Editing Isabella d'Este (section)

== Portraits ==
[[file: Isabella d'Este vs Isabella in Black.jpg|thumb|Colour portraits of Isabella d'Este <br>in the [[Kunsthistorisches Museum|KHM]], Vienna – ''perhaps including mix-up?''|left]]

Despite her significant art patronage that included a number of portraits, there are very few surviving portraits that may be identified as Isabella, especially when compared to her sister [[Beatrice d'Este|Beatrice]]. {{sfn|Ferino|1994|p= 86}} It is known that the elderly Isabella preferred idealized paintings and even waived sitting as a model.{{sfn|Ferino|1994|p= 94}} However, it may be presumed that she insisted nonetheless on seeing her personal characteristics in the outcome.<ref>Several letters mention Isabella's request for overpainting hair and eye colours, i.e. Luzio, Alessandro: ''Federico Gonzaga ostaggio alla corte di Giulio II''. Societa Romana di storia patria (Rome) 1887, p. 59: "... pregandolo tuttavia a ritoccare il ritratto ne' capelli, che il pittore aveva fatti troppo biondi" and Luzio (1913), p. 213: "... a commutar gli occhij de nigri in bianchi"</ref> These few identifications are known as inhomogeneous (i.e. differing eye and hair colours as well as divergent eyebrows in two Titian portraits).{{sfn|Ferino|1994|p=86}}

[[File:Confronto del presunto busto di Isabella d'Este con la medaglia di Cristoforo Romano e il disegno di Leonardo da Vinci.jpg|thumb|Comparison between an alleged bust of Isabella, attributed to Gian Cristoforo Romano, and two of her portraits: the very certain one of the same sculptor and the almost certain one of Leonardo da Vinci. There are some differences compared to the latter: in the torso the double chin is completely missing, the chin is more marked, the nose more thinned, the forehead less rounded and more generally the face appears less full; however, it cannot be excluded that it may be an idealized portrait of her.]]
In 1495 she refused with absolute rigor to pose for [[Andrea Mantegna|Mantegna]] in the ''[[Madonna della Vittoria]]'' – where her figure was provided next to that of her husband – since in the past the painter had portrayed her "so badly done" – in a painting that in fact has not survived – "which has none of my similarities". However, the negative judgment of the Marquise was not due to Mantegna's inability to portray her similar to the truth, as she herself writes, but to the opposite lack: of not knowing how to "well counterfeit the natural", that is idealize. Her husband Francesco had to pose alone and Mantegna remedied the disturbance of the symmetry by painting, in place of the Marquise, St. Elizabeth, his eponymous saint.<ref>Lorenzo Bonoldi, Isabella d'Este: La Signora del Rinascimento, 2015, p.&nbsp;11.</ref>

In recent years several museums have withdrawn their few identifications of portraits as Isabella because of concern about possible misidentification.<ref>See e.g.:
* [[Royal Collection]], London (RCIN 405777): [[Giulio Romano (painter)|Giulio Romano]] ''Margherita Paleologa'' (1531) – [[:File:Portrait believed to depict Margherita Paleologo by Giulio Romano.jpg|picture]]
* [[Hermitage Museum]], Saint Petersburg (INV ГЭ-70): [[Paris Bordone]] ''Mother with son'' (1530s) – [[:File:Bordon Paris Lady with son - Petersburg Eremitage 01.JPG|picture]]
* [[Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco]], Milan (inv. 28): [[Bernardino Licinio]] ''Dama che regge un ritratto di figura maschile'' (1525–30) – [[:File:Bernardino Licinio 006.jpg|picture]]
* Royal Collection, London (RCIN 405762): [[Lorenzo Costa]] ''Portrait of a lady with a Lapdog'' (c. 1500–05) – [[:File:Lady lapdog.jpg|picture]]
* [[Currier Museum of Art]], Manchester (inv. 1947.4): Lorenzo Costa ''Portrait of a woman'' (1506–10) – [[:File:Portrait of a Lady, by Lorenzo Costa, c. 1505, oil on canvas, transferred from panel - Currier Museum of Art - Manchester, NH - DSC07303.jpg|picture]]
* [[Louvre]], Paris (inv 894): [[Giovanni Francesco Caroto]] ''Portrait de femme'' (c. 1505–10) – [[:File:Caroto Retrato de mujer Louvre.jpg|picture]]</ref>

