rule of the Gonzagas maintained her
intellectual energy and played bravely her part in the revival of
classic learning. Her court became a center of scholarship from which
radiated a beneficent influence through much of northern Italy. The
lords of Gonzaga fought and plotted, ate and drank, and plunged into the
riotous dissipation and free play of passions which characterized the
Renaissance period, but like other distinguished Italians they steeped
themselves in learning and were the proud patrons of artists, authors,
teachers, composers.

The eminence of the house in scholarship doubtless dated from the reign
of the Marchese Gian Francesco Gonzaga. This nobleman cherished a
genuine love for ancient history and was not without an appreciation of
Roman verse. Believing, as he did in common with most Italians, that the
republican thought of Rome was the foundation of all exalted living, he
realized that his children ought to be committed to the care of a master
thoroughly schooled in ancient lore. He therefore invited to his court,
in 1425, the distinguished scholar Vittorino da Feltre and gave the
children entirely into his hands. A separate villa was allotted to the
master and his pupils. This house had been a pleasure resort where the
young Gonzagas and their friends had idled and feasted. Under Vittorino
it was gradually transformed into a great school, for the Marquis was
liberal enough to open its doors to students from various parts of
Italy. The influence of the institution became far reaching and vital.
The children of the Marquis, surrounded by earnest minds, by students
often so poor that they had to be provided by their patron with clothes
and food, but none the less respected in that little community of the
intellect for their sincerity and their industry, could not fail to
imbibe a deep reverence for learning and a keen and discriminating taste
in art.

It is, then, in the natural order of things that Ludovico Gonzaga, one
of the sons of Francesco and pupils of Vittorino, should have been proud
to receive at his court the sycophantic and avaricious poet Filelfo, and
to suffer under his systematic begging. He discharged his debt to the
world of art with greater insight when in 1456 he invited to his court
the great painter Mantegna. He offered the artist a substantial salary
and in 1460 the master went to reside at Mantua. He remained there under
three successive marquises till his death in 1506. He enriche