Elizabetta Gonzaga

Elisabetta Gonzaga was the daughter of the lord of Mantua and her early education led her to a life of companionship with some of the greatest minds of fifteenth-century Italy. She married Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, the duke of Urbino, in 1488, and thereafter her court attracted writers, artists, and scholars. She was also the sister-in-law of Isabella d’Este, the influential Renaissance patron and political figure. Elisabetta Gonzaga was immortalized by the writer Baldassare Castiglione, whose famous work, The Courtier, was based on his interactions and conversations with her.