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152:, but Isabella dictated its every detail via a drawing and even in the contract commissioning the work. Perugino was allowed to omit minor details but was absolutely banned from adding figures of his own invention or changing the brief. She continually sent her agents to check on his progress and when Perugino include a nude Venus rather than the clothed one she had specified in the brief, they reported back to her and she protested to the artist. Even when the painting was delivered in 1505, she said she would rather have had it done in oils, despite having specified tempera in the brief to match with Mantegna's style. The payment for Perugino's painting was only 100
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93:"tenth Muse". There were also several images of the muses in Mantegna's paintings for the studiolo and on the doorway into the grotta, which contained her antiquities. From 1492 she commissioned a series of allegorical, mythological and literary paintings for the studiolo from the most notable painters of the era, along with others praising the Este and Gonzaga families. She began in 1497 with Mantegna's 1497
65:. Shortly after her arrival she selected two rooms in these apartments for private use. Badly-lit and with no fireplaces, these two rooms were in the San Niccolò tower - the upper one became her "studiolo" and beneath it her barrel-vaulted "grotta", accessed via a staircase and doorway decorated in marble. She was probably inspired by the
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148:. Her plan was to make the painters compete on identically-sized canvases, all with the same light source of the room's natural light and with foreground figures of the same size. Much correspondence between Isabella and Perugino survives, showing the difficult working process. He produced his work in
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Many of the artists were working in other cities and sending their work to Mantua and so the different systems of measurement across the
Italian city states made it difficult to make this plan work. At least once Isabella wrongly stated the light direction to the artists working for her and she often
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Isabella used the studiolo for leisure pursuits, writing, study and correspondence as well as for displaying the highlights of her collections, initially only archaeological items but latter moving to contrast modern artworks with ancient ones. She loved music, poetry and art and was nicknamed the
541:, of which she was particularly fond. It had been suggested to her as a possible purchase in 1496 - she initially declined it as only an imitation of an ancient work of art, but on learning it was by Michelangelo keenly sought to acquire it. It was then owned by the Montefeltro family of
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455:. The other furnishings were sold off and are now split between several different museums. The pavement tiles were lifted and sold off separately and are now in several Italian and foreign museums, including the applied art collections at the
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in
Bologna, despite knowing their provenance. She forced Mantegna to sell her an ancient Roman bust of a woman in 1498 since it was said to resemble her and later, when he was old and sick, forced him to give her his favourite bust of
342:. She dismantled the studiolo and moved it to these new rooms, which also included a "Nuova Grotta" or 'new Grotto', directly linked to the new studiolo. The rooms also included a 'secret garden', completed in 1522 and decorated with
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was asked to produce a work and left free to choose his own subject, but he eventually declined the commission as he was not used to working to such a detailed brief. Isabella also tried and failed to commission paintings from
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overthrow them she acquired it from him. When the
Montefeltro family was restored to power she refused to return it to them, despite being related to them. It was displayed beside an ancient sculpture of Cupid attributed to
582:), gems, classical coins, wooden-inlay panels and curiosities such as gilded cages, clocks and a 'unicorn's horn'. It also included objects she kept for sentimental reasons, such as a beechwood cabinet made by her brother
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sent changed her mind about the subjects and compositions. Not all the artists were familiar with the mythological and allegorical themes she commissioned and many were put off by the work being shown alongside that of
401:, to the paintings in her studiolo. A 1542 inventory survives, giving some idea of how the paintings and objects were finally displayed on principals of harmony and symmetry but in a very high-density arrangement.
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She had a great passion for collecting ancient sculpture, limited only by her lack of money and the papal ban on exporting such sculptures from Rome. However, thanks to help from the knight of Malta
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338:, after her husband's death, Isabella moved into new rooms on the ground floor of the so-called "Corte Vecchia", built by the ducal architect and "Prefect of the Gonzaga Buildings"
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create her a new marble doorway from the studiolo to the grotto between 1522 and 1524. She also commissioned a new doorway for the entrance to the
Studiolo from
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The two rooms became a must-see for dignitaries visiting the city, although many of the objects shown there were small and at risk of theft - after
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She paid art agents in the main
Italian cities through whom she heard of opportunities for improving her collection. One of these was the sale of
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was about to die and had left her part of his collection, she sent emissaries to Milan even before his death to safeguard the relevant artworks.
