KLucy

Kendall Lucy

History of Collecting, 5384

Dr. James Jewitt

December 13, 2016

Isabella dEste and Challenge of Changing Traditions

Throughout the Renaissance the quest for art, beauty, and power ran strong in western

European society. A way of exhibiting ones power and erudition in the era was to collect. But

just collecting was not enough, it had to be in style, and if one was Italian, magnificentia was the

way to go. The households in Northern Italy in the late 1400s and early 1500s were highly

influenced by the life and collections of Isabella dEste, popularly know as a woman with her

own a opinion, and her legacy lives on today in places like the Louvre.1 The iconography in the

paintings collected in the Renaissance era is a key element to understanding important ideas,

traditions, and responsibilities that were evolving and how Isabella dEste was breaking the

molds of traditional gender roles. This essay will argue that Isabella dEstes collection,

specifically her paintings, was an example of how the iconography of Renaissance paintings

explicated changing and continuous perceptions of religion, power, gender roles and art in the

Renaissance era.

Isabella dEste was a highly regarded woman in her time, renowned for her studiolo and

her charisma as the Marchioness of Mantua. Her legacy was in competition with that of her son,

Fredrico II Gonzaga, and her brother, Alfonso dEste as well as many others who were going

1 Barbara Furlotti and Guido Rebecchini,Isabella dEste and the Culture of the Studiolo, trans.

A. Lawrence Jenkins, The Art of Mantua: Power and Patronage in the Renaissance, (Los
Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2008), 92.
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about creating studiolos.2 Her marriage to Francesco Gonzaga in 1490 created the niche for her

in which she could build her collections, housed in her studiolo and grotto. Throughout her life

she had given some form of employment to those such as Mantegna, Lorenzo Costa, Giovanni

Bellini, Ercole Roberti, Ercole Grandi, Francia, Titian, Pordenone, and many others.3 Her

highly popular letters detail the various in and out of her years of collecting, and come to portray

her as both singularly interesting and illogical. Though her collection of paintings seem to be the

most popular of her achievements, as many have made their way to the Louvre, she allegedly had

a love for collecting small objets dart. When considering the Marchesa's overall collecting

tactics, scholars have deduced, correctly, that she was more interested in the acquisition of small

scale decorative objects than large scale painting, states Rose Marie San Juan, in her assessment

of the Marchesas legacy.4 This predilection did not hinder her quest for decorating her studiolo

with the works of the finest artists Italy had to offer her, and it was in no way inconsistent with

the attitudes and practice of other Renaissance collectors.5 The studiolo was a place where

Renaissance collectors could amass their collections in private but they were meant for public

consumption, a place where the use of wealth could be contributed to magnificentia, which was

to honorably, generously, and splendidly display great works of art, antiquities, and deeds in a

way that glorified not just the owner, but the city-state. This was why it was so important for the

Gonzaga-dEste household to have such splendid offerings.

The atmosphere in which she moved was one rife with double meanings and pitfalls, and

as such her skill in navigating the role of princess in her household was great, because she

2
San Juan, Rose Marie. The Court Lady's Dilemma: Isabella d'Este and Art Collecting in the
Renaissance. Oxford Art Journal (1991): 69.
3
Cust, Lionel. "Notes on Pictures in the Royal Collections-XXIX. On Two Portraits of Isabella
d'Este." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs (1914): 286.
4
San Juan, Rose Marie. The Court Lady's Dilemma, 67.
5 San Juan, Rose Marie. The Court Lady's Dilemma, 68.
 KLucy 3

constantly had to balance between the prescribed duties of a consort and her own goals. Court

women, and particularly the ruler's consort, were on public display, and had to please with

physical beauty, personal charm, and intellectual skills, while simultaneously conveying all the

obvious signs of a modest character and chaste body.6As the wife of Francesco Gonzaga, her

role was to groom the social life of the court [which was] centred around the prince's consort

who was the orchestrator of much cultural activity, and whose physical presence was the focus of

court ritual.7 Isabella balanced her role as Court Lady and collector well, as she chose to collect

art and artists, poets and poetry, musicians, and knowledge, all to her advantage, as it gave her

the image necessary for her role, and access to the people she needed to grow her collection in a

manner that suited her goals. Her studiolo became a beautiful expression of both self and

independence, as:

In this sanctuary, from which the cares and the noise of the outer world were banished, it

was Isabellas dream that the walls should be adorned with paintings giving expression to

her ideals of culture and disposing the mind to pure and noble thoughts. The subjects of

these pictures were to be classic myth with allegorical meanings, chosen by herself with

the help of some favorite humanist of her circle, and painted by the foremost masters of

the day.8

The paintings that were commissioned for her studiolo and the iconography contained within

them are a great window into how this could be achieved.

