Isabella d'Este, marchioness of Mantua (1474–1539) has long attracted the interest of art historians as an exceptional patron of the arts and, more recently, as one example within a much larger field of female patronage. Yet Isabella's religious patronage and the devotional network of secular women, nuns and tertiary religious of which she was a part have tended to be overlooked. These aspects are the focus of Sally Anne Hickson's study, at the heart of which is the idea that women and their religious patronage created communities that linked the monastic and secular worlds. Hickson's gaze falls on Isabella and a selection of women, and on how their relationships with others and their piety affected their patronage of religious art and architecture. The first three chapters tackle Isabella's friendship with Margherita Cantelma, duchess of Sora (d. 1532), arguing that it was strengthened by their shared devotion to Osanna Andreasi (1449–1505), a local lay Dominican ‘living saint,’ and by shared links with the convent community of Corpus Domini in Ferrara. Hickson's work is particularly interesting in showing how Cantelma became involved in several of Isabella's attempts to promote devotion to Osanna. Arguing that Isabella and Cantelma became ‘partners in piety’, Hickson delves into the construction of the Augustinian convent of S. Maria della Presentazione in Templo in Mantua and identifies the project as an act of civic patronage that consolidated their friendship. This monastery provided a monument to Cantelma and her sons and at the same time allowed Isabella to enhance her public reputation for piety. In the last two chapters, Hickson examines the lives of two of Isabella's daughters who became nuns, Ippolita (d. 1570) and Livia (d. 1569); and their sister-in-law, Margherita Paleologa (1510–66), wife of Federico Gonzaga. Such a short book inevitably struggles to place all the women discussed in context. In particular, whilst close study of several altarpieces reveals trends in how women mystics and established saints were depicted, it would be interesting to compare these careful artistic creations with manifestations of the ‘popular piety’ that Osanna and women like her also attracted. One is also left wanting to hear more about Isabella's daughters Livia and Ippolita, both of whom entered their separate convents as children and ultimately served as prioresses. None the less, Hickson's archival work is to be applauded, and she successfully examines several fascinating examples of religious art patronage. These case studies offer further important examples of ties forged between convents and the outside world, and of the cultural as well as religious significance of the ‘living saints’ of Renaissance Italy.