Isabella d'Este, Marchioness of Mantua, could be called autocratic: she wrote a letter 70 pages long to the artist Perugino to ensure that his painting conform to her wishes and even included a piece of string to denote the size of the figures. She has also been accused of being less than honest in her methods of acquiring her precious antiques. Yet she became renowned as one of the greatest patrons of art in the early 16th century despite the fact that, unlike her male counterparts, it was not deemed fitting for a woman to commission vast buildings decorated with magnificent fresco cycles.

So how did this remarkable lady achieve this renown and how did she overcome the strictures of her gender and of her often somewhat limited purse?