The commissioned works for Isabella dEstes studiolo numbered seven in total, five

were large and two smaller were above the door. The large paintings are Mars and Venus (Figure

6
San Juan, Rose Marie. The Court Lady's Dilemma, 71.
7
San Juan, Rose Marie, The Court Ladys Dilemma, 70.
8 Cartwright, Julia. Isabella dEste 1474-1539: A Study of the Renaissance, (New York: E.R

Dutton and Co., 1915) 160.

 KLucy 4

2), and Minvera (Figure 1) by Mantegna, The Reign of Comus (Figure 3) and Coronation (Figure

4) by Lorenzo Costa, and Battle between Chastity and Love (Figure 5) by Perugino. The smaller

paintings, by Correggio were hung over the door and they were the Allegory of the Virtues and

the Allegory of the Vices(Figures 6 and 7).9 The creation of the works was a intensely united

project between the artists, istoria, and invenizone; namely between Isabella, her chosen artist,

and if necessary a collaborator who would serve to create of chose a literary scene that would be

depicted.10 The invenizone or fantasia was the literary concept that the painter will express in

his work, and the istoria was the process of finding the most appropriate form for a given

content.11 These concepts in relation to Isabella dEste were supported by her use of poets for

literary inspiration and her determination that the correct from of pictorial depiction was

achieved for her literary scenes.12 But just to be sure her paintings were in perfect conjunction

and harmony with one another, the artists would find ways to make the images co-dependent

upon each other.

There were compositional ties between the works by both Mantegna and Lorenzo Costa,

respectively, where the works would complement and complete each other when in proximity.

With Mantegnas works, the Minerva and Mars and Venus would seem to be on the same plane,

but the movement and figures within the images were in one controlled and the other chaotic.13

In the Minvera(Figure 1), or Pallas Expelling the Vices from the Garden of Virtue, the figures are

that of Minvera, Diana, and Pallas, who is the goddess of intelligence and virtue, are chasing

9 Verheyen, Egon. The Paintings in the 'Studiolo' of Isabella d'Este at Mantua. (New York: New

York University Press, 1971), 2.

10 Verheyen, Egon. Invenzione and Istoria in The Paintings in the 'Studiolo' of Isabella d'Este

at Mantua. (New York: New York University Press, 1971), 22-29.

11 Verheyen, The Paintings in the 'Studiolo' of Isabella d'Este, 22.
12 Verheyen, The Paintings in the 'Studiolo' of Isabella d'Este, 23.
13 Verheyen, The Paintings in the 'Studiolo' of Isabella d'Este, 30-31.
 KLucy 5

away Venus and the vices.14 Venus is on a centaur, and with the vices around seems very static.

But the three expelling goddesses are live with movement, which is an interesting comment on

how well the conflict between vice and virtue is going in the Renaissance era. The Mars and

Venus is also a depiction of the dance of the nine muses, which is a allusion to Isabella who was

also known as the tenth muse in some circles.15 The two Venuses in these paintings are both the

same and different as they represent the duality of love and sensuality.16 The figures in the Mars

and Venus were in clear harmonious movement, like with a dance, and contrast with the chaotic

indistinguishable figure in the lower stratum of the Minvera. The choice of invenizone from the

author Mario Equicola and istoria here was to make clear the virtue of Isabella like the lower

Venus, while complementing her knowledge of literature and artistic ability.17

Much like the themes creating in the Mantegna works, the Correggio works are working

together to send a message for Isabella. In the Allegory of Vitrue (Figure 6) Minvera is being

crowned in victory over her battle with a chimera, upon which she is resting. She is bathed in

heavenly light and surrounded by virtues, the one on the left being Fortitude, Prudence, Justice,

and Temperance, and the one two the left intelligence. In the Allegory of Vice (Figure 7) a man is

being tortured by two vices while another ties him to a tree. He s overshadowed by a great dark

tree, and a boy is eating grapes in the foreground. Together the paintings send a message of

virtue leads to victory and light, whereas sin or vice leads destruction and darkness. The light

aspect of the painting resonate well with what is already know of the artist Correggios style.18

The choice of these painting over shadowing the doorway to the studiolo brings the meaning

14 Verheyen, The Paintings in the 'Studiolo' of Isabella d'Este, 30-31.
15 San Juan, Rose Marie. The Court Lady's Dilemma, 71.
16 Verheyen, The Paintings in the 'Studiolo' of Isabella d'Este, 37-39.
17 Verheyen, The Paintings in the 'Studiolo' of Isabella d'Este, 39.
18 Verheyen, The Paintings in the 'Studiolo' of Isabella d'Este, 57-59.
 KLucy 6

behind them into high relief, as you leave with a beautiful but heavy reminder to be good.

