DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42861#0037
ISABELLA’S EDUCATION 9
and sister and leaving the happy home of her child-
hood.1
By this time Isabella herself had reached the age
of fourteen, and was growing up a beautiful and
accomplished maiden. She inherited her mother’s
regular features, but, unlike her sister Beatrice, had
the fair hair and white skin which we see in Titian’s
portrait at Vienna. According to Mario Equicola,
who spent many years in the Marchesa’s service, her
eyes were black and sparkling, her hair yellow, and
her complexion one of dazzling brilliancy. Trissino,
the great Vicenza humanist, in his llitratti, describes
the rippling golden hair that flowed in thick masses
over her shoulders, recalling Petrarch’s lines, “ Una
donna piu bella assai die I sole; ” and tells us that,
although only of middle height, she was remarkable
for the dignity of her carriage and stately grace of
her head and neck. But, as the Mantuan envoy told
his master, her gifts of mind were still more striking
than those of her person. Like other princesses of
the day, Isabella received a classical education, and
in after years acquired the reputation of speaking
the Latin tongue better than any woman of her age.
Battista Guarino, a son of the famous Verona scholar
who taught her uncle Duke Leonello, and lectured
in the University to the most distinguished students
in Italy, was her first teacher, and during the famine
of 1482 begged the Marquis of Mantua for a grant
of wheat, in order that he might the better instruct
Donna Isabella, “ who is now,” he adds, “ thank
God, in perfect health, and learns with a marvellous
facility far beyond her years.” Guarino was suc-
ceeded by another tutor, Jacopo Gallino, who became
1 A. Luzio e R. Renier, Mantova e Urbino, p. 16.
and sister and leaving the happy home of her child-
hood.1
By this time Isabella herself had reached the age
of fourteen, and was growing up a beautiful and
accomplished maiden. She inherited her mother’s
regular features, but, unlike her sister Beatrice, had
the fair hair and white skin which we see in Titian’s
portrait at Vienna. According to Mario Equicola,
who spent many years in the Marchesa’s service, her
eyes were black and sparkling, her hair yellow, and
her complexion one of dazzling brilliancy. Trissino,
the great Vicenza humanist, in his llitratti, describes
the rippling golden hair that flowed in thick masses
over her shoulders, recalling Petrarch’s lines, “ Una
donna piu bella assai die I sole; ” and tells us that,
although only of middle height, she was remarkable
for the dignity of her carriage and stately grace of
her head and neck. But, as the Mantuan envoy told
his master, her gifts of mind were still more striking
than those of her person. Like other princesses of
the day, Isabella received a classical education, and
in after years acquired the reputation of speaking
the Latin tongue better than any woman of her age.
Battista Guarino, a son of the famous Verona scholar
who taught her uncle Duke Leonello, and lectured
in the University to the most distinguished students
in Italy, was her first teacher, and during the famine
of 1482 begged the Marquis of Mantua for a grant
of wheat, in order that he might the better instruct
Donna Isabella, “ who is now,” he adds, “ thank
God, in perfect health, and learns with a marvellous
facility far beyond her years.” Guarino was suc-
ceeded by another tutor, Jacopo Gallino, who became
1 A. Luzio e R. Renier, Mantova e Urbino, p. 16.