Isabella D'Este, the Marchioness of Mantua (1474-1539) was one of the dazzling figures of the Italian Renaissance, playing the Renaissance game with an expertise that outflanked Popes and Emperors, using her brains, her charm, and her unswerving purpose to psych her opponents. This is the first biography of an important Renaissance figure. It is above all as a patron of art and letters that Isabella D'Este will be remembered. In this respect she deserves a place with the most enlightened princes of the Renaissance, with Lorenzo de Medici and Lodovico Sforza. This book provides a thorough examination of D'Este's life, and a detailed account of an intriguing woman of the Italian Renaissance, with illustrations and family trees. Illustrations include a portrait by Leonardo Da Vinci, and another by Titian of Isabella dressed in full regalia.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

The Renaissance studiolo was a space devoted in theory to private reading. The most famous studiolo of all was that of Isabella d'Este, marchioness of Mantua. This work explores the function of the mythological image within a Renaissance culture of collectors.

"Isabella d'Este, Marchioness of Mantua (1474-1539), is one of the most studied figures of Renaissance Italy, as an epitome of Renaissance court culture, and as a woman having an unusually prominent role in the politics of her day. This biography provides a rounded account of the full range of her activities and interests, from her childhood to her final years as a dowager and considers Isabella d'Este not as an icon but as a woman of her time and place in the world"--