Isabellas favorite, Paride da Ceresara was the source of the invenizone for Peruginos

Battle between Chastity and Love, and it is decidedly less complex and dense than the works of

Mantegna and Correggio, but in no way less brilliant.19 Sadly Perugino was unhappy with the

stricture of the invenizone and showed this by making the work similar to anothers, Pollaiuolos

ten Fighting Men (Figure 8). The image is unusual in that usually depictions of this theme are

that of the Triumph of Chastity, like Petrarchs poem, but in this there is conflict centered around

the fighting figures of Diana and Venus, whereas the conflict in the Triumph of Chastity is

between Chastity and cupid.20 This is where the invenizone of a painting commissioned for

Isabella dEste comes into high relief, and the painting ends up highlighting the sense of conflict

a Renaissance era woman would feel between sensuality and appropriateness of character.

Over time, the perceptions of Renaissance women have been evolving, and the

preconceived notions of what female characters were have come under the spotlight of women,

or at least those with a more open mind, in academia. Whereas before with the characterizations

of women like Lucrezia Borgia and Caterina Sforza by male historians like Ferdinand

Gregorovuis and Pietro Pasolini, respectively, the idea was that women were repressed and only

moved out of the bounds of male dominance in support of the men in their life. With Julia

Cartwright and her volume on the life of Isabella dEste, perceptions began to shift and the

window into Renaissance womens lives began to open prompting ideas like: perception and

presentation of creative women was very different from that of their male contemporaries;

women who acted as patrons or viewers faced very different constraints that were well wroth

19 Verheyen, The Paintings in the 'Studiolo' of Isabella d'Este, 41.
20 Verheyen, The Paintings in the 'Studiolo' of Isabella d'Este, 42-43.
 KLucy 7

exploring: images of women had special iconographical resonances.21 For Isabella dEste,

power was something she manipulated her surrounding in order to obtain, all the while up

holding a reputation as a loving mother and wifely figure. Collecting enabled the Marchesa to

define a more credible identity within a traditional female sphere, and she did so by obtaining

money from her allowance that she manipulated into a larger sum than original, as she had

bought properties with it so that she may charge rent, and create a more equitable fund for her

collection.22

Religion was a highly influential during the Renaissance, despite it being a time of

evolving opinions on Christianity and science. As a woman, as a Marchioness, she had to be the

epitome of a courtly Lady, and as such be soundly pious. Contradictorily, her knowledge of the

classical was something that she groomed so that she was able to form knowledgeable opinions

on highly volatile subjects, like chastity, love, respectability, and mythology. Mythology itself

was another religion and as a large participant in the creation of the invenizone for the works in

her studiolo, she came into a suspect knowledge pool. Since Renaissance mythological poems

and works of visual art, like their medieval predecessors, turned the gods into metaphors, or

pressed them into the service of a didactic meaning, such works could never claim to be other

than the impoverished shell of real myth, and Isabella would have had full knowledge of the

conversations her pieces would spark.23 She would encourage them. This could only be

allowable if the stricture set upon women were beginning to loosen, especially considering her

proximity to the religion, as many of her family members were dedicated to the church.

21 Welch, Evelyn. "Engendering Italian Renaissance Art A Bibliographic Review." (Papers of

the British School at Rome 68, 2000), 202-204.

22 San Juan, Rose Marie. The Court Lady's Dilemma, 71,75.
23 Campbell, Stephen. The Cabinet of Eros: Renaissance Mythological Painting and the

Studiolo of Isabella dEste, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004), 7.

 KLucy 8

A way of challenging Isabellas conceived notion of love and virtue, a scholar so never

focus solely on the artwork of her studiolo, but also on the works that both surround it and

influence it. In fact when focus turns to Isabellas collection of contemporary poetry, and

specifically the work which dealt with the nature of Amor, the attempt to connect her studiolo

imagery with the anti-erotic literature becomes increasingly untenable, as we can see clearly

in the depiction of the Battle between Love and Chastity by Perugino.24 Despite the reluctance of

the artist, the painting is a particularly controversial statement on the subject of acceptable

actions concerning love and sensuality for women. With this painting she is questioning the

consequences of love in physical sense, and the repercussions of suppressing both higher love

and sensual love.

