Leonello d'Este
Encyclopedia
Marquis
Marquis is a French and Scottish title of nobility. The English equivalent is Marquess, while in German, it is Markgraf.It may also refer to:Persons:...
of Ferrara
Ferrara
Ferrara is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north...
and Duke of Modena and Reggio Emilia
Reggio Emilia
Reggio Emilia is an affluent city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 170,000 inhabitants and is the main comune of the Province of Reggio Emilia....
from 1441 to 1450.
Biography
Leonello was one of the three illegitimate sons of Niccolò d'Este III and Stella de' Tolomei. He received a military education under the condottiero Braccio da MontoneBraccio da Montone
frame|Braccio da Montone.Braccio da Montone , born Andrea Fortebracci, and also known as Braccio Fortebraccio, was an Italian condottiero.-Biography:...
, and was taught in letters by the humanist Guarino Veronese. In 1425, after the execution of his elder brother Ugo Aldobrandino, he remained the sole heir of Niccolò.
In 1435 he married to Margherita Gonzaga and was renowned as legitimate son by Pope Martin V
Pope Martin V
Pope Martin V , born Odo Colonna, was Pope from 1417 to 1431. His election effectively ended the Western Schism .-Biography:...
. Margherita, who died in 1439, gave birth to a child, Niccolò in 1438 (died in 1476).
In 1441 he succeeded his father to his possession in northern Italy. In 1444 Leonello married to Mary of Aragon, illegitimate daughter of King Alfonso V of Naples
Alfonso V of Aragon
Alfonso the Magnanimous KG was the King of Aragon , Valencia , Majorca, Sardinia and Corsica , and Sicily and Count of Barcelona from 1416 and King of Naples from 1442 until his death...
.
Leonello was responsible of the construction of the first hospital of Ferrara
Ferrara
Ferrara is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north...
. A skilled politician, he however distinguished chiefly as a man of culture. Leon Battista Alberti wrote his De Re Aedificatoria
De Re Aedificatoria
De re aedificatoria is a classic architectural treatise written by Leon Battista Alberti between 1443 and 1452. Although largely dependent on Vitruvius' De architectura, it was the first theoretical book on the subject written in the Italian Renaissance and in 1485 became the first printed book on...
under Leonello's commission, and at the Ferrarese court worked artists such as Pisanello
Pisanello
Pisanello , known professionally as Antonio di Puccio Pisano or Antonio di Puccio da Cereto, also erroneously called Vittore Pisano by Giorgio Vasari, was one of the most distinguished painters of the early Italian Renaissance and Quattrocento...
, Iacopo Bellini, Giovanni da Oriolo
Giovanni da Oriolo
Giovanni da Oriolo was an Italian painter of the Quattrocento, active in Northern Italy, including Faenza.Only one confirmed painting by the artist is known : the profile portrait of Leonello d'Este, painted c. 1447, and now in the National Gallery of Art in London.- External links :* - the...
, Andrea Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son in law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g., by lowering the horizon in order to create a sense of greater monumentality...
, Piero della Francesca
Piero della Francesca
Piero della Francesca was a painter of the Early Renaissance. As testified by Giorgio Vasari in his Lives of the Artists, to contemporaries he was also known as a mathematician and geometer. Nowadays Piero della Francesca is chiefly appreciated for his art. His painting was characterized by its...
and the Netherlandish Rogier van der Weyden. During his rule the University of Ferrara gained a European prestige.
Leonello died in 1450, at age 43. He was succeeded by his father's illegitimate son, Borso d'Este
Borso d'Este
thumb|Borso d'Este, attributed to [[Vicino da Ferrara]], [[Pinacoteca]] of the [[Castello Sforzesco|Sforza Castle]] in [[Milan]], [[Italy]].Borso d'Este was the first Duke of Ferrara, which he ruled from 1450 until his death...
.