carved by Andrea Pisano. The rest of the
structure was completed well after Giotto’s
death and its design was altered by the ar-
chitects who succeeded him.
Inspired by Saint Francis and the Fran-
sican order, which was relatively new in
Giotto’s lifetime, the artist made of tradi-
tional Christian parables a powerful
drama, and related the fear, hope, desire,
betrayal, and inspiration contained in the
biblical passages that were familiar as their
own names to the original viewers of his
works. He had a major impact on several
generations of artists who followed him
and was also renowned among the greatest
writers of his day, including Dante, Pe-
trarch, and Boccaccio.
SEEALSO: Florence; Masaccio; Michelan-
gelo Buonarroti; painting
Gonzaga, Gianfrancesco ...................
(1394–1444)
Ruler of Mantua from the year 1407, when
he inherited the title at the age of twelve.
Gianfrancesco ruled through his uncle
Carlo Malatesta. Two years after attaining
his title, he married Paola Malatesta,
daughter of the ruler of Pesaro. In alliance
with the Malatesta family, he led Mantua
into a military alliance. In 1433 the Holy
Roman Emperor Sigismund bestowed the
title of Marquis on him. In 1432 he be-
came the commander of the Venetian
army. Afterward he allied with the Visconti
family of Milan, rivals of the pope. Under
his patronage, several important Renais-
sance artists flourished at the Mantuan
court.
Gonzaga, House of ...........................
Ruling dynasty of the northern Italian city
of Mantua from the early fourteenth cen-
tury until 1708, under which the city be-
came a center of art, literature, and Re-
naissance humanism. The Gonzaga reign
began with Ludovico I Gonzaga, who
warred his way to control of Mantua in
1328, and his son Guido, who defeated a
rival clan in the nearby town of Reggio.
Under Gianfrancesco II, who ruled in the
early fifteenth century, the Gonzaga allied
themselves with Holy Roman Emperor
Sigismund. In gratitude the emperor be-
stowed the title of marquess on Gian-
francesco and his heirs in 1432. This ruler
invited the scholar Vittorino de Feltre to
establish a school of learning in one of the
Gonzaga castles, and invited some of the
finest artists of the time, including Andrea
Mantegna and Leon Battista Alberti, to
Mantua. His heirs Federigo I and then Gi-
anfrancesco III brought Mantua to the
height of its prestige in the arts as well as
its military power. The city allied with Em-
peror Charles V against the French and
sent a powerful detachment to fight the
French king Charles VIII at the Battle of
Fornovo. Gianfrancesco served Naples as a
captain of mercenaries but was captured
by Venice in 1509. After he won his free-
dom he returned to Mantua, and with his
wife Isabella d’Este presided over a court
renowned throughout Europe for its pro-
motion of Renaissance ideals. Federigo II,
who succeeded Gianfrancesco in 1519,
fought with the armies of the pope and
was named Duke of Mantua by Charles V
in 1530. Federigo commissioned new pal-
aces and public buildings in Mantua and
invited Raphael, Titian, Leonardo da Vinci,
Claudio Monteverdi, and Ludovico Ari-
osto to his court. After Federigo the
Gonzaga dynasty went into decline under
the rule of greedy and incompetent dukes;
the city was invaded in the seventeenth
century and the dynasty was overthrown
by the Habsburg rulers of Austria in 1708,Gonzaga, Gianfrancesco