Beyond Isabella

Book excerpt: Who were the secular female patrons of art and architecture in Renaissance Italy beyond Isabella d’Este? This volume brings together fourteen essays which examine the important and often unrecognized roles aristocratic and bourgeois women played in the patronage of visual culture during the Italian Renaissance. Themes include the significance of role models for female patrons, the dynamics of conjugal patronage, and the widespread patronage activities of widows. Collectively, the essays demonstrate how resourceful women expressed themselves through patronage despite the limitations of a highly structured patriarchal society. Thus, Isabella d’Este was by no means unique as a secular female patron, and the studies offered here should encourage scholars to move further ‘beyond Isabella’ in their assessment of women’s patronage of art and architecture in Renaissance Italy.