Lorenzo da Pavia (died 1517) was an Italian musical instrument maker, active in Venice in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. He corresponded with Isabella d'Este, advising her on her studiolo in Mantua and producing a 1496 virginal for her. [1] [2]
Isabella d'Este was Marchioness of Mantua and one of the leading women of the Italian Renaissance as a major cultural and political figure. She was a patron of the arts as well as a leader of fashion, whose innovative style of dressing was copied by women throughout Italy and at the French court. The poet Ariosto labeled her as the "liberal and magnanimous Isabella", while author Matteo Bandello described her as having been "supreme among women". Diplomat Niccolò da Correggio went even further by hailing her as "The First Lady of the world".
The viol, viola da gamba, or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitch of each of the strings. Frets on the viol are usually made of gut, tied on the fingerboard around the instrument's neck, to enable the performer to stop the strings more cleanly. Frets improve consistency of intonation and lend the stopped notes a tone that better matches the open strings. Viols first appeared in Spain in the mid to late 15th century and were most popular in the Renaissance and Baroque (1600–1750) periods. Early ancestors include the Arabic rebab and the medieval European vielle, but later, more direct possible ancestors include the Venetian viole and the 15th- and 16th-century Spanish vihuela, a 6-course plucked instrument tuned like a lute that looked like but was quite distinct from the 4-course guitar.
The University of Pavia is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one of the oldest universities in the world. It was the sole university in Milan and the greater Lombardy region until the end of the 19th century.
Lorenzo Costa was an Italian painter of the Renaissance.
Beatrice d'Este, was duchess of Bari and Milan by marriage to Ludovico Sforza. She was reputed as one of the most beautiful and accomplished princesses of the Italian Renaissance. A member of the Este family, she was the younger daughter of Ercole I d'Este and the sister of Isabella d'Este and Alfonso d'Este.
The Palazzo Ducale di Mantova is a group of buildings in Mantua, Lombardy, northern Italy, built between the 14th and the 17th century mainly by the noble family of Gonzaga as their royal residence in the capital of their Duchy. The buildings are connected by corridors and galleries and are enriched by inner courts and wide gardens. The complex includes some 500 rooms and occupies an area of c. 34,000 m², which make it the sixth largest palace in Europe after the palaces of the Vatican, the Louvre Palace, the Palace of Versailles, the Royal Palace of Caserta and the Castle of Fontainebleau. It has more than 500 rooms and contains 7 gardens and 8 courtyards. Although most famous for Mantegna's frescos in the Camera degli Sposi, they have many other very significant architectural and painted elements.
Francesco Maria I della Rovere was an Italian condottiero, who was Duke of Urbino from 1508 to 1516 and, after retaking the throne from Lorenzo II de' Medici, from 1521 to 1538.
Luchino Visconti (also spelled Lucchino, 1287 or 1292 – January 24, 1349) was lord of Milan from 1339 to 1349. He was also a condottiero, and lord of Pavia.
Giovanni CristoforoRomano (1456–1512) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor and medallist.
Lorenzo Leonbruno, also known as Lorenzo de Leombeni, was an Italian painter during the early Renaissance period. He was born in Mantua (Mantova), an Italian commune in Lombardy, Italy. Leonbruno is most well known for being commissioned by the court of Francesco Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, and his wife Isabella d'Este. The patronage continued with their eldest son Federico II Gonzaga, who was the fifth Marquis of Mantua. Leonbruno was the court painter for the Gonzaga family from 1506-1524.
Bass violin is the modern term for various 16th- and 17th-century bass instruments of the violin family. They were the direct ancestor of the modern cello. Bass violins were usually somewhat larger than the modern cello, but tuned to the same nominal pitches or sometimes one step lower. Contemporaneous names for these instruments include "basso de viola da braccio," "basso da braccio," or the generic term "violone," which simply meant "large fiddle." The instrument differed from the violone of the viol, or "viola da gamba" family in that like the other violins it had at first three, and later usually four strings, as opposed to five, six, or seven strings, it was tuned in fifths, and it had no frets. With its F-holes and stylized C-bouts it also more closely resembled the viola da braccio.
Giovanni Angelo Testagrossa was an Italian lutenist and singer. He was born in Pavia and worked in Milan, Mantua, Ferrara and many other cities. Testagrossa was a renowned teacher; his pupils included Isabella d'Este. A long-standing hypothesis that Testagrossa taught Francesco Canova da Milano is now considered unlikely to be true. None of Testagrossa's compositions survive.
Maria Caterina Farnese was a member of the Ducal House of Farnese. She was the Duchess of Modena as the first wife of Francesco I d'Este, Duke of Modena. In some sources she is known simply as Maria Farnese.
The Battle Between Love and Chastity is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Pietro Perugino, now in the Musée du Louvre, in Paris, France. It was originally commissioned for the studiolo (cabinet) of Isabella d'Este, Marchesa of Mantua, in the Castello di San Giorgio.
Portrait of Isabella d'Este is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Italian painter Titian, completed between 1534 and 1536. It shows the Marquess of Mantua, Isabella d'Este, daughter of Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, and Eleanor of Naples with an ermine zibellino draped over her shoulder.
The Allegory of Isabella d'Este's Coronation is a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Lorenzo Costa the Elder, dating to about 1505–1506. It is displayed in the Louvre Museum of Paris, France.
The Parnassus is a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Andrea Mantegna, executed in 1497. It is housed in the Musée du Louvre of Paris.
Atalante Migliorotti was an Italian Renaissance musician, instrument maker and assistant to Leonardo da Vinci.
Livia (Paola) Gonzaga was a Mantuan noblewoman.
The Studiolo of Isabella d'Este was a special private study in the Corte Vecchi apartments in the Ducal Palace in Mantua, designed by, and with a collection of art specially commissioned by Isabella d'Este. The Studiolo was moved between 1519 and 1522 to the castello di San Giorgio.