Skip to main content

Full text of "Isabella D'Este, Marchioness of Mantua, 1474-1539: A Study of the Renaissance"

See other formats 


Google 



This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project 

to make the world's books discoverable online. 

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject 

to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books 

are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover. 

Marks, notations and other maiginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the 

publisher to a library and finally to you. 

Usage guidelines 

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the 
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing tliis resource, we liave taken steps to 
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying. 
We also ask that you: 

+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for 
personal, non-commercial purposes. 

+ Refrain fivm automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine 
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the 
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help. 

+ Maintain attributionTht GoogXt "watermark" you see on each file is essential for in forming people about this project and helping them find 
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it. 

+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just 
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other 
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of 
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner 
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liabili^ can be quite severe. 

About Google Book Search 

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers 
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web 

at |http: //books .google .com/I 



idb,Googlc 




sfc 



idb,Googlc 



idb,Googlc 



idb,Googlc 



idb,Goi)glc 



ISABELLA D'ESTE 



D,t„db,Googlc 



idb,Goi)glc 



idb,Googlc 



y^/,. — '^^ >,:,..■ /j:^.,.„j 



idb,Goi)glc 



i 



ISABELLA D'ESTE 

MARCHIONESS OF MANTUA 

1474-1539 
A STUDY OF THE RENAISSANCE 

BY JULIA CARTWRIGHT (Mrs. ADY) 

AXJTHOR OF "BEATRICE D'ESTE," "THE PAINTERS 

OF FLORENCE," "MADAME," ETC. '.""yL?^*!'^^;,. 

EUBOFBAB W0M, 

"La prima duma dtl monde." ABee«»ioil.,..9..Cr..'|b 

NiCCOLO DA COKKBGGIO. 

" D'apert illvsiri e di bei stmdi arnica, 
Ch' M MM IV btn stpi& Uggiadra e btlUt, 
Mi dibia dirt, e piit saggia i fudica 
IMtralt t magKamma Isaitlla." 

Ariosto. 

IN TWO VOLUMES 
VOL. I 



LONDON 
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 

1903 



i 



idb,Goi)glc 




idb,Goi)glc 






PREFACE 

The life of Isabella d'Este has never yet been written. 
After four hundred years, the greatest lady of the 
Renaissance still awaits her biographer. An unkind 
&te has pursued all the scholars, whether French, 
German, or Italian, who hare hitherto attempted the 
task. Their labours have been hindered and inter- 
rupted, or their lives prematurely cut short by death. 
More than fifty years ago an interesting study on the 
&mous Marchesa, from the pen of a Mantuan scholar, 
Carlo d'Arco, was .published in the ArcMvio Storico 
ItaUano (1845), based upon documents preserved in 
the Gronzaga Archives. In 1867, a distinguished 
Frenchman, M. Armand Baschet, wrote a remark- 
able essay on Isabella d'Este's relations with the 
great Venetian printer, Aldo Manuzio, but died 
before he could execute his intention of publishing 
a life of this princess. A mass of documents, which 
he had copied &om the Mantuan Archives, remained 
in the hands of the late M. Charles Yriarte, who 
wrote several interesting chapters on Isabella d'Este's 
relations with the great painters of her age, in the 
Gazette des Beaux Arts, and was preparing a fuller 
and more complete work on the subject when he 
died. M. Firmin Didot, Dr. Janitschek, Dr. Reumont, 
and Ferdinand Gregorovius have all in turn given 
us sketches of Isabella in their historic^ works, while 
deploring the absence of any biography which should 
do full justice to so attractive and important a figure. 



..Cjoogic 



vi PREFACE 

Meanwhile, Italian students have not been idle. 
Twenty years ago a learned Mantuan ecdesiastic, 
Canonico Willelmo Braghirolli, made a careful study 
of Isabella's correspondence with Giovanni Bellini 
and Perugino, and published many of the letter 
relating to these artists. But he too died before his 
time, leaving her life still unwritten. Other well- 
known scholars, Ferrato, Bertolotti, Campori, Signor 
Vittore Cian, and Cavaliere Stefano Davari, the pre- 
sent Director of the Archivio Gronzaga, have tiumed 
their attention to different aspects of the theme, and 
have published studies on the Gonzaga princes, or on 
Hie scholars and artists attached to their court. Above 
all, Dr. Alessandro Luzio, the present Keeper of the 
State Archives of Mantua, and his former colleague, 
Signor Ridolfo Reni», have devoted years of patient 
and untiring labour to the examination of the vast 
mass of Isabella d'Este's correspondence, amounting 
to upwards of two thousand letters, which had been 
fortunately preserved. During the last fifteen years 
these indefatigable woricers have published a whole 
series of valuable articles and pamphlets containing 
the results of their researches, as well as one small 
volume, in which the intercourse between the courts 
of Mantua and Urbino, in the lifetime of Isabella 
and her sister-in-law, Elisabetta Gonzaga, is fiilly 
described. In an essay which Signor Renier contri- 
buted to the ItaSa, fifteen years ago, he informed his 
readers that he and Dr. Luzio would shortly publish 
a monograph on the great Marchesa, but these dis- 
tinguished scholars have as yet been unable to Ailfil 
their promise, and the appearance of this important 
and long-expected work is still delayed. 

Meanwhile, the following study, without pretend- 



ed byGoogIc 



PREFACE vii 

ixig to be an exhaustive biography, may interest those 
of our readers who are already familiar with Isabella 
through the Life of her sister, Beatrice d'Este.' The 
history of these two princesses was closely inter- 
woven during the early days of their wedded life, 
and Isabella's visits to Milan, and her correspondence 
with Lodovico Sforza and his young wife naturally 
filled a large share of her time and thoughts. But 
these six brilliant years which made up the whole of 
Beatrice's married life fcHnied only a brief episode 
in Isabella's long and eventful career. During the 
next forty years she played an important part in the 
history of her times, and made the little court of I 
Mantua famous in the eyes of the . whole civilised r 
world. Her close relationship with the reigning 
families of Milan and Naples, of Ferrara and Urbino, 
and constant intercourse with Popes and monarchs 
made her position one of peculiar importance, while 
the wisdom and sagacity which she showed in poli- 
tical affairs commanded universal respect. Both 
during the lifetime of her husband and son she 
was repeatedly called upon to administer the gov- 
ernment of the state, and showed a coolness and 
dexterity in the conduct of the most difficult 
negotiations that would have excited the admiration 
of Machiavelli himself. By her skilful diplomacy 
this able woman saved the little state of Mantua 
from fEdling a prey to the ambitious designs of Csesar 
Borgia, or the vengeance of two powerful French 
monarchs, Louis XII. and Francis I. At the 
same time she helped her brother, Duke Alfonso of 
Ferrara, to resist the furious assaults of Julius II. 

> Beatrice d'Este. Duchess of Milan, by Julia Cartwright. 
■' (Dent & Co., 1899.) 

■ \ 



^dbyGoogle 



(S 



1\ 



PREFACE 



and the tortuous policy of Leo X., and to preserve 
his duchy in the face of the most prolonged and 
determined opposition. Isabella lived to see the 
tiiMlment of her fondest wish, when, in 1581, the 
newly-crowned Emperor, Charles V., visited Mantua 
and raised her eldest son to the rank of Duke, while 
Pope Clement VII. bestowed a Cardinal's hat on her 
second son Ercole. 

