Learning about Isabella d'Este in the City of Mantua (Italy) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
I first read about Isabella d’Este and her acclaimed art collection in my art history classes at the University of Chicago. Isabella held court in Mantua, a Gonzaga family town. She had married into the Gonzaga family as a member of the Este family of Ferrara. The art collection, correspondence, and fashion were just some of the ways in which she became a cultural arbiter.
Isabella used her education to preserve Mantua’s
independence amongst the vying powers of Venice, Milan, and France. The rulers of these powers were impressed by
Isabella’s culture. This admiration
helped keep Mantua from being invaded and occupied when other Italian cities
were suffering such a fate like Urbino.
Thanks to her correspondence, we can find information about
her in biographies such as Isabella
d’Este Marchioness of Mantua: 1476 – 1539: A Study of the Renaissance by
Julia Cartwright Ady. This biography is
particularly good at discussing Isabella’s education and that of her
children.
Isabella’s education is important for learning how to create
diplomats, who can equally lead troops if necessary. (Isabella led Mantua’s troops when her
husband was absent from Mantua, and she had to defend the city.)
Ady begins her biography by writing that Isabella could
recite Virgil’s Ecologues and
Cicero’s Episltles from memory. She could also retell the story of the Aeneid as well. All this points to her grounding in Roman
culture and studies in the Latin language.
Isabella learned to dance, embroider, play the lute, and
sing. She learned math, grammar, logic,
philosophy, and how to ride a horse. She
went on many travel expeditions.
The only thing she did not learn how to do was how to draw
and paint, which might explain why she spent a fortune collecting art.
She knew French and sang French songs. She also read French romances and those of
Brittany. King Arthur and the Round
Table was part of her library collection.
She liked maps and globes, both celestial and terrestrial. She had maps of Venice, Cairo, and Constantinople
in her library collection. Books and
music filled her days unless she was entertaining guests. She liked to play the card game Scartino.
When my husband Laurent and I visited Italy recently, I
suggested that we visit Mantua, Mantova in Italian, to pay homage to Isabella
d’Este. Her art collection is no longer
there; it has been dispersed to Hampton Court in England, the Louvre in Paris,
and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna among other places.
However, there are many places to visit in this
tiny-yet-might peninsula city. We used
the Skira Guide book Mantua: Cities of
Art to guide our walks around the Palazzo Ducale and the Centres of Power
tours. Art lovers might like the Palazzo
d’Arco and Palazzo Te tours in addition to these two tours.
I still felt that Isabella’s d’Este’s sprit was in Mantua as
I viewed the lovely buildings. Everyone
is committed to beauty it seems.
My favorite place in Mantua was a doorway directly across
from the Palazzo Ducale and adjacent to the Duomo (Cathedral): The entrance to the Palazzo Vescovile,
formerly the Palazzo Biannchi (1776 – 1786).
The entrance was built after Isabella d’Este, but it is a
testament to the town’s love of beauty. Two
telamon figures stand on either side of the doorway and invite photos with
their excellent 3-D relief. I felt that
I saw Isabella d’Este’s legacy there and left Mantua happy.
By Ruth Paget, Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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| Laurent Paget Photography |
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