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was produced from an incomplete drawing left by
Mantegna, who had died in 1506. Suggestions for the subjects came from her advisors, especially
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507:'s collections in Venice in 1506, at which she bought a late-antique onyx vase. She also acquired some alabaster heads looted from the
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After
Isabella's death the studiolo fell into disuse and in 1605 its paintings were moved to another part of the palace. Around 1627
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and multicoloured marble. The grotto itself contained wood-inlay panels from the earlier studiolo, produced in 1506 by Paolo and
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Maioliche del
Quattrocento a Pesaro, frammenti di storia dell'arte ceramica dalla bottega dei Fedeli
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of the era, the sixteen-year-old
Isabella arrived in Mantua on 12 February 1490 to marry
275:'s entourage visited in 1509 it was found that some of the silverware had gone missing.
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Cameo, Ptolemaic, 3rd century BC, from
Isabella d'Este's collection, now in the
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columns. The studiolo was paved with polychrome tiles from the workshop of
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Stefano L'Occaso, Il Palazzo Ducale di Mantova, p.128-130, Milano, 2002.
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Isabella's collection also included medals, cameos (such as the noted
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24:, later the Studiolo was moved to the Corte Vecchi apartments in the
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Stefano L'Occaso, Il Palazzo Ducale di Mantova, p.128, Milano, 2002.
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reproducing some of the famous statues of antiquity - one of these,
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bronze reliefs for the scheme, recorded in 1542 but now lost.
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in return for paying off his debts. When she heard that
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Triumph of the Virtues (1499-1502) by Andrea Mantegna.
243:, who began the series of paintings - for example,
605:Appartamento di Isabella d'Este in Corte Vecchia.
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197:Combat of Love and Chastity (1503) by Perugino.
737:"Una scheda sullo studiolo di Isabella d'Este"
294:, detail from the studiolo of Isabella d'Este.
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535:Her modern artworks included Michelangelo's
268:Isabella refused him in favour of Perugino.
252:(who died too soon to accept her offer) and
704:, catalogo della mostra, Skira Milano, 2006
443:, who took them to Paris and added them to
318:Modern replica of a wooden inlay panel by
310:Detail of the Studiolo of Isabella d'Este.
302:Pentagram on the ceiling of the studiolo.
114:Next came works by other artists such as
53:and educated by some of the most notable
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451:they thus entered the collection of the
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211:Allegory of Isabella d'Este's Coronation
131:Allegory of Isabella d'Este's Coronation
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20:was a special private study, first in
173:Parnassus (1497) by Andrea Mantegna.
121:The Battle Between Love and Chastity
260:was available but on the advice of
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273:Charles III of Bourbon-Montpensier
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256:(despite repeated requests).
233:(1506-1511) by Lorenzo Costa.
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739:(in Italian). Archived from
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702:Mantegna a Mantova 1460-1506
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707:Alberta De Nicolò Salmazo,
556:Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi
18:Studiolo of Isabella d'Este
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469:Victoria and Albert Museum
292:Giovanni Cristoforo Romano
160:Paintings for the Studiolo
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718:, CentroDi, Firenze 2004.
700:Mauro Lucco (a cura di),
695:Bibliography (in Italian)
447:'s collection. After the
324:Appartamento della Grotta
124:(a literary subject) and
87:Guidobaldo da Montefeltro
69:, designed for her uncle
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564:Kunsthistorisches Museum
529:Kunsthistorisches Museum
486:Fra Sabba da Castiglione
354:, originally bought by
22:castello di San Giorgio
776:Gonzaga art collection
711:, Electa, Milano 1997.
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105:. He also painted two
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518:Gian Galeazzo Sforza
467:in Florence and the
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356:Francesco II Gonzaga
59:Francesco II Gonzaga
586:in his spare time.
509:palazzo Bentivoglio
437:Charles I of Nevers
781:Gonzaga residences
721:Stefano L'Occaso,
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514:Faustina the Elder
457:Castello Sforzesco
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425:"Allegory of Vice"
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383:Antonio della Mola
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63:Camera degli Sposi
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26:Ducal Palace
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475:Collections
375:bas reliefs
760:Categories
590:References
552:Praxiteles
471:in London
397:, both by
258:Botticelli
85:, wife of
45:Beginnings
480:Sculpture
445:Louis XIV
431:Dispersal
399:Correggio
360:Marmirolo
250:Giorgione
96:Parnassus
55:humanists
709:Mantegna
330:Between
322:for the
241:Mantegna
150:Florence
116:Perugino
49:Born in
676:Images
639:Images
379:tondoes
288:Minerva
51:Ferrara
40:History
663:Image
568:Vienna
543:Urbino
463:, the
461:Louvre
459:, the
352:Pesaro
154:ducats
79:Gubbio
75:Urbino
30:Mantua
574:Other
538:Cupid
490:Nasso
344:Ionic
142:Comus
686:here
684:and
682:here
678:here
665:here
653:here
651:and
649:here
645:here
641:here
494:Rodi
492:and
391:and
336:1522
334:and
332:1519
264:and
134:and
77:and
16:The
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