Editing Mantua (section)

===House of Gonzaga===

[[File:Andrea Mantegna 058.jpg|thumb|[[Ludovico III Gonzaga]] receiving the news of his son [[Francesco Gonzaga (1444–1483)|Francesco]] being created a cardinal, fresco by [[Andrea Mantegna]] in the Stanza degli Sposi of [[Palazzo Ducale di Mantova|Palazzo Ducale]]]]
Ludovico Gonzaga, who had been [[Podestà]] of Mantua since 1318, was duly elected '''Capitano del popolo'''. The Gonzagas built new walls with five gates and renovated the city in the 14th century; however, the political situation did not settle until the governance of the third ruler of Gonzaga, [[Ludovico III Gonzaga]], who eliminated his relatives and centralised power to himself. During the Italian Renaissance, the Gonzaga family softened their despotic rule and further raised the level of culture and refinement in Mantua.<ref>Henry S. Lucas, ''The Renaissance and the Reformation'' (Harper & Bros. Publishers: New York, 1960) pp. 42–43.</ref> Mantua became a significant center of Renaissance art and humanism. Marquis [[Gianfrancesco I Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua|Gianfrancesco Gonzaga]] had brought [[Vittorino da Feltre]] to Mantua in 1423 to open his famous humanist school, the Casa Giocosa.

[[Isabella d'Este]], Marchioness of Mantua, married Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of [[March of Mantua|Mantua]] in 1490. When she moved to Mantua from [[Ferrara]] (she was the daughter of [[Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara|Duke Ercole]] the ruler of [[Duchy of Ferrara|Ferrara]]) she created her famous [[studiolo]] firstly in [[Castello di San Giorgio]] for which she commissioned paintings from [[Andrea Mantegna|Mantegna]], [[Perugino]] and [[Lorenzo Costa]]. She later moved her studiolo to the Corte Vecchia and commissioned two paintings from [[Correggio]] to join the five from Castello di San Giorgio. It was unusual for a woman to have a studiolo in 15th century Italy given they were regarded as masculine spaces. Isabella was a vociferous collector and such was her reputation that Niccolò da Corregio called her 'la prima donna del mondo'.

Through a payment of 120,000 golden [[Italian coin florin|florins]] in 1433, [[Gianfrancesco I Gonzaga|Gianfrancesco I]] was appointed Marquis of Mantua by the [[Emperor Sigismund]], whose niece [[Barbara of Brandenburg, Marquise of Mantua|Barbara of Brandenburg]] married his son, Ludovico. In 1459, [[Pope Pius II]] held the [[Council of Mantua (1459)|Council of Mantua]] to proclaim a crusade against the [[Ottoman Empire|Turks]]. Under Ludovico and his heirs, the famous [[Renaissance]] painter [[Andrea Mantegna]] worked in Mantua as court painter, producing some of his most outstanding works.

====Duchy of Mantua====

[[File:Palazzo Te Mantova 4.jpg|thumb|[[Palazzo del Te|Palazzo Te]]]]
The first Duke of [[Duchy of Mantua|Mantua]] was [[Federico II Gonzaga]], who acquired the title from the Holy Roman Emperor [[Emperor Charles V|Charles V]] in 1530. Federico commissioned [[Giulio Romano (painter)|Giulio Romano]] to build the famous [[Palazzo Te]], on the periphery of the city, and profoundly improved the city. In the late 16th century, [[Claudio Monteverdi]] came to Mantua from his native Cremona. He worked for the court of [[Vincenzo I Gonzaga]], first as a singer and violist, then as music director, marrying the court singer Claudia Cattaneo in 1599.