ABSTRACT
In discussing artistic ideals the names were mentioned of patrons who sought to gain public esteem by commissioning works of art which would advertise their moral and intellectual worth. This had been first done by Florentine citizens in the early Quattrocento, greatest amongst whom was Cosimo de' Medici. In the middle and later part of the century the ideal passed to such patrons as Lionello d'Este of Ferrara, Federigo da Montefeltro of Urbino, the Sforza dukes of Milan and the Gonzaga family of Mantua. These cultivated princes were the first of a type which was to feature in the history of the Reformation. What they represented can be glimpsed most clearly at Urbino, from where some monuments to Federigo's ambitions still survive.
