Mantua: Art and Patronage of the Gonzaga

This study day is available as both an in person and a recording only event. The recording will be made available to ALL attendees on the Monday following the event and will be available for 2 weeks.

The Gonzaga are synonymous with Mantua, which under their rule became one of the artistically preeminent centres in Renaissance Italy.  Recognising the value of art and architecture in enhancing their prestige, successive Gonzaga rulers attracted leading artists to their court, notably Pisanello, Mantegna and Giulio Romano. They also amassed a fabled collection of paintings, sculptures and antiquities – including masterpieces by Titian, Correggio and Michelangelo – eventually purchased by King Charles I of England.

This study day focuses on the heyday of Gonzaga patronage, between c.1440-1540, highlighting the discernment and innovation of successive rulers.  Lodovico Gonzaga commissioned groundbreaking churches from Alberti, and brought Mantegna to Mantua, where the painter served three generations, producing novel masterpieces such as the Camera Picta, the Triumph of Caesar, and poetic Allegories for Isabella d’Este, wife of Lodovico’s grandson Francesco.  Isabella, an exceptional patron by any standards, was truly remarkable in an era when this was typically a male preserve, housing her famous collections in purpose-built rooms, the studiolo and grotta.  Her son Federico inherited her tastes, bringing Giulio Romano to Mantua, who created the Palazzo Te, a pleasure palace where Mannerist wit and innovation abounds.

Lecture 1:  Mantua and the Gonzaga 1328-1707: an Overview (Paula Nuttall)

Lecture 2:  Lodovico Gonzaga and the ‘renovatio’ of Mantua (Paula Nuttall)

Lecture 3:  Francesco and Isabella: The Arts of War and Poetry (Paula Nuttall)

Lecture 4:  Giulio Romano and Palazzo Te (Geoff Nuttall)