But it is above all as a patron of art and letters 
that Isabella d'Este will be remembered. In this 
respect she deserves a place with the most enlight- 
ened princes of the Renaissance, with Lorenzo dei 
Medici and Lodovico Sforza. A true child of her 
age, Isabella combined a passionate love of beauty 
and the most profound reverence for antiquity with 
the finest critical taste. Her studios and villas 
were adorned with the best paintings and statues by 
the first masters of the day, and with the rarest 
antiques from the Eternal City and the Isles of 
Greece. Her book-shelves contained the daintiest 
editions of classical works printed at the Aldine 
Press, and the newest poems and romances by living 
writers. Viols and organs of exquisite shape and 
tone, lutes of inlaid ivory and ebony, the richest 
brocades and rarest gems, the finest gold and silver 
work, the choicest majolica and most deUcately 
tinted Murano glass found a place in her camerim. 
But everything that she possessed must be of the 
best, and she was satisfied with nothing short of 
perfection. Even Mantegna and Perugino some- 
times failed to please her, luid Aldo's books were 
returned to be more carefully revised and printed. 
To attain these objects Isabella spared neither time 
nor trouble. She wrote endless letters, and gave the 



^dbyGooglc 



/ 



PREFACE ix 

artists in her employment the most elaborate imd 
minute instructions. Bra^iirolli counted as many 
as forty letters on the subject of a single picture 
painted by Giovanni Bellini, and no less than fifty- 
tiiree on a painting entrusted to Perugino. Especial 
attention has been devoted to this portion of Isabella's 
correspondence in the present work. The vast num- 
ber of letters which passed between her and the chief 
artists of the day have hitherto lain buried in foreign 
archives or hidden in pamphlets and periodicab, many 
of them already out of print. All these have been 
carefully collected, and are for the first time brought 
together here. 

If Isabella was a fastidious and at times a 
severe critic, she was also a generous and kindly 
patron, prompt to recognise true merit and stimulate 
creative effort, and ever ready to be&iend struggling 
artists. And poets and punters alike gave her &eely 
of their best. Castiglione and Niccolo da Corre^^o, 
Bembo and Bibbiena, were among her constant 
correspondents, Aldo Manuzio pnnted Viigils and 
Fetrarchs for her use, Lorenzo da Pavia made her 
musical instruments of unrivalled beauty and sweet- 
ness. The works of Mantegna and Costa, of Giovanni 
Bellini and Michelangelo, of Perugino and Correggio, 
a lomed her rooms. Giovanni Santi, Andrea Man- 
tegna, Fraqcesco Francia, mid Lrf>renzo Costa all 
in turn painted portraits of her, v^ch have alas I 
perished. But her beautiful features stUl live in 
Leonardo's perfect drawing, in Cristoforo's medal, 
and in Titian's great picture at Vienna. Nor were 
poets and prose-writers remiss in paying her their 
homage. Paolo Giovio addressed her as the rarest of 
jwomen ; Bembo and Trissino celebrated her charms 



iuAaXI^Ic 



X PREFACE 

and virtues in their sonnets and cwnzoni. Castiglione 
gave her a high place in his courtly record, Ariosto 
paid her a magnificent tribute in his " Orlando," 
while endless were the songs and lays which minor 
bards offered at the shrine of this peerless Marchesa, 
whom they justly called the foremost lady in the 
world — " la prima donna del mondo." — " Isabella 
d'Este," writes Jacopo Caviceo, "at the sound of 
whose name all the Muses rise and do reverence." 

In her aims and aspirations Isabella was a typical 
child of the Renaissance, and her thoughts and actions 
faithfully reflected the best traditions of the age. 
Her own conduct was blameless. As a wife and 
mother, as a daughter and sister, she was beyond 
reproach. But her judgments conformed to the 
standard of her own times, and her diplomacy fol- 
lowed the principles of Machiavelli and of Marino 
Sanuto. She had a strong sense of family affections, 
and would have risked her life for the sake of ad- 
vancing the interests of her husband and children 
or brothers, but she did not hesitate to ask Ctesar 
Borgia for the statues of which he had robbed her 
brother-in-law, and danced merrily at the ball given 
by Louis XII. while her old friend and kinsman 
Duke Lodovico languished in the dxmgeons of 
Loches. Like others of her age, she knew no 
r^rets and felt no remorse, but lived wholly in the 
present, throwing herself with all the might of her 
strong vitality into the business or enjoyment of the 
hour, forgetful of the past and careless (k the futiu^ 

Fortunate in the time of her birth and in the cir- 
cumstances of her life, Isabella was above all fortunate 
in this, that she saw the finest works of the Renais? 
sance in the prime of their beauty. She 



,db,Goi)glc / I 



PREFACE jd 

Venice and Milan in their most triumphant hour, 
when the glowing hues of Titian and Giorgione's 
frescoes, of Leonardo and Gian Bellini's paintings, 
were fresh upon the walls. She visited the famous 
palace of Urbino in the days of the good Duke 
Guidobaldo, when young Raphael was painting his 
first pictures, and Bembo and Castiglione sat at the 
. feet of the gentle Duchess Elisabetta. She came 
to Florence when Leonardo and Michelangelo were 
woridng side by side at their cartoons in the 
Council Hall, and she was the guest of Leo X., and 
saw the wonders of the Sistina and of Raphael's 
Stanza, before the fair halls of the Vatican had been 
defaced by barbarian invaders. 

Many and sad were the changes that she witnessed 
in the coiu-se of her long life. She saw the first 
" invasion of the stranger, and all Italy in flame and 
fire," as her own Ferrara poet sang in words of 
passionate lament She saw Naples torn from the 
house of Aragon, the &ir Milanese, where the Moro 
and Beatrice had reigned in their pride, lost in a 
single day. She saw Urbino conquered twice over 
and her own kith and kin driven into exile, first by 
the treacherous Borgia, then by a Medici Pope, 
who was bound to the reigning house by the closest 
ties of friendship and gratitude. And in 1527, she 
was herself an unwilling witness of the nameless 
horrors that attended the sie^e and sack of Rome. 
Three years later, she was present at the Emperor 
Charles V.'s coronation at Bologna, and took an 
active piui; in the splendid ceremonies that marked 
the loss of Italian independence and the close of 
this great period. But to the last Isabella retained 
the same delight in beauty, the same keen sense of 



I u, Google 



xii PREFACE 

enjojTnent. She advanced in years without ever 
growing old, and in the last months of her life, one 
of the foremost scholais of the age. Cardinal Bembo, 
pronounced her to be the wisest and most fortunate 
of women. The treasures of art and learning which 
she had collected were sold by her descendants to 
foreign princes or destroyed when the Germwis 
sacked Mantua ninety years after her death, and the 
ruin of her favoiu^te palaces and villas was completed 
by the French invaders of 1797, who did not even 
spare the tomb which held her ashes. But Isabella 
herself will be long remembered as the fairest and 
most perfect flower of womanhood which blossomed 
under the simny skies of Viigil's land, in the 
immortal days of the Italian Renaissance. 

JULIA CAKTWRIGHT. 



I add a list of the chief authorities on the life 
aiA times of Isabella d'Este : — 

ITALIAN. 
NoUzie di Isabella EBteuee. Carlo d'Arco (Arcbivio Storico 

Italiano, Appendice, Tom. ii.). 1845. 
Dell' Arte e degli Artefici di Mantova. Carlo d'Arco. S torn. 1857. 
DiBCorso intomo le Belle Lettere e le Arte Mantovanl. Abate 

BettineUL 1774. 
Cronaca di Mantova. A. SchivenogUa. 1445-I4S4. Miiller. 

Roccolta. 1857. 
Storia di Mantova. Mario Equlcola. I6l0. 
De Mulieribus. Mario Equicola. 

Storia eoclcaiastica di Mantora. DoDesmondL 16IS-I616. 
Diario Ferrarese. Italicaaam Renim Scriptores. xxiv. L. A. 