The remaining three colourful portraits are still inhomogeneous ([[Kunsthistorisches Museum]]/KHM, Vienna):<ref>KHM Vienna: Inv. 83, Inv 1534, Inv 5081</ref>
* ''Ambras Miniature'',<ref>[[:File:Isabella_d%27Este_palazzo_ducale.jpg|picture]]</ref> 16th century
* ''[[Isabella in Red (Rubens)|Isabella in Red]]'' by Titian, c. 1529 (lost, known from a copy by [[Peter Paul Rubens]] c. 1605)
* ''[[Isabella in Black]]'' by Titian, 1536

''[[La Bella]]'' (now in [[Palazzo Pitti]], Florence) has been discussed as an alternative to Titian's 1536 portrait in Vienna, because the commission from the 60-year-old patron was for a rejuvenated portrait; if La Bella were Isabella, eye colour, hair colour, eyebrows, and general appearance would homogenize in all known portraits, allowing potential links toward further identifications.<ref>i.e. Ozzola, Leandro (1931): ''Isabella d'Este e Tiziano''. In: ''Bolletino d'Arte del Ministero della pubblica istruzione''. BdA (Rome) 1931 No. 11, pp. 491–494;  [http://www.bollettinodarte.beniculturali.it/opencms/multimedia/BollettinoArteIt/documents/1407155929929_06_-_Ozzola_491.pdf Download] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304073909/http://www.bollettinodarte.beniculturali.it/opencms/multimedia/BollettinoArteIt/documents/1407155929929_06_-_Ozzola_491.pdf |date=4 March 2016 }}</ref>

As of 2021, the 1495 medal by Gian Cristoforo Romano (several extant copies) is the only reliable identification because of the inscription created during Isabella's lifetime.<ref>KHM Vienna, Inv 6.272bß</ref>{{sfn|Ferino|1994|pp= 373–378}}

