Editing Isabella d'Este (section)

== Cultural pursuits ==
[[File:Tizian 056.jpg|upright|thumb|''[[Isabella in Black]]'', <br>presumed to be an idealization of the 62-year-old Isabella by [[Titian]] (1536), <br>a widely circulated but uncertain representation<ref>See catalogue raisonné Titian (incl. divergent inventory [[Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria]] in 1659) and scientific exhibition review in 1994:
*Francesco Valcanover, ''L‘ opera completa di Tiziano'', Milan 1969, p. 108.
*Jennifer Fletcher: ''Isabella d'Este, Vienna'' in: ''The Burlington Magazine 136'', 1994, p. 399.
The discussion is about lack of resemblance and lack of idealization. Vice versa, the features match to her successor [[Margherita Paleologa]] and pictures with [[Balzo headdress|Balzo]] were later favorably marketed as Isabella.</ref>]]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 (approximately 28,000 letters received and copies of approximately 12,000 letters written).<ref>Shemek, Deanna: ''Phaethon's Children: The Este Court and its Culture in Early Modern Ferrara''. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies (Arizona) 2005, p. 277</ref><ref>For a documentations of art related letters see: Luzio, Alessandro: ''La Galleria dei Gonzaga – Appendice B: I ritratti d'Isabella d'Este''. Casa Editrice L. F. Cogliati (Milan) 1913</ref>

=== Art patronage ===
In painting she had numerous famous artists of the time work for her, including [[Giovanni Bellini]], [[Giorgione]], [[Leonardo da Vinci]], [[Andrea Mantegna]] (court painter until 1506), [[Perugino]], [[Raphael]], [[Titian]], [[Antonio da Correggio]], [[Lorenzo Costa]] (court painter from 1509), [[Dosso Dossi]], [[Francesco Francia]], [[Giulio Romano (painter)|Giulio Romano]], and many others. For instance her '[[Studiolo]]' in the [[Ducal Palace, Mantua]], was decorated with [[allegory|allegories]] by Mantegna, Perugino, Costa, and Correggio.{{sfn|Ferino|1994|pp= 86–425}}

In parallel she contracted the most important sculptors and [[medallist]]s of her time, i.e. [[Michelangelo]], [[Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi]] (L'Antico), [[Gian Cristoforo Romano]], and [[Tullio Lombardo]]. She also collected ancient Roman art.{{sfn|Ferino|1994|pp= 106, 315, 321}}<ref>Cartwright, Julia: ''Isabella d'Este''. Murray (London) 1907, Table of contents</ref>

For what concerns [[Renaissance literature|writers]], she was in contact with [[Pietro Aretino]], [[Ludovico Ariosto]], [[Pietro Bembo]], [[Baldassare Castiglione]], [[Mario Equicola]], [[Gian Giorgio Trissino]], and others.<ref>Cartwright (1907), table of contents</ref>

In music Isabella sponsored the composers [[Bartolomeo Tromboncino]] and [[Marco Cara]] and she played the lute.{{sfn|Ferino|1994|pp= 429–432}} Unusually, she employed women as professional singers at her court, including [[Giovanna Moreschi]], the wife of [[Marchetto Cara]].<ref>Tick, Judith et al.: ''Women in music, §II: Western classical traditions in Europe & the USA''. In: Macy, Laura: ''Grove Music Online''. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. (subscription required)</ref>

In the architecture field, she could not afford new palaces, however she commissioned architects such as [[Biagio Rossetti]] and [[Battista Covo]].{{sfn|Ferino|1994|p=18}}

She was also considered an icon of her time in fashion. Famous is her [[Balzo headdress|Balzo]] as headwear – documented as her invention in letters circa 1509 and visible several times in portraits of other ladies in the 1520s/30s.<ref>Luzio and Renier: ''Il lusso di Isabella d’Este, Marchesa di Mantova: la guardaroba'', Nuova antologia, 63 (1896), pp. 462 and 667.</ref>