Muratori. 1750. 
Storia di Ferrara. A. Frizzi. Tom. iv., v. 1791. 
Compendio della Storia di Mantova. Volta. 1807-1858. 
Lettere inedite di Artisti eavate dall' Arcbivio Gonzaga. W. 

BiaghiroUi. 1678. 



^dbyGoogle 



PREFACE xiii 

IsabelU d'Este e Giovanni Bellini. W. BraghiroUi (Archivio 

Veneto, ziiL). MantovK. 1877. 
Notizie inedite di P. Vannocchi. W. BraghiroUi. Perugia. 1874. 
Tinano alia Corte dei Gonzaghi. W. BraghiroUi. 1881. 
Notizie e Documenti intomo al ritnttto di Leon X. W. BraghiroUi 

e C. d'Arcxj (Archivio Storioo Italiano, vii). 1868, 
LettereineditedidonneMantovauedelsecoloXV. P.Ferrato. 1878. 
Alciine lettere di Prindpesse di Casa Gonsaga. P. Ferrato. Imola. 

1879. 
Mantova e Urbino. Isabella d'Este ed Elieabetta Gonzaga. Nar- 

razione storica documentata di A. Luzio e R. Benier. 1693. 

I Precettori d'Isabclla d'Este. A. Luzio. 1887. 
Federico Gonzaga, Ostaggio alia Corte di Giulio IL 1887. 
Delle Relazioni d'lsabeUa d'Este. — Gonzaga con Lodovico e 

Beatrice Sforza. Luzio e Benier (Archivio Storico Lombardo, 

zvii.). Milano. 1890. 
Isabella e la Corte Sforzesca. Luzio (Archivio Storico Lombardo, 

xxviii). Milano. 1901. 
Francesco Gonzaga alia battaglia di Fomovo (Archivio Storico 

Italiano, Serie V., v. vi). Luzio e Benier. Firenze. 1890. 
Gara di via^o fra due celebri dame del Binasdmento. Luzio e 

Benier. Alessandria. 1890. 
Isabella d'Este. Rivista Italia, i. R. Benier. Boma. 1888. 
Niccolo da Correggio. Lnzio e Beuier (Giomale Storico della 

Letteratura Jtaliana, torn. zzi. e xxii.). Torino. 189S. 
Bnffoni, nani e schiavi dei Gonzaga ai tempi d'Isabella d'Este. 
• Luzio e Benier (Nuova Antologia). Boma. IBgi. 

II Lusso d'Isabella d'Este. Luzio (Nuova Antologia). Roma. 1896. 
Lettere inedite di Fra Sabba da Castiglione. Luzio (Archivio 

Storico Lombardo, xiii.). Milano. 1866. 

Vittoria Colonna. Luzio (Rivista Storica Mantovana, L). Man- 
tova. 1885. 

II Palazzo di Mantova. Ste&no Davari (Archivio Storico Lom- 
bardo, zzii.). 1895. 

La Musica in Mantova. Ste&no Davari (Rivista Stonca Manto- 
vana, i). 1885. 

Le Arte Minori alia Corte di Mantova. A. Bertolotti (Archivio 
Storico Lombardo, v.). • 

Artisti in relazione ctn Gonxaga. A. Bertolotti Modena. 1885. 

II Palazzo del T£. G. B. Intra (Archivio Storico L<»nbardo, xiv.). 
1687. 

Notizie intomo aUo studio publico in Mantova. S. DavarL 1676. 



^dbyGoogle 



xiv PREFACE 

II Matrimonio di Dorotea Goniaga. 5. Davari. 

II Matrimonio di Federico Gonzaga(Arcb. Storico Lombardo). 1 887. 

Lorenzo Gusnasco. Dr. Carlo dell' Acqua. Milano. 1886. 

G. C Romano. A. Ventim (Archivio Storico dell' Arte, i.). 1888. 

Lorenzo Costa. A. Venturi (Archivio Storico dell' Arte, i.). 1868. 

Notice da Rafiaelle e Giovanni Santi. G. CamporL Modena. 1870. 

La Coltura e le RelazionJ Letterarie di Isabella d'Este Gonzaga. 

Luzio e Renier (Giornale Storico della Letteratura Italiana, 

xxjuiL). Torino. I899-1901. 
Pietro Bembo. V. Cian (Giornale Storico di Letteratura Italianaj 

ix.). Torino. 1887. 
Un decennio nella vita di P. Bembo. V. Cian. 1885. 
Nuovi Dociunenti su Pietro Pomponaszi. V. Cian. Venezia. 1687. 
Ercole Goozaga a Bologna. Luzio (Giornale Storico della Let- 
teratura Italiana, viii.). Torino. 1886. 
La Madonna della Vittoria del Mantegna. Luzio (Emporium, x.). 

Bergamo. 1 899. 
La Chiesa e la Madonna della Vittoria. Portioli 1683. 
I Ritmttid'Isabella d'Este. Luzio (Emporium, xi.). Bergamo. I9OO. 
Viaggio d'Isabella d'Este sul Lago di Garda. A. Pedrazzdl 

(Archivio Storico Lombardo, zzii.). 1890. 
Carteggio inedito d'Artisti. Gaye, torn. ii. e iii. Firenze. 1837. 
La Vita dl Benvenuto Cellini 
Le Vite dei piii Eccellenti Pittori, Scultori ed Architettori, scritte 

da Giorgo Vasari con nuove annotazioni df Gaetano MilanesL 

Firenze. 1878. 
Leonardo da Vind. Edmondo Solmi. Firenze. 1900. 
Leonardo da Vinci. Ludo (Archivio Storico dell' Arte, i.). 1868. 
Lettere di Pietro Bembo. Verona. 17*8. 
Dell" Imprese, Paolo Giovio. 1555. 

Lettere di Baldassarre Castiglione. Edizione Serassi. 1769. 
Lettere diplomatiche di Castiglione. Ed. Contini. Padova. 1875. 
DelleesenzionidellafamigliadiCastiglione. Coddi. Montova. 1760. 
Notizie biografiche intomo al Conte Baldassarre Castiglione. 

Martinati, 1890. 
Un Giudizio di lesa romaniti. D. GnoU. Roma. I89I. 
Renata di Francia. B. Pontana. Roma, I889. 
Cian Giacomo Trissino. B. Morsolin. Vicenza. 1 894. 
Francesco Chi ericati. B. Morsolin. Vicenza. 187S. 
Opere del Trissino. Ed. Maffei. Verona. 1729. 
Origin! del Teatro Italiano. Alessandro d'Ancona. S tom. Torina 



^dbyGoOglc 



/ 



PREFACE XT 

Cesare Borgia. Ed. Alvisi. Imola. 1878. 

Vittoria ColoEma. A. Reumont. Toriao. 188S. 

Veronica Gambara. Rime e lettere raccolte. F, Rizzardi. Brescia. 

1769. 
Lettere inedite di V. Gambara. R. Renier (Gionude Storico della 

Letteratura Italiana, xiv.). Torino. 1 889. 
Vita di I^gi Gonzaga Rodomonte. Affit. Parma. 1780. 
Storia di Gasolo. Bergamaski, Casalmaggiore. 1883. 
Famiglie celebri Italiane. P. litti. 8 torn. MUano. 1819-1858. 
Storia d'ltalia. Fr. Guicciardini. Firenze. 18S2. 
Opere Inedite. Fr. Guicciardini. 10 torn. Firenze. 1857-1867. 
Vita di Vittorino da Feltre. Rosmini. 1845. 

DispacciGiustiniani, 1508-1505. Ed.Villari. 3tom. Firenze. 1876. 
Font! italiane per lo scoperto del Nuovo Mondo. W. Bergbet. 

