Duke Cosimo de’ Medici. She was de-
nounced for defying the dress code for
courtesans in Siena, and in Florence, but
escaped trial both times through her con-
nections to influential men. Forty-nine of
her poems were collected in the bookRime
della Signora Tullia d’ Aragona. She wrote
Dialogues on the Infinity of Lovein 1547
and found a publisher for the book almost
immediately in Venice. This work boldly
gave a woman’s perspective on love, and
relations between the sexes, a viewpoint
extremely rare in the literature of Europe
before the modern age. She also composed
sonnets and an epic poem,Il Meschino,
Detto Il Guerrino. Gathered poets and phi-
losophers to her side at the Medici court,
she prevailed over the intellectual life of
Florence at a time when women were held
as morally and intellectually inferior to
men.
d’Este, Isabella .................................
(1474–1539)
A patron of the arts and writers during
the Renaissance, whose brilliant court in
Ferrara became a leading city of the new
humanistic outlook, and who is known by
historians as the “Queen of the Renais-
sance.” The daughter of Duke Ercole I of
Ferrara and of Duchess Leonora, the
daughter of King Ferdinand I of Naples,
Isabelle d’Este traveled extensively with
her mother, visiting the various courts of
Italy and educating herself in the language
and literature of the ancient Greeks and
Romans. In her travels and studies she
gained a deep appreciation for the achieve-
ments of the ancient Romans in literature,
sculpture, and architecture. She was en-
gaged as a young girl to Francesco
Gonzaga, finally marrying him at the age
of sixteen. In Mantua the couple led a bril-
liant court that boasted the presence of
Ludovico Ariosto, who wrote his epic
poemOrlando Furiosowhile residing there.
Baldassare Castiglione, who wroteThe
Courtier, an important book of courtly
manners, also lived in Mantua and was
given free reign by Isabella d’Este to make
her court a model of good taste and
proper decorum. The d’Este court served
as a model for Renaissance princes all over
Europe, who were leaving behind the rus-
tic medieval manners of their forebears
and striving to match each other in their
patronage of men—and women—of learn-
ing and talent. Isabella boasted the pres-
ence of the painters Titian (who painted
her portrait twice), Andrea Mantegna,
Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci, who drew
a famous portrait of her. A musician and
devoted patroness of composers, she also
organized a court orchestra and had her
palace composers set poetry she favored to
music—an important first step on the path
to the full flowering of Italian opera in the
centuries to come.
As captain-general of the forces of
Venice, Francesco Gonzaga was frequently
away from the court in Mantua. While
campaigning against the French he was
taken prisoner in 1509. Isabella d’Este then
ruled Mantua as Francesco’s regent. She
skillfully directed the defense of Mantua
against its enemies until Francesco was re-
leased in 1512. The couple found them-
selves at odds afterward, however, and Isa-
bella retreated to the court of Pope Leo X
in Rome. She soon became one of the
most popular figures in Rome and partici-
pated in the spirited defense of the city
against the forces of the Holy Roman Em-
peror in the 1520s. After the death of
Francesco Gonzaga, Isabella served as the
regent for their son Frederico, the heir to
the city who had been born in 1500.SEEALSO: Ferdinand I of Naples; Ferrara;
Gonzaga, House of; Mantuad’Este, Isabella