Historically, the acts of patronage and collecting have been seen as the realm of men. Patronage, of course, is rooted in the Latin pater. Within the context of ordinary and uneducated people this assumption may have been true, but women with any degree of power in the sixteenth and seventeenth century were collectors akin to their male counterparts. Gender did not determine access to rare treasures, exotic artefacts, or antique sculptures and paintings. Where there was resource, there was collection, and women were most certainly not exempt from this.
Isabelle D’Este (1474-1539) married into the Gonzaga family and moved to Mantua. This marriage brought her considerable wealth and resources, and allowed her to establish a collection in the Castello di San Giorgio. Her collection was vast and diverse, forming the historical prototype for other female collections that historians are able to study. Her interests in patronage were multi-disciplinary: painters like Raphael and Titian, sculptors as renowned as Michelangelo, and contemporary master-writers like Castiglione. Artists like these had international reputations, bringing considerable fame and prestige to Isabelle’s name through her collection.
During the Renaissance golden age of collecting, presentation and organisation was almost as important as the collection itself. For Isabelle, displaying was an opportunity to divide her identity in two: the wife, and the woman. Part of her collection was housed in the palaces’ studiolo, and this room acted as an articulation of dynastic power. It was decorated by famous artists with allusions to the strength and successes of the family she had married into. This room would have likely been the most visited part of her collections, and so any decorations she added to the original were in line with what was already in existence. The degree to which she could display individual identity here was limited. In this place, she was ‘wife and mother.’ (Julia Cartwright, 1903)
Ultimately, it was in the grotto that Isabelle could shine as the Renaissance woman she was. The grotto could only fit four to five people, making it a much more intimate space. Those that had access to the objets d’art in this room had to be permitted by Isabelle, and thus the collection could visualize a new kind of identity to that of the studiolo. She displayed her own interests in this room, particularly that of travel and exploration. She followed the expeditions of Christopher Columbus into the Americas using the globe that was kept in this room, echoing an interest found in other educated women, such as Margaret of Austria. As Europe’s reach across the world expanded, so did the intellectual explorations that women like this could take, and this was reflected in their collections as exotic flora, fauna, weapons, costumes, and more were transported back to the Continent.
Isabelle is often presented by historians as the archetypal female collector of the sixteenth and seventeenth periods. Her example here is used not to merely demonstrate that women had the same capacity as men to cultivate a worldly, educated collection, but to make a bolder suggestion. In the modern era, our own collections are much less material than four centuries ago. Physical media is often seen as a thing of the past, a relic of our parents and grandparents’ generations, relegated to boxes in the attic full of VHS tapes and stained papers. In an age where everything is available on the other side of a screen, I would argue that collecting is more important than ever before. Collecting to Renaissance women was more than accumulating pretty things. It was using one’s resources and circumstances to support and further creative works. It was an act of diplomacy and expression of affection between friends and allies. Most importantly, it was a display of individual identity. We may not be able to collect Da Vinci’s paintings or Michelangelo’s statues in the modern era, but that does not mean we are any less able the Isabelle d’Este at forming a physical manifestation of our identities. Collect physical things and support the people that create what you are interested in. Combine the elements of your own identity into something new, or emphasise the parts you are most proud of. Display your heritage, your musical interests, your own creativity. Form your own gallery.