Roma. 1898. 
Lettere storiche, J509-1528. Luigi da Porto. Firenze. 1857. 
Storia dei Conti e Duchi da Urbino. J. Ugolini. Firenze. 1859. 
Sacco di Roma. Narrazioni di Contemporanei. Ed. Milaneri. 

Firenze. 1867. 
Delia renuta e dimora In Bologna del S. Pontefice Clemente VII., 

per la Coronazione di Carlo V. Imperatore. G. Giordano. 1842. 

I Diarii di Marino Sanuto, I496-I535. Stefano Berghet Venezia. 

1885-1900. 58 torn. 
Le NoveUe del Bandello. Ed. Busdrago. Lncca. 1554. 

II Cortigiano di B. Castigtione, atuiotato da V. Ciati. Firenze. 1894. 
Caterina Sforza. P. D. Pasolini. S torn. Rome, 1893. 

FRENCH. 

Les Relations de Leonardo da Vinci avec Isabelle d'Eate. Charles 

Yriarte (Gazette des Beaux Arts). 1888. 
laabelle d'Este et les Artistes de son temps. Charles Yriarte 

(Gazette des Beaux Arts). 1895 et 1896. 
Andrea Man tegna. Charles Yriarte. Paris. 1901. 
Aide Manuce et rHellioisme A Veniae. Ambroise Firmin Oidot. 

Paris. 1875. 
Aide Manuce. Lettres et Documents. Armand Baschet. Venise. 

1867. 
^Rechercbesdes Documents dans les Archives de Mantoue. Armand 

Baschet (Gazette des Beaux Arts). 1866. 
Documents in^its tir^s des Archives de Mantoue. Annand 

Baschet (Arcbivio Storico Itatiano, iH.). 1886. 



^dbyGoogle 



xvi PREFACE 

Les M^dAilleuTs Italiens des quinsiime et seiziime didea. 

Armand. Paris. 1883-1887. 
Leonardo da Vinci. Eugine Miintz. Paris. 1898. 
Histoire de I'Art pendant la Renaissance. Italie. Paris. Engtoe 

MttntB. Tom. if. 1891. 
L'Art ferrarais 4 I'^poque des Princes d'Este. Gnstave CniTer. 

Paris. 1877. S tomes. 
Louis XII. et L. Sforea. Louis Pdissier. 1498-1500. 
Les Amies de Ludovic Sfona (Revue historiqae). L. Prissier. 1891* 
Cisar Borgia, sa vie, sa captivity, sa mort. C Yriarte. Paris. 1867. 
Antour dea Boi^FiM. C. Yriarte. Paris. 1891. 

GERMAN. 

Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter, Binde vii und viii 

F. GregoroviuB. Stuttgart 1880. 
Geschichte der Stadt Bom. A. Reumont Leipzig. 1872. 
Geschichte der Piipste. Or. Ludnig Pastor. English edition, 6 

vols. 1888. 
Andrea Mantegna. Paul Kristeller. English edition b; S. A. 

Strong. 1901. 
Barbara von Brandenburg (" Hohenzollem Jabrbuch," 1897). 

Paul Kristeller. I9OI. 
Barbara von Hohenzollem, Markgiitfin voa Mantua. B. Hofinann. 

Anspacb. 1881. 
Lucrezia Borgia. F. Gregorovius. Stuttgart. 1875. 
Papst Julius II. 1878. 

Kunst und Kiinstler. Dohme. Leipzig. 1878, &c. 
Die Gesellschaft der Renaissance in Italien und die Kunst H. 

Janitachek. Stuttgart. 1879. 
Der Cultur der Renaissance in Italien. J. Burckhardt Basel. I860. 

ENGLISH. 

Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino. Dennistoun. 3 vols. 1851. 

Life and Works of Raphael. Crowe and Cavalcaselle. 1888. 

Ufe and Works of TiUan. Crowe and Cavalcaselle. 1861. 

The Renaissance in Italy. J. A. Symonds. 1886. 

History of the Papacy. Dr. Creighton. 1897. 

II Prindpe, by N. Machiavelll Ed. by L. Burd, with an introduc- 
tion by Lord Acton. Oxford, 1691. 

The Cambridge Modem Htetoiy. Ed. by A. W. Ward, G. W. 
Prothero and Stanley Leatbes. Vol. L The Renaissance. 
1902. 

The Emperor Charles V. By Edward Armstrong. 190S. 



^dbyGoogle 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

1474—1490 

Birth of IgabelU d'Este— Her betrothal to Francesco 
GmuaigK — Visit of the Mantuan envoy to Fermra — 
Her letters to the Marquis — Mantegna's Madonna — 
Eliaabetta G<Hixaga visits Ferrara — Personal charms of 
Isabella — Her education and teachers — Classical studies 
and love of music — Cultured tastes of her parents — 
Music and art at their court — Cosimo Turn and Ercole 
Roberti — Marriage of Isabella — Her reception at 
Mantua ....... 1-18 

CHAPTER n 

1338— 1478 

The court of Mantua and house of Gonzaga — Gianfrau- 
cesco II., the first Marquis — Vittorino da Feltre and 
the Casa Zoiosa — Cecilia Gonzaga — Reign of Lodovico 
Gonsaga and Barbara of Brandenburg — Their patronage 
of art and learning — Marriage of Federico to Margaret 
of Bavaria — Betrothal of Dorotea Gonzaga to Galeazso 
Sforza — Frescoes of the Camera degti Sposl . . 19-36 

CHAPTER III 

1478—1490 

Beign of Federico Gonzaga — Death of his wife and mother — 
His love for his daughters — Visit of Lorenzo dei 
Medici — Accession of Francesco Gonzaga — His charac- 
ter and warlike tastes — Betrothal of Elisabetta Gonxaga 
to Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino — His visit to Mantua 
— Marriage of Elisabetta — Her return to Mantoa for 
VOL. I "" J 



^dbyGoOglc 



xvin CONTENTS 

Francesco's wedding — Her friendship with Isattella 
d'Este — Excursion to the Lago di Garda — Visits to 
Ferrara ....... 37-53 

CHAPTER IV 

1490—1493 
Marriage of Beatrice d'Eate to Lodovico Sfbrsa — Isabella's 
preparations for the wedding — Journey to Pavia and 
Milan — Marriage of Alfonso d'Este to Anna Sforza — 
Ffites at Ferrara — Correspondence of Isabella with 
Lodovico and Beatrice Sforza — IsabelU. administers 
afiairs of State — Galeotto's dyke — Visits to Ferrara, 
Milan, and Genoa — The Duchess of Urbino comes to 
Mantu»— Isabella's affection for Elisabetta . 34-69 

CHAPTER V 

1491—1493 
Correspondence of Isabella with her family and friends; 
with merchants and jewellers — Her intellectual in- 
terests — Love of French romances and classical 
authors — Greek and Hebrew translations and. de- 
votional works — Fra Mariano and Savonarola — 
Antonio Tebaldeo — Isabella's friendships — Niccolo da 
Correggio — Sonnets and eclogues composed for her — 
Her love of music — Songs and favourite instruments — 
Atalante Migliorotti's lyre — Isabella's camerino in the 
Castello — Liombeni decorates her tludioh — Mantegna 
returns from Rome — Paints Isabella's portrait — 
Giovanni Santi at Mantua .... 70-93 

CHAPl'ER VI 

1493—1494 
Discoveiy of the New World — The news reaches Mantua — 
Birth of the Moro's son — Isabella's journey to Ferrara 
and Venice — Reception by the Doge and Signory — 
Her relations with Gentile Bellini — Return to Mantua 
Francesco Gonzaga at Venice — Death of Duchess 



