Beatrice d'Este (Sforza)

Ambrogio de Predis : Portrait of a Lady, 1490 (Beatrice d'Este?) When she was 15 years old

Sforza Altar (around 1494) with Ludovico Sforza (kneeling on the left) and Beatrice d'Este (kneeling on the right)

Beatrice d'Este ( June 29, 1475 - January 2, 1497 ) was the second daughter of Duke Ercole I d'Este of Ferrara , Modena and Reggio and thus the sister of Isabella d'Este (1474–1539), Alfonso I. d'Este (1476–1534) and Ippolito I. d'Este (1479–1520).

At the age of 16, Beatrice married on January 18, 1491, the 40-year-old later (from 1494) Duke Ludovico Sforza of Milan (1451–1508) and in her role as Princess of Milan became the patroness Donato Bramantes , Ludovico Ariostos , and above all Leonardo da Vincis . She herself brought artists from her hometown Ferrara. In the six years of their marriage, she also pushed ahead with the expansion of the Milanese castle ( Castello Sforzesco ) and the Certosa of Parma .

She was the mother of

• Massimiliano Sforza (1493-1530), Duke of Milan 1512-1515, and
• Francesco II. Sforza (1495–1535), Duke of Milan 1521–1535.

When her third son was stillborn, Beatrice died at the age of 21.

literature

• Julia Cartwright: Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Milan, 1475-1497. A study of the Renaissance . AMS Press, New York 1973 (reprinted London 1905 edition).
• Karen Essex: Leonardo e la Principessa
• Antonius Lux (ed.): Great women of world history. A thousand biographies in words and pictures . Sebastian Lux Verlag , Munich 1963, p. 158

Web links

Commons : Beatrice d'Este  - collection of images, videos and audio files