seeing her portrait of the great Leonardo da Vinci finished .
Biographical synthesis
Isabella was the eldest daughter of the Duke of Ferrara, Ercole I d’Este and Leonora of Naples. After her, five more children of the dukes would be born, but Isabela was always considered the favorite.
An excellent education was added to his natural intelligence. Since she was little, she translated from Greek and Latin , knew the history of Rome , the classical texts, was a virtuoso in singing and delighted her family with the lute .
Isabella was always surrounded by scholars, writers, musicians, painters, who came to the court of Ferrara. The young woman had no qualms about having conversations with all of them, delighting with her intelligence and diplomacy.
Mantua Court
Besides being smart, Isabella was a beautiful young woman. When she was 16 she married Francisco II Gonzaga , Marquis of Mantua, known for his ugliness. But that didn’t matter to Isabella. His intelligence, chivalry, and bravery made up for his physical appearance. Thus, during the first years of their marriage, the Marquesses of Mantua were a happy couple and made their court the most refined in all of Italy.
Painters of the stature of Titian and Raphael , men of letters, prominent hair men met there. In her role as patron, Isabella worked to consecrate the artists who at that time stood out in their art . It was portrayed several times by great painters. One of them, Leonardo da Vinci , began a portrait of him that he did not finish, despite the insistence of the Marchioness.
In addition to her role as patron and hostess of the court, Isabella took over the reins of the marquisate on several occasions. Her husband was often absent to cover the many fronts that were opening in the Italy of the states. In 1509 , leading the Cambrai league against the French invaders, Francesco was captured. When three years later he was able to return to his land, he found with jealous displeasure that his wife had directed his dominions with great effectiveness.
Hurt by the attitude of her husband, the couple began to distance themselves to the point that Isabella went on several occasions to Rome to return definitively to Mantua after the death of her husband and the rise to power of the marquisate of her son Federico II .
Until her death in 1539 , Isabella assumed an important political role in the marquisate alongside her son.