^dbyGoOglc 



CONTENTS xix 

Leonora — Birth of Leonora Goozaga — Departure of 
the Duke and Duchess of Urbino — Decorations of 
Manoirolo and Gonzaga . 9^107 

CHAPTER VII 

1494—1495 

Journey of Isabella to Loreto and Urbino — Letters from 
Gubbio and Urbino — Charles VIII. enters Italy — The 
Marquis of Mantua refuses his offers — Visit of Isabella 
to Milan — Conquest of Naples by the French — League 
against France — Francesco Gonzaga, captain of the 
armies of the League — Isabella governs Mantua — 
Battle of the Taro — Heroism of Francesco Gonzaga — 
Rejoicings at Venice and Mantua — The Jew Daoiele 
Norsa and Mantegna's Madonna della Vittoria . 108-137 

CHAPTER VIII 

1496—1497 
Campaign of Naples — Ferrante recovers his kingdom — 
Francesco Gonzaga commands the Venetian army — 
Isabella governs Mantua — Her correspondence and 
friendship with Lorenzo da Pavia — Birth of her second 
daughter — Illness of the Marquis — His return to 
Mantua, and visit to Venice — Death of Ferrante of 
Naples, of Gilbert de Montpensier, and Beatrice 
d'Este— Francesco Gonzaga deprived of the office of 
captain-general of the Venetian armies — Death of 
AnnaSforza 128-144 

CHAPTER IX 



Intrigues of Francesco Gonzaga with Venice and Milan — 
Isabella seeks to reconcile him with Lodovico Sforza — 
The Marquis goes to Milan and b appointed captain- 
general of the League — Visit of the Duke of Milan 
to Mantua — Correspondence of Isabella with Lodovico 
— Conquest of Milan by the French and flight of the 



^dbyGoogle 



XX CONTENTS 

Duke — Louis XII. enters Milan — Inbella pftys court 
to the French — Receives the Milanese exilea — The 
Moro's return and his final surrender at Novara 145-156 

CHAPTER X 

1497—1500 
Isabella's litem; and artistic interests — Foundation of the 
Stndio of the Grotta in the Corte Vecchia — Mantegna's 
paintings for the Grotta — Cristoforo Romano comes to 
Mantua — Works for the studio — His medal of IsabelU 
— Correspondence with Niccolo da Corregglo — Leon- 
ardo da Vinci visits Mantua — Draws Isabella's portrait 
— Shows it to Lorenzo da Pcvia at Venice — Isabella 
Intends to raise a monument to Virgil — Her letter to 
Jacopod'Atri 167-176 

CHAPTER XI 

1500—1502 
Birth of Isabella's son Federico— C«esar Borgia his god- 
fether — Relations of the Gonsagas with him — Elisabetta 
of Urbino goes to Rome — Lettors of Sigismondo 
Cantolmo — Comedies at Ferrara and Mantua — Treaty 
of Granada and partition of Naples — Csesar Borgia con- 
quers Romagna — Abdication and exile of Federico, 
King of Naples — Betrothal of Alfonso d'Este to 
Lucresia Borgia — Preparations for the marriage in 
Rome — // Pr^'t lettors to Isabella — Wedding of 
Lucreiia and her journey to Ferrara . . 177-197 

CHAPTER XII 

1502 
Isabella presides at Lucrezia Borgia's marriage festivities — 
Reception of the bride at Ferrara — Isabella's letters 
to her husband — Comedies, balls, and f^tes — The 
ambassadors' gifts — Isabella entertains the French 
ambassador — Her interview with the Venetian envoys 
— Return to Mautua — Lucrezia Borgia's life at Ferrara 
— Her relations with IsabelU and the Marquis, 198-216 



^dbyGoOgle 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTEB Xni 

I50S 

Isabella's visit to Venice — Her letters to the Marquis — 
Courtesy of the Doge and Signory — Her income and 
expenditure-— Proposed marriage between Federico 
GoDzaga and Caesar Borgia's daughter — Elisabetta of 
Urbino goes with Isabella to Porto — Cxsar Borgia 
seizes Urbino — Flight of Duke Guidobaldo to Mantua 
— Isabella asks for the Venus and Cupid of Urbino — 
Csesar Borgia sends them to Mantua — Michel Angelo's 
Cupid sold to Charles I. and brought to England S17-2S4 

CHAPTER XIV 

1508— 1 508 

Loois XII. at Milan — He receives the exiled princes and 
the Marquis of Mantua — Ciesar Borgia arrives at Milan 
and concludes an agreement with the king — Isabella's 
warnings to her husband — The Duke and Duchess of 
Urbino forced to leave Mantua and take shelter at 
Venice— Francesco Gonzaga goes to France — Isabella 
governs Mantua — Her negotiations with Borgia re- 
garding her son's marriage — Ctesar's campaign in 
Romagna — Treacherous murder of Vitellozza and his 
companions — Isabella sends Valentino a present of 
masks — Death of the Pope and sudden revolution in 
Rome — Return of Duke Guidobaldo to Urbino — Elec- 
tion of Pope Pias III. .... 2S5-357 

CHAPTER XV 

1 508— 1505 

Death of I^us III.— Election of Julius II. — Return of 
Elisabetta to Urbino — C«sar Boi^a sent to Spain, and 
his capture — Birth of Isabella's daughter Ippolita — 
Francesco Gonzaga resigns his command of the French 



^dbyGoOgle 



ii CONTENTS 

urates — Returns to Mantua — The French lose Naples — 
Comedies at Urbino, Mantua, and Ferrara — Death of 
Duke Ercole — Quarrels and plots of the Eate brothers 
— Marriage of Francesco Maria detla Bovere and 
Leonora Goiizaga — Sigismoado Goncaga raised to the 
Cardinalate — Letters of Emilia Pia — Castiglione and 
Bembo — Death of Suor Osanoa — A Dominican vicar- 
general — Birth of Isabella's son Ercole . 856-277 



CHAFPER XVI 

1505—1507 

Isabella's visit to Florence — Mario Equicola's treatise, ffte 
tpe nee metu — Ravages of the plague at Mantua — Isa- 
bella retires to Sacchetta with her Uaailj — Francesco 
Gonzaga joins Pope Julius II. at Perugia — Conducts 
the papal array against Bologna — Flight of the 
Bentivogli— Entry of the Pope — Letters of Isabella — 
Frisio sends her antiques fixim Bologna — Birth of 
Isabella's son Ferrante — Visit of Ariosto to Mantua — 
Favour shovm him by Isabella — Ariosto pays her a 
splendid tribute in his Orlando Fiaioto . . 878-394 



CHAPTER XVII 

1507—1508 

Louis XII. invites Francesco Gonzaga to help him in the 
siege of Genoa — Visit of Isabella to Milan — F^tea in 
the Castello — Isabella's correspondence irith EUsabetta 
Gonzaga — Her intended journey to France — Death 
and funeral of the Duke of Urbino — Visit of Duke 
Francesco Maria to Mantua — Birth of Isabella's 
youngest daughter — Murder of Ercole Strozzi, and 
death of Niccolo da Corre^o — Rivalry of Isabella 
and Lucrezia Borgia .... 295-316 



^dbyGooglc 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER XVni 

1500—1306 

Isabella's rel&tions with poiaterB during the early years 
of the sixteenth century — Her letters to Leonardo da 
Vinci — Correspondence with Fra Pietro da Norellara, 
Angelo del Tovaf^Ua, Man&edi, and Aroadori — She 
asks Penigino for a painting for her studio — Descrip- 
tion of the Triumph of Chastity composed hy Paride 
da Ceresara — Perugino's delays — Correspondence with 
MalatesU, Tovaglia, &c . . . 317-340 

