ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the greater authority to the identification of the woman who kneels behind Isabella dEste in Bonsignoris Beata Osanna altarpiece as Margherita Cantelma, Duchess of Sora, Isabella's lifelong friend. It demonstrates Cantelma's involvement in the projects that Isabella undertook to popularize the cult of the Beata Osanna. Cantelma's letters demonstrate an attempt to adapt these conventions in order to create an appropriately feminine response to female portraiture, revealing an unusual emotional depth and strength, a level of communicative response that reflects the strong feelings she had formed for Isabella through their bonds of friendship and experience. Cantelma's work on Isabella's behalf as an ambassador to the nuns of Corpus Domini in Ferrara adds a new dimension to our understanding of the complex mechanisms of religious patronage that facilitated and nurtured the spiritual renaissance of aristocratic women in the broader context of their cities and communities.
