Despite her being married, the brothers Giuliano di Piero de’ Medici and Lorenzo de’ Medici could not stop fighting over their love for her, and she was the muse of many artists, including Sandro Botticelli. Some even think that she was the inspiration for Venus in The Birth of Venus, but that would have been an idealized image of her, as this work was painted around 1485, almost ten years after her tragically premature death at the age of 22 in 1476. However, it is quite possible that Botticelli actually carried her image in his mind for many years, as he was so infatuated with her that he wished to be buried at her feet after his death.
The style icons who followed her came of age during the Italian Wars, a series of violent conflicts fought primarily between Spain and France for control of Italy that raged from 1494 to 1559. Fashion was frequently used as a diplomatic tool, and Isabella d’Este, wife of Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, was particularly adept at these arts.
A famous patron and collector of art, Isabella was one of the most famous women in Renaissance Italy. Her innovative style choices spread her reputation as a trendsetter throughout Europe, but for her fashion was not a frivolous pastime. Despite being referred to by early 20th century historians as “Machiavelli in a skirt,” a somewhat misogynistic term that underscores her level of influence, her stylistic choices were “deeply embedded in the strategies of national strategy,” says historian Sarah Cockrum, who has written extensively about Isabella.
renaissance style war
Conveying political allegiance through clothing was well understood in Renaissance Italy, but it could often be a risky business. When Isabella’s brother-in-law, Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, sent her a luxurious fabric embroidered with Sforza’s motifs in 1492, she immediately had a gown made of it to show off her friendship with him during her stay in Milan. However, seven years later, when the King of France expelled Ludovico from Milan and Isabella’s relationship with him called into question her loyalty to France, she tried to assure the French ambassador through the Venetian envoy that if he were to visit her, he would find her dressed head to toe in French fleurs-de-lis.
Her reputation as a refined arbiter of taste was often exploited for political influence, and gifts were used to win the favor of those above her and induce a desire to meet the needs of those below her. Isabella’s perfumed gloves seem to have been particularly influential, and the Queen of France was keen to obtain them. “If you want to survive the Italian war, you want to be actively at the heart of the King of France, but what could be more intimate than being at the side of the Queen of France?” Cockrum says.
Source: BBC Culture – www.bbc.com