CHAPTER XIX 

1501—1507 
Isabella asks Giovanni Bellini for a picture — Her corre- 
spondence with Loreneo da Pavia and Michele Vianello 
— The snhject changed to a Nativity — Delays of the 
painter — Isabella calls in Alvise Morcello — Asks for 
her money to he returned — The picture is completed 
and aent to Mantua in 1504 — Isabella's negotiations 
with Giovanni Bellini through Pietro Bembo for 
another pictore, which is never painted 341-361 

CHAPTER XX 

1504— 15 IS 
Mantegna's last works for Isabella d'Este — Illness and 
debts — He appeab to Isabella for help, and sella her 
his antique bust of Faustina — Calandra's description of 
his Comns — Death of Mantegna and tribute of Lorenso 
da Pavia — Pictures in Andrea's workshop — The Comus 
finished by Lorenzo Costa — Letters of Antonio 
GaleasEO Bentivoglio to Isabella — The Triumph of 
Poetry or Court of Isabella — Costa's portrait of the 
Marchesa — Francia paints the portrait of her son 
Federico and her own — Correspondence on the sub- 
ject with Casio and Lucrezia Bentivoglio — Death of 
Giorgione ..... 362-392 

GcNEivLooiCAL Tables .... 393 



^dbyGoogle 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Isabella D'Estb FronH^riece 

From At Chartoal DraMnsr by IXOVAKDQ DA Trad, 
ifl tht Lottvrt [Photagravurt) 

LoDOTioo GoNZAOA AND HiB SoNS . . To/ocepogeSS 

By AHDBBA UaHTXGNA 

PoNTB San Giorgio, Castbu^ ■ Duoho, Man- 

TOVA „ 70 

Tmi Drath of thk Virgin, with Mantua in 

THE Background ' „ 90 

By AHDBBA HAKTBGRA 

Tub Madonna dsllaVittoria, vith thb Knbeung 

Figubb of the Marquis Francesco . . „ 126 

By ANDBBA Hahtboha, 149C, in the Louvre 
{Phologravtire) 

Parnabiub „ 158 

Prom lAe Piolun by A14DBBA MaHTBOHA, in the 
Loutre {Pltobigratmre} 

The Portrait Medal of Isabella D'Evtb . „ 170 

Bf OBIBTOrOBO ROMAXO, >o« llie Inpre—ion ml in 
Jevdt, nou m tiie Imperii Mtuam, Fmma 
(Pkalogrmnire) 

La Beata Osanna „ 276 

Bg F. BOKSIGKOBI 

Casitbllo di Mantova „ S62 



^dbyGooglc 



> 



ISABELLA D'ESTE 



CHAPTER I 

1474—1490 

Birth of Isabella d'Eete — Her betrothal to Francesco Gonzaga — 
Visit of the Mantoan envoy to Ferrara^Her letters to the 
Marquis — Mantegna's Madonna— Elisabetta Gonzaga visits 
Ferrara — Peraonal charms of Isabella — Her education and 
teachers — Classical studies and love of music — Cultured tastes 
c£ facT parents — Music and art at their court — Cosimo Tura 
and Ercole Boberti — Marriage of Isabella — Her reception at 
Mantua. 

" On the 18th of May 1474 a daughter was bom to 
Madonna Leonora and Duke Ercole, and she was 
given the name of Isabella, and baptized by the 
Bishop of Cyprus, the Venetian Ambassador in 
Ferrara."* 

So a contemporary Ferrara diarist, whose chronicle 
was published by Muratori, records the birth of Duke 
Ercole's elder daughter, Isabella d'Este. The event 
took place in the ancient palace on the Cathedral 
square which had been the home of the Este 
princes long before Bartolino da Novara reared the 
massive walls and crenellated towers of the Castello 
Rosso at the close of the fourteenth century. There 
Giotto and Petrarch had both been entertained as 
the guests of princes who, even in those early days, 

^ Muratori, lUiHcantm Rervm Saiploret, vol. xxiv. p. 250. 
VOL. I. A 



I u, Google 



2 ERCOLE D'ESTE 

showed the love of art and letters that distinguished 
this illustrious race. There Fisanello and Fiero della 
Francesca painted at the Court of Duke Ercole's 
elder brothers, Leonello and Borso, and the Venetian 
master, Jacopo Bellini, introduced the picturesque 
loggia of the old palace in the background of his 
drawing of the Queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon. 
Duke Ercole added the grand marble staircase of 
the inner court, and the great hall where Ariosto's 
comedies were performed, which was burnt down 
just before the poet's death. 

Three passions, says Frizzi, the historian of 
Ferrara,' ruled the Duke's heart, the love of building, 
of the theatre, and of travel. All three were inherited, 
in no small measure, by his daughter Isabella. But 
the execution of Ercole's favomite plans was hindered 
during the early part of his reign by frequent wars 
and political troubles. One night, when Isabella was 
only two years old, and her brother Alfonso was 
still an infant, the Duke's nephew, Niccolo d'Este, 
suddenly attacked the palace at the head of a band of 
armed conspirators, and Duchess Leonora and her 
three children had barely time to escape by the covered 
way into the Castello ; and before she was eight the 
Venetian armies invaded her Other's dominions, and 
planted the Lion of St. Mark in the park of his villa 
at Belfiore, while the Duke himself lay at the point 
of death in the Castello. All these dangers, how- 
ever, were safely overcome by the valour and skilful 
diplomacy of the Duke, loyally supported by his 
brave wife and faithful subjects, and the treaty 
concluded at Bagnolo in 1484 was followed by a long 
period of peace and prosperity. 

' Storia di Ferrara, voL iv. 



.dbyCoO^IC k 



BETROTHAL OF ISABELLA 8 

Meanwhile, Isabella grew up under her good 
mother's watchful eyes. When, in the summer of 
1477, Leonora took her young famUy to visit her 
old father, King Ferrante, at Naples, her three-year- 
old daughter was already a &$cinating child, and 
her uncle Federico, ^:erwaTds King of Naples, was 
heard to say that if she were not his niece he would 
like to make her his bride I At the old king's urgent 
request, the Duchess consented to leave her younger 
daughter Beatrice at her grandfather's court for the 
next eight years, but brought Isabella back with her 
to Ferrara. Three years afterwards the child-princess 
was betrothed to young Giovanni Francesco Gonzaga, 
the eldest son of Federico, Marquis of Mantua. 

The two houses were already closely connected, 
both by friendship and marriage. Leonello, the 
accompUshed Duke, whose hooked nose and low 
forehead are familiar to us in Pisanello's medals and 
portraits, had c^arried Federico's aunt, Margherita 
Gonzaga, and his own sister Lucia had been the wife 
of Margherita's brother. Carlo Gionzaga. Margherita, 
whose charming portrait, with its background of 
columbines and butterflies, painted by Pisanello at 
the time of her wedding, is still preserved in the 
Louvre, died in July 1489, only four years after her 
marriage. But her brother, the Marquis Lodovico, 
had proved a loyal friend to Duke Ercole, and had 
refused to support his nephew Niccolo in his plot to 
seize the Duchess and her children. His son and 
successor, Federico, showed the same cordial feeling 
for his neighbour, and paid several visits to Ferrara. 
Early in April 1480, he sent his trusted servant, 
Beltramino Cusatro, to propose a marriage between 
his eldest son, a boy of fourteen, and the Duke's httle 



iu,CjOOgIC 



4 CHILDHOOD OF ISABELLA 

daughter, Isabella, now a child of five years. Ereole, 
who had good reason to fear the enmity of Venice, 
and was the more anxious to strengthen his alliance 
with this near nei^bour, gladly accepted his pro- 
posals, and as soon as preliminary matters had been 
arranged with the envoy, the Duke sent for his little 
daughter. 