As a woman in the challenging times of the Renaissance, Isabella dEste was a woman

who managed to conquer an area of expertise routinely and expectantly left to men, and she did

so in a way that not only influenced the women of her era, but the mean as well. Both her son

and her brothers competed with the legacy of art and refined culture she left behind. As a

collector she amassed a collection that to this day is still renowned for its refinement, rarity, and

sublime nature. Isabella dEste took part in creating influential and highly intellectual works that

still resonate with issues society has today. Her paintings

characterize the studiolo as a vulnerable space; sheltered retreat is confronted with that

which menaces from outsidethe forces of history violence, incivility; and from

insidethe forces of passion, anxiety, sensual confusion, despondencyor of Eros. This

is an easily corruptible solitude, as if the equilibrium or serenity to which the studys

contemplative discipline is dedicated to has not yet fully been won, but has been made

24 Campbell, Stephen, The Cabinet of Eros, 72.
 KLucy 9

into a spectacle of the volatile self to engage the curiosity, the wit, and the erudition the

owner and her visions.

With out the inspiration that was Isabella dEste, the Renaissance world of collecting scholars

follow today would have missed a genius of insight into the minds of the women of Renaissance

Italy.

The paintings of Isabella dEstes studiolo resonate with the power of insight,

intelligence, and beauty that she chose them with, and they remain relevant on issues today of

love and virtue. With he depictions of gods and goddesses as metaphors for the emotions and

unknowns in life, her studiolo became a haven conversation about life, love, and the pursuit of

magnificentia. Isabella dEstes collection, specifically her paintings, was and continues to be an

example of how the iconography of Renaissance paintings explicated changing and continuous

perceptions of religion, power, gender roles and art in the Renaissance era.
 KLucy 10
List of Figures
Figure 3
Figure 1

Lorenzo Costa
The Reign of Comus
Andrea Mantegna Circa 1507-1511
Minerva Expelling the Vices from the Garden of Canvas; H. 1.52 m; W. 2.39 m
Virtue. Muse du Louvre, Paris
circa 1500-1502
Canvas; H. 1.59 m; W. 1.92 m Figure 4
Muse du Louvre, Paris
Figure 1

Lorenzo Costa
Andrea Mantegna
Coronation
Mars and Venus
Circa 1504-1506
circa 1496-1497
Canvas; H. 1.65 m; W. 1.98 m
Canvas; H. 1.59 m; W. 1.92 m
Muse du Louvre, Paris
Muse du Louvre, Paris
 KLucy 11
Figure 2 Figure 4

Perugino
Battle Between Love and Chastity
Circa 1505
Canvas 160 x 191 cm
Muse du Louvre, Paris
Antonio Allegri, known as Corregio
Allegory of Vices
Figure 3
Circa1528-1530
Canvas; H. 1.48 m; W. 0.88 m
Muse du Louvre, Paris

Figure 8

Antonio Allegri, known as Corregio

Allegory of Virtues Antonio Pollaiuolo
Circa 1528-1530 Circa 1470-90
Canvas; H. 1.48 m; W. 0.88 m Engraving
sheet: 15 1/8 x 23 3/16 in. (38.4 x 58.9 cm)
Muse du Louvre, Paris
The Met, New York
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Bibliography

Barbara Furlotti and Guido Rebecchini,Isabella dEste and the Culture of the Studiolo, trans.

A. Lawrence Jenkins, The Art of Mantua: Power and Patronage in the Renaissance, (Los

Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2008), 92.

Campbell, Stephen. The Cabinet of Eros: Renaissance Mythological Painting and the Studiolo of

Isabella dEste. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004.

Cartwright, Julia. Isabella dEste 1474-1539:A Study of the Renaissance. New York: E.R Dutton

and Co. Vol.1. 1915.

Cust, Lionel. "Notes on Pictures in the Royal Collections-XXIX. On Two Portraits of Isabella

d'Este." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 25, no. 137 (1914): 286-91.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/859750.

San Juan, Rose Marie. The Court Lady's Dilemma: Isabella d'Este and Art Collecting in the

Renaissance. Oxford Art Journal Vol. 14 no. 1. 1991. Oxford University Press. pp. 67-

78. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1360278.

Verheyen, Egon. The Paintings in the 'Studiolo' of Isabella d'Este at Mantua. New York: New

York University Press. 1971.

Welch, Evelyn. "Engendering Italian Renaissance Art A Bibliographic Review." Papers of

the British School at Rome 68 (2000): 201-16. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40311029.