#104 "The Marchesa:" A Conversation with Sarah Dunant

Saturday, June 28th Live on Zoom

6pm London, 7pm Florence, 10am Los Angeles, 1pm New York

I am delighted to welcome back to Paola's Studiolo the bestselling author Sarah Dunant, as we discuss one of the most fascinating women of the Italian Renaissance, Isabella d'Este.

In Dunant's own words: "Over the last four years, I have been researching and writing a novel about one of the most formidable female characters of the Italian renaissance, Isabella d’Este.

Born in 1474 into one of Italy’s most illustrious dynasties in Ferrara, she was married

at fifteen into another. Her husband , Francesco Gonzaga , Marquis of Mantua, was a

warrior and a philanderer, but their partnership lasted for a quarter of a century and

their mutual independence allowed her to become the first female patron and art

collector of her time, as well as ruling the state in his absence.

She collected work from Michelangelo, Mantegna, Perugino, Titian and Leonardo

(see the above sketch), as well as indulging a passion for Roman antiquities which

were all the rage at the time. An icon of fashion, her court was filled with writers

and poets and she had a personally designed studiolo, at a time when only men had

such places.

Her clever, educated and occasionally overbearing voice (!) sings out from some

thirteen thousand letters preserved in the archive of Mantua, all of which allowed

me to write ‘The Marchesa,” a mix of fiction, biography and the most wonderful art,

to bring alive this most flamboyant and influential of Renaissance women."

The link to preorder the book.

To RSVP: Paola50122@gmail.com

Minimum suggested donation: $28

This talk is free for Friends of Paola's Studiolo!

Look forward to seeing you on Zoom!