Culture at court at the time of Leonello

Guarino settled in town for over thirty years, exerting a profound influence not only on his former pupil - perfect personification of the ideal prototype of “humanist” prince in keeping with the ideals purported in encomiastic literature - , but also on intellectual circles and, more extensively, on the literary and intellectual thought of Ferrara.
This humanist education left visible traces in different fields: in the medals Pisanello cast for the marquis referring to ancient prototypes as well as in the decoration of several court rooms (among which the prince’ “studiolo” in the “delizia” of Belfiore, painted with the emblematic figures of the Muses); in the treatises composed by literates and courtiers in praise of Leonello’s lordship as well as in the ruling plans elaborated within the Este chancery, where many of Guarino’s pupils were employed.