Gianfrancesco was the son of Francesco I Gonzaga and Margherita Malatesta. He inherited the rule of Mantua in 1407, when he was 12. In his first years, he was under the patronage of his uncle Carlo Malatesta and, indirectly, of the Republic of Venice. In 1409 he married Paola Malatesta, daughter of Malatesta V Malatesta of Pesaro, by whom he had a son, Ludovico III Gonzaga, who succeeded him as Marquess of Mantua. He was the first Gonzaga to bear the title of marquess, which he obtained from Emperor Sigismund on September 22, 1433.