Idealised portraits still show characteristics of the person.<ref>Renaissance portraiture served "to keep the memory of an absent or deceased person present" under "the most exact imitation possible of the person to be portrayed and universally valid idealisation underlining virtue and dignity". Ulrich Pfisterer: ''Die Kunstliteratur der italienischen Renaissance'', Reclam 2002, p. 109 and p. 113.</ref> The following characteristics can be derived (characteristics of the disputed ''Isabella in Black'' are excluded): 
* From her medal (Giovanni Cristoforo Romano) wavy hair, preferred hairstyle with [[Payot|sidelocks]] and a (small) double chin.
* From the coloured depictions ''Ambras Miniature'' and ''Isabella in Red'' red-brown / 'medium-blond' hair and brown eyes under curved eyebrows. 
* Isabella preferred idealisation (ideal of beauty, rejuvenation, simplification etc.). 
* Additionally: The [[Balzo headdress|balzo]] was common in the 1530s, probably not yet in the 1510s.
<gallery class="center centered" perrow="5">
File:Isabella d'Este palazzo ducale.jpg|Miniature portrait (with inscription) as a copy of an unknown Mantuan artist, [[Kunsthistorisches Museum|KHM Wien]], 16th century 
File:Gian Cristoforo Romano 003.jpg|Bust, [[Giovanni Cristoforo Romano]], [[Kimbell Art Museum]], c. 1500
File:Caroto Retrato de mujer Louvre.jpg|Female portrait by [[Giovanni Francesco Caroto]], [[Louvre]], c. 1505–1510
File:Lady lapdog.jpg|''Portrait of a Lady with a Lapdog'', [[Lorenzo Costa]], [[Royal Collection]] [[Windsor Castle]], c. 1500
File:Francesco Francia attributed - likely Isabella d'Este.jpg|Female portrait by [[Francesco Francia]], c. 1511<ref>Temple curl and pre-form of the balzo, 1511 is also the year of Isabella's documented commission for Francia's portrait (probably based on Leonardo da Vinci), the later model for Titian; see Bruce Cole: ''Titian and the Idea of Originality'', in: ''The Craft of Art: Originality and Industry in the Italian Renaissance and Baroque'', ed. Ladis / Wood / Eiland U., Athens 1995, University of Georgia Press, pp. 100-101.</ref>
File:Tizian - La Bella.jpg|''[[La Bella]]'', ideal portrait by [[Titian]] assumed as Isabella d'Este or [[Eleonora Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino|Eleonora Gonzaga]], [[Galleria Palatina]], 1536
File:Peter Paul Rubens 122.jpg|''[[Isabella in Red (Rubens)|Isabella in Red]]'' as a copy by [[Peter Paul Rubens|Rubens]], [[Kunsthistorisches Museum]], c. 1605
File:Andrea Solario 001.jpg|''The Lute Player'' by [[Andrea Solario]], [[Palazzo Barberini]], c. 1510<ref>Assuming the museum's dating of 1510, the oldest depiction of a balzo.</ref>
File:After Leonardo da Vinci - IsabellaEste.jpg|Anonymous painting after Leonardo da Vinci's drawing ''Isabella d'Este'', 16th century, private collection.
</gallery>

=== Relationship with Leonardo and ''Mona Lisa'' theory ===
[[file: Leonarda da Vinci - Isabella d'Este und Mona Lisa II.jpg|thumb|Leonardo: ''Isabella d'Este'' (1499) / Leonardo (workshop) ''[[Mona Lisa (Prado)]]'' (1506–1519) / Leonardo: ''[[Mona Lisa]]'' (1503–1506)|left]]
{{Main|Mona Lisa}}
In the current catalogue raisonné of Leonardo da Vinci (2019), only Isabella d'Este is documented as a plausible alternative as the subject  of Leonardo's ''[[Mona Lisa]]'', usually considered a portrait of [[Lisa del Giocondo]].<ref>Zöllner, Frank: ''Leonardo da Vinci&nbsp;— The Complete Paintings''. Taschen Verlag (Cologne) 2019, p. 241 (''Mona Lisa'' section).</ref> Lisa was the wife of a merchant in [[Florence]] and [[Giorgio Vasari]] wrote of her portrait by Leonardo,<ref>Vasari, Giorgio: ''Lebensläufe der berühmtesten Maler, Bildhauer und Architekten''. 1550 / Manesse Verlag (Zurich) 2005, p. 330.</ref>&nbsp;– in debate that persists about whether this is the portrait now known as the ''Mona Lisa''. Evidence in favor of Isabella as the subject of the famous work includes Leonardo's drawing 'Isabella d'Este' from 1499 and her letters of 1501–1506 requesting the promised painted portrait.<ref>Lewis, Francis-Ames: ''Isabella and Leonardo''. Yale University Press (New Haven) 2012, Appendix Letters pp. 223–240 (original letters in Italian and English).</ref> Further arguments focus upon the mountains in the background indicating the native origin of the subject,<ref>Florence/[[Tuscany]] versus Mantua/[[Dolomites]].</ref> and the armrest in the painting as a Renaissance symbol used to identify a portrait as that of a sovereign. The Louvre's reservation is that Isabella would be a "blonde", a feature that exists only in the widely circulated but uncertain representation ''[[Isabella in Black]]''.<ref>Sylvie Béguin (ed.): ''Le Studiolo d’Isabella d’Este''. Exhibition catalogue 1975, p. 4.</ref>