GREAT WOMAN OF RENAISSANCE

ISABELLA D'ESTE

Isabella d'Este was born in 1474 into the ruling family of Ferra.

At the age of sixteen Isabella married Francesco Gonzaga.

She then became the Marchioness of Mantua because Francesco was the Prince.

Catherine de Medici

Catherine de Medici was born in Florence, Italy, 1519.

She had a very troubled childhood.

At only the young age of one, both of Catherine's parents died from a disease.

The nuns where she lived, trained and disciplined her and as she grew older she became very well-educated. Catherine filled her library with numerous rare manuscripts. In 1533 her uncle, the Pope, arranged her marriage. For the first ten years of her marriage, Catherine was unable to produce children but finally she was able to. At the age of ten, one of her children became the King of France so she became the King's Regent, which enabled her to be Queen Regent. In January of the year,1589, Catherine died at the age of seventy.

It is the story of the most famous royal love triangle in the history of France and is full of romance and rivalry. 

If Diane de Poitiers had lived in the twenty-first century.

Catherine de Medici

Catherine de Medici was born Caterina Maria Romola di Lorenzo de' Medicion April13, 1519, in Florence, cradle of the European Renaissance

Catherine was the daughter of Lorenzo Il de Medici, the Duke of Urbino, and Madeleine de la Tour d’Auvergne, a French Bourbon Princess. Catherine was orphaned by both parents before she was a month old.

There were no close relatives whom to care for the infant. In the end, her fathers distant relative, Cardinal Guilio de' Medici (the future pope Clement VII), became her guardian, as well the head of the government of Florence.

Marie de Guise

Born November 20, 1515, the eldest daughter of the powerful Duke of Guise and Antoinette of Bourbon, Marie grew up in the idyllic French countryside in the family home of Joinville.

Marie’s parents were a love match, unusual for noble families of that time. Her father was a military hero who made it his mission to stamp Protestantism out of France.

Marie’s mother took an active interest in her husband’s affairs, which did not go unnoticed by her daughter. Marie received an excellent education at the Convent of the Poor Clares in Pont-a-Mousson, overseen by her own grandmother, who became a nun at the age of 58.

Margaret of Austria

From birth, Margaret of Austria (Brussels 1480- Mechelen 1530) was used by her father, Maximilian of Austria, as a valuable pawn in the European political game.

She was the daughter of Maximilian of Austria and his wife Mary of Burgundy. In view of her Habsburg and Burgundian heritage, she was highly eligible. 

 When Margaret was barely two years old, her father betrothed her to the Dauphin, later Charles VIII.

Elisabetta Sirani

Sirani was a multi-talented individual, born in Bologna and an accomplished painter, poet, musician and daughter of painter Giovanni Andrea Sirani.

Her subjects were traditionally large scale religious or historical paintings.

She sadly died prematurely at the age of 27 but with her rapid style of painting, she still managed to produce over 200 works of art.

Artemisia Gentileschi

The daughter of painter Orazio Gentileschi, she was born in Rome and studied under him. She was later tutored by the painter Tassi, who in a well documented trial of the time was accused of rapping her. Moved to Florence where she became the Medici family patronised her and she was close friends with Galileo and Michelangelo's nephew. She was also the first woman to become a member of the Accademia delle Arte.

Renaissance Women Who Ruled http://ezinearticles.com/?Female-Renais

sance-Artists&id=2989548

Neisly O. Fajardo BSED 2-F (SS)