" Madonna Isabella," wrote Cusatro to his master, 
" was then led in to see me, and I questioned her on 
many subjects, to all of which she replied with rare 
good sense and quickness. Her answers seemed 
truly miraculous in a child of six, and although I 
had already heard much of her singular intelligence, 
I could never have imagined such a thing to be 



A few days afterwards the envoy sent a portrait 
of the youthful princess by Cosimo Tura, the Duke's 
court-painter, to Mantua, with the following note: 
" I send the portrait of Madonna Isabella, so that 
Your Highness and Don Francesco may see her 
&ce, but I can assure you that her marvellous 
knowledge and intelligence are far more worthy of 
admiration." 

The excellent impression which the little bride 
made upon Cusatro was confirmed by another Man- 
tuan envoy, who informed the Marquis that he had 
seen Madonna Isabella dance with her master Messer 
Ambrogio, a Jew in the Duke of Urbino's service, 
and that the grace and elegance of her movements 
were amazing in one of her tender age.' 

On the Feast of St. George, always a great 
day at the Court of Ferrara, another envoy arrived 
from Duchess Bona of Milan, and her brother- 
1 A. Liuio, / Pncetiori (ChtAtOa d'Ette, p. IS. 



^dbyGoOgle 



LETTERS TO FRANCESCO 5 

in-law, the Regent Lodovico Sforza, asking for 
Madonna Isabella's hand on behalf of the said Signor 
Lodovico. Since, however, his elder daughter was 
already betrothed, the Duke offered to give Lodovico 
the hand of his younger daughter, Beatrice, with 
the consent of her grand&ther, the King of Naples, 
who warmly approved of the Milanese alliance. So 
on the 28th of May, the betrothal of the Duke's 
two daughters was publicly proclaimed on the Piazza 
in front of the Castello. 

In the following spring, the Marquis of Mantua 
brought his son Francesco to spend the Feast of St. 
G^rge at Femu^ and make acquaintance with his 
bride and her family. The Mantuan chronicler, 
Schivenoglia, relates how on this occasion the Mar- 
quis and his suite of six hundred followers sailed 
down the Po in four bucentaurs, how Duke Ercole, 
in his anxiety to do his guests honour, fed the whole 
party on lamb and veal and similar delicacies during 
the four days which they spent in Ferrara, and how 
his master's famous Barbary horses won the race, and 
carried back the polio of cloth of gold in triumph to 
Mantua. After this first meeting with her future 
husband, Isabella frequently exchanged letters with 
Francesco, who sent her presents and verses written 
in her honour by the poets at his court. Some of 
these formal little notes, in Isabella's own hand- 
writing, are still preserved, Dr. Luzio tells us, in the 
Gonzaga Archives. On the 22nd of May 1488, the 
little princess writes from Modena, where the Duke's 
children had been sent for safety during the war with 
Venice, thanking Francesco for his inquiries after her 
health. " Although when your letters and presents 
reached me I was ill, their arrival has made me 



^dbyGoogle 



6 LEONORA'S MADONNA 

suddenly welL But when I heard that if I were 
still suffering from iUness Your Highness thought 
of coming to Modena, to see me, I almost wished 
myself ill again, if only to have the pleasure of 
seeing you."^ 

A year later the Marquis Federico died, and Isabella 
wrote to condole with Francesco on his Other's death, 
begging him to dry his tears and take comfort for her 
sake. The new Marquis from the first showed him- 
self an ardent lover, and neglected no opportunity of 
paying attention to his bride's family. Hearing that 
the Duchess of Ferrara was anxious to possess a cer- 
tain Madonna by the hand of Andrea Mantegna, the 
loyal servant and court-painter of the Gonzagss, he 
wrote to that master on the 6th of November 1485, 
enclosing Leonora's letter, and begging him to comply 
with her request. 

" Carissime noster. Our most illustrious Madonna 
the Duchess of Ferrara, as you will see by the letters 
which we enclose in order that you may the better 
understand her wishes, is very anxious to have a 
certain picture by your hand. We trust that you 
will satisfy this lady, and use the utmost diligence to 
finish the said picture, and beg of you to put forth 
all your powers, as we feel sure you will do, and that 
as quickly as possible, since we are most desirous to 
gratiiy the said illustrious Madonna." Goito, Nov. 6, 
1485. 

On the same day Francesco wrote to his future 
mother-in-law : — 

" Hearing that Your Excellency desires to have a 
picture of the Madonna with some other figures that 
is still unfinished by the hand of Andrea Mantegna, 
< A. LuBio, / PnceOori tTJtabeUa tCEttt, p. IS. 



^dbyGooglc 



ANDREA MANTEGNA 7 

I have told him to finish it with the utmost care, and 
hope to bring it with me, when I come, as I hope, 
before long, to visit Your Illustrious Highness. 
If not, I will send it you, as it is my greatest 
pleasure to be able to do anything for you. To 
whom I conunend myself, praying that you may 
fiire welL" 

A week later, the impatient young Prince wrote 
again to Mantegna on the subject : — 

" Carissime noster. We wrote before to beg you to 
finish a picture of the Madonna with other figures, 
at the prayer of that illustrious Madonna the Duchess 
of Ferrara, but do not know if you have yet put 
your hand to the work, so now we repeat that you 
must finish it as quickly as possible, seeing that we 
greatly desire this thing, in order to be able to satisfy 
the wish of the said lady as soon as possible." Goito, 
Nov. 14, 1485. 

Again on the 12th December he returned to the 
charge:— 

" We must remind you to lose no time in finishing 
the picture which you have bc^n, and which we 
wish to give the Duchess of Ferrara, and hope you 
will use such diligence that we may be able to pre- 
sent it to her this Christmas, and we will take care 
that you aie well rewarded, and that your labour is 
not thrown away." 

Mantegna did not fail to obey his young lord's 
command, and on the 15th Francesco wrote as 
follows : — 

" We are sure that in finishing this picture you 
will use such diligence as will do you honour, and 
that it wUl bring you no small ^ory. And as 
Lodovico of Bologna is going to Venice, you had 



.y Google 



8 ELISABETTA GONZAGA 

better see him about that varnish, if you have not 
ab«ady spoken to him, that He may bring or send 
you some without delay.'" 

Leonora on her part wrote to express her joy not 
only at the prospect of receiving Messer Andrea's 
Madonna, but of seeing Francesco himself, and the 
young Marquis met with a cordial welcome when 
he reached Ferrara with his precious picture. Man- 
tegna's Madonna was given a place among Leonora's 
choicest treasures, and is mentioned in the inventory 
of her pictures, taken after her death, as " a painting 
on panel of Our Lady and her Son with seraphim, 
by the hand of Mantegna." The picture now hangs 
in the Brera, and its smiling cherub &ces and glowing 
tints are almost as fresh and fair as on the day on 
which they left Andrea's workshop. 

It is uncertain if Leonora herself brought her 
daughter to visit her affianced husband at Mantua, 
and there saw Mantegna at work on the great series 
of Triumphs which he was painting for the Marquis, 
but we know that, in Februa^ 1488, Francesco's 
sister Ehsabetta visited Ferrara on her way to cele- 
brate her marriage at Urbino, and received the rite 
of coniirmation from the Bishop of Ferrara in the 
chapel of the ducal palace in the presence of the 
Duke and Duchess and their fitmily. There Isabella 
met the sister-in-law who was to become her dearest 
and closest friend, and the warm welcome which the 
motherless young Princess received from the kind 
Duchess Leonora, and the sisterly affection of the 
Marchesana, were a great consolation to her in the 
grief which she felt at parting from her brothers 

^ Archivio Gonzaga, CopiaUUera, 126, quoted in Andrea Man- 
tegna, bjr Paul Kmteller, App., p. 482. 



