40 Facts About Isabella d'Este

Isabella d'Este was a patron of the arts as well as a leader of fashion, whose innovative style of dressing was copied by numerous women.

Isabella d'Este served as the regent of Mantua during the absence of her husband Francesco II Gonzaga and during the minority of her son Federico.

Isabella d'Este was a prolific letter-writer and maintained a lifelong correspondence with her sister-in-law Elisabetta Gonzaga.

Isabella d'Este grew up in a cultured family in the city-state of Ferrara.

Isabella d'Este received a fine classical education and as a girl met many famous humanist scholars and artists.

When her mother returned to Ferrara, Isabella d'Este accompanied her, while the other two children remained in Naples for many years: Beatrice was adopted by her grandfather, and her little brother Ferrante left under the tutelage of their uncle Alfonso.

Isabella d'Este was a talented singer and musician, and was taught to play the lute by Giovanni Angelo Testagrossa.

In 1480, at the age of six, Isabella d'Este was betrothed to the eight years older Francesco, the heir to the Marquess of Mantua.

Isabella d'Este brought as her marriage portion the sum of 3,000 ducats as well as valuable jewellery, dishes, and a silver service.

In 1491 Isabella d'Este went with a small entourage to Brescello and from there to Pavia, to accompany her sister Beatrice who was married to Ludovico il Moro.

Isabella d'Este jokingly replied that she would then bring a frog to offend him, and the dispute went on for a long time.

Isabella d'Este's presence was in fact much desired in Milan, not only by Galeazzo but by her sister, Ludovico and the other courtiers, however the Marquise was able to go there a few times, as her husband Francesco was wary of sending it to her, judging that in that court too many "madness" were committed, and perhaps out of jealousy of Ludovico.

Isabella d'Este wrote to his wife to give it to his sister-in-law, but Isabella replied that she was not so willing to cede this honor to her sister and, with the excuse that she lacked a mule, begged her husband to invent some expedient.

Beatrice loved to shoot crossbow, Isabella d'Este had "the hand so light that we cannot play well [the clavichord], when we have to strain it for the hardness of the keys".

The different fate of the two sisters certainly weighed in these judgments: Isabella d'Este lived sixty-five years, Beatrice died at twenty-one.

At the time of her wedding, Isabella d'Este was said to have been pretty, slim, graceful, and well-dressed.

In truth, Francesco for his part was always very proud of his daughters and never showed himself disappointed, indeed from the beginning he declared himself in love with the firstborn Eleonora, born in 1493, despite the absolute disappointment of Isabella d'Este who refused her daughter, who was then very lovingly educated by her sister-in-law Elisabetta, who because of her husband's impotence never had children.

When in 1496 the second daughter Margherita was born, Isabella d'Este was so angry that she wrote to her husband, who was then fighting the French in Calabria, a letter in which she blamed him, declaring that she did nothing but reap the fruits of his sown.

Isabella d'Este did not lack company as she passed the time with her mother and with her sister, Beatrice.

Isabella d'Este was a daughter, Eleonora, whom they called Leonora for short, after Isabella's mother, Eleonora of Naples.

Isabella d'Este had met the French king in Milan in 1500 on a successful diplomatic mission that she had undertaken to protect Mantua from French invasion.

Isabella d'Este presented Cecilia to King Louis, describing her as a "lady of rare gifts and charm".

Isabella d'Este played an important role in Mantua during troubled times for the city.

Isabella d'Este began to play an increasingly important role in Italian politics, steadily advancing Mantua's position.

Isabella d'Este was instrumental in promoting Mantua to a Duchy, which was obtained by wise diplomatic use of her son's marriage contracts.

Isabella d'Este succeeded in obtaining a cardinalate for her son Ercole.

Isabella d'Este further displayed shrewd political acumen in her negotiations with Cesare Borgia, who had dispossessed Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino, the husband of her sister-in-law and good friend Elisabetta Gonzaga in 1502.

Isabella d'Este was present during the catastrophic Sack of Rome, when she converted her house the Palazzo Colonna, into an asylum for approximately 2,000 people fleeing the Imperial soldiers.

Isabella d'Este's huge place was the only place safe from attacks, because her son Ferrante Gonzaga was a general in the invading army and she herself had good relationship with the emperor.

Isabella d'Este made it a centre of culture, started a school for girls, and turned her ducal apartments into a museum containing the finest art treasures.

Isabella d'Este was buried beside her husband in the Church of Santa Paola in Mantua, but the remains were stolen.

Isabella d'Este has been described as physically attractive, though plump; she possessed "lively eyes" and was "of lively grace".

The chaplain replied that Isabella d'Este surpassed her sister in beauty and that she was no taller than her, which greatly pleased King Charles who, being just as short, did not want women taller than him.

The Mantuan courtiers therefore judged that Isabella d'Este was more beautiful than Beatrice, but the lack of her portraits does not allow a sure comparison between the two, which distinguishes the truth from her praise.

Isabella d'Este is famous as the most important art patron of the Renaissance; her life is documented by her correspondence, which remains archived in Mantua.

In music Isabella d'Este sponsored the composers Bartolomeo Tromboncino and Marco Cara and she played the lute.

Isabella d'Este was considered an icon of her time in fashion.

The Louvre's reservation is that Isabella d'Este would be a "blonde", a feature that exists only in the widely circulated but uncertain representation Isabella d'Este in Black.

Isabella d'Este opened negotiations with a Venetian patrician household for the sale of a little black boy and purchased an enslaved little black girl from her sister.

Isabella d'Este was portrayed by Belgian actress Alexandra Oppo in the television show Borgia.