In an authoritative study, illustrated with over 150 colour reproductions, Alison Cole goes beyond the famous centres of Renaissance culture – Florence, Rome and Venice – to explore the splendid and distinctive uses of art and the commissioning of artists at five great secular courts: Naples under Alfonso of Aragon; Urbino under Frederico de Montefeltro; the small principality of Ferrara, ruled by the Este family; the Gonzaga family’s Mantua; and Milan and Pavia under Ludovico Sforza.