Codice Stivini - Inventory of the possessions of Isabella d'Este Gonzaga Facsimile Edition

The inventory of Isabella d’Este’s possessions is a 24 folios manuscript, sepia ink on parchment, illuminated and decorated with gold leaf, leather bound with a gold leaf border.

A witness of the taste of a unique woman

It was prepared by Odoardo Stivini, public notary to the Gonzaga court, who in 1542, three years after the death of the Marchioness of Mantua, was appointed to catalogue the works kept in the Studiolo of the Ducal Palace.

The 236 items listed are testimonies to the aesthetic taste and collecting mania of this Grand Dame of the Italian Renaissance. Among the many pieces of jewellery, precious gems, antique coins and medals by Pisa­nello, decorated glass and pottery and fine fabrics are also Greek and Roman sculptures, works by Michelangelo, paintings by Mantegna, Giulio Romano, Correggio, Francia and Perugino. 

Isabella d'Este Gonzaga

Isabella was born in 1474 in Ferrara, daughter of Duke Ercole I and Eleanor of Aragon. A child prodigy, she was married to Francesco Gonzaga when she was sixteen. She earned the praise of her contemporaries for her natural grace and dignity but also for her command and diplomacy. The life at her court was extremely lively and famous intellectuals and powerful statesmen attended her salon.