^dbyGoOglc ( 



ISABELLA'S EDUCATION 9 

and sister and leaving the happy home of her child- 
hood.* 

By this time Isabella herself had reached the age 
oi fourteen, and was growing up a beautiful and 
accomplished maiden. She inherited her mother's 
regular features, but, unlike her sister Beatrice, had 
the fair hair and v/hite skin which we see in Titian's 
portrait at Vienna. According to Mario Equicola, 
who spent many years in the Marchesa's service, her 
eyes were black and sparkling, her hair yellow, and 
her complexion one of dazzling brilliancy. Trissino, 
the great Vicenza humanist, in his Bitratti, describes 
the rippling golden hair that flowed in thick masses 
over her shoulders, recalling Petrarch's lines, " Una 
don-na piA beBa assai che'l sole ; " and tells us that, 
although only of middle height, she was remarkable 
for the dignity of her carriage and stately grace of 
her head and neck. But, as Uie Mantuan envoy told 
his master, her gifts of mind were still more striking 
than those of her person. Like other princesses of 
the day, Isabella received a classical education, and 
in after years acquired the reputation of speaking 
the Latin tongue better than any woman of her age. 
Battista Guarino, a son of the famous Verona scholar 
who taught her uncle Duke Leonello, and lectured 
in the University to the most distinguished students 
in Italy, was her first teacher, and during the famine 
of 1482 begged the Marquis of Mantua for a grant 
of wheat, in order that he might the better instruct 
Donna Isabella, "who is now," he adds, "thank 
God, in perfect health, and learns with a marvellous 
fecility far beyond her years." Guarino was suc- 
ceeded by another tutor, Jacopo Gallino, who became 
> A. Luzio e R. Renier, Manlova e Urbvw, p. l6. 



.y Google 



10 HER LOVE OF MUSIC 

fondly attached to his clever pupil, and often re- 
minded the Marchesana in later years of the happy 
days when they studied the grammar of Chrysolaras 
together, and she repeated the Eclogues of Viigil 
and the Epistles of Cicero by heart, or construed 
the ^neid with such rare grace and fluency. At 
the same time the more womanly arts were not 
n^lected in Isabella's education. She learnt to 
dance, as we have already seen, from her baby- 
hood, and two bone needles and one gold needle, 
for Madonna Isabella's embroidery, are found among 
the entries in the household accounts of the ducal 
family/ At an early age she showed signs of the 
musical tastes for which she was afterwards dis- 
tinguished, and which she shared with the other 
members of her race. Duke Leonello played the 
guitar, and h^ own brother Alfonso was an excel- 
lent violinist and frequently took part in public 
performances. Duchess Leonora played the harp, 
and both her daughters learnt the lute and clari- 
chord. As a child, Isabella studied music under 
Don Giovanni Martino, a German priest who had 
been brou^t from Constance to train the singers 
of the ducal cHapeL After her marriage she had 
many masters, and often said laughingly that she 
was but a poor pupil, who did her teachers Uttle 
credit.* But she had a beautiful voice, and accom- 
panied herself on the lute with exquisite skill ; and 
the favoured guests who were privileged to hear her 
sing and play all went away charmed. Many were 

* Regutro de Mattdati, c. 48, quoted by Luzio and Renier in 
Giom. Si. d. Lett. It., vol xxxvii. p. S. 

° S. Davftri, Mutica in Manlooa, liivuia Slor. Manit., i. 61 ; 
BertolotU, Mtuka alia Corie dei Goiuaga. 



^dbyGoOglc 



SCHOLARS AT FERRARA 11 

the lines &om Virgil and the sonnets of Petrarch 
which Niccolo da Correggio or Pietro Bembo set to 
music for her benefit, and Trissino declares that the 
sweetness of her voice lured the Sirens from their 
rocks, and charmed the wild beasts and stones with 
the magic of Orpheus. 

But the atmosphere of culture and refinement in 
which Isabella grew up helped to develop her powers 
more than the teaching of any masters. Under the 
rule of three accomplished Dukes, Ferr^ia had become 
a centre of art and learning. The foremost scholars and 
the best poets were attracted to a court where Matteo 
Boiardo wrote his OrlaTido Innamorato, and Francesco 
Bello, the blind improvisatore, charmed all men by 
his poetic recitations. Above all, Isabella had the 
example of her own parents before her eyes. Duke 
Ercole's youth had been spent at the court of Naples, 
where he was sent after his fother's death, and early 
acquired distinction as a valiant soldier. But one 
day, during a serious attack of illness, he happened to 
read a translation of Quintus Curtius, which interested 
him so deeply that from that time he devoted all his 
leisure hours to classical studies. When Lodovico 
Sfoiza asked him for the loan of his translation of 
Dionysius Cassius he replied that he could not part 
with the manuscript, which he read almost every day, 
but would have it copied for his son-in-law. Plutarch 
and Xenophon, Euripides and Seneca were among 
his &vourite authors, and the comedies of Plautus 
and Terence were translated into Italian verse and 
acted at Ferrara under his direction. He added 
largely to the ducal library founded by his brother 
Leonello and kept a careful roister of all the books 
which his friends borrowed. His wife Leonora had 



^dbyGoogle 



12 PAINTERS AT THE COURT 

a private collection of her own favourite authors, 
which included many Italian versions of French and 
Breton romances, of Spanish tales such as // Career 
d^Amore, which she brought with her from Naples, 
and of Pliny's "Letters" and Csesar's "Commentaries," 
as well as the FioretU of St. Francis and the De Con- 
solatione of Boethius. 

From her birth, Isabella was surrounded by the 
finest works of art. The walls of her mother's rooms 
were covered with paintings by the best Flemish and 
Italian masters; a crucifix by Jacopo Bellini hung 
over her fether's writing desk. The frescoes of 
Pisanello and Piero della Francesca, the medals of 
Sperandio, the richest tapestries and the finest 
majolica from Faenza and Urbino adorned the 
palaces and villas of Ferrara. Much of Isabella's 
childhood was spent in her father's favourite country 
house, the Schifanoia or Sans Souci of the Este 
princes, which the Ferrarese master Cosimo Tura 
and his followers had decorated with a femous series 
of hunting and pastoral subjects. And during these 
years architects and pdnters were continually at 
work both in the Castello and in the beautiful villa 
of Belriguardo on the banks of the Po, which was 
said to contain as many rooms as days in the year. 
The chapel was decorated with frescoes by Cosimo 
Tura, who also, in his capacity of court-painter, 
executed the portraits of Isabella and Beatrice for 
their affianced husbimds. When, in 1487, Cosimo 
became too old and infirm for his work, another 
excellent Frarara painter, Ercole Roberti, originally 
the son of a porter in the Castello, took his place 
and was employed to decorate the new halls which the 
Duke had lately built at Belrigufuxlo. A new chapel 



^dbyGooglc 



MARRIAGE OF LUCREZIA 18 

was also added to the Castello, and amongst the 
works of art which adorned its walls was a stucco 
group by a Ferrara sculptor representing the Duchess 
with her daughter Isabella kneeling on a brocade 
cushion at her feet.^ 

Thus, from early youth, Isabella not only learnt 
how to appreciate the finest art, but to see the en- 
lightened patronage which her parents bestowed alike 
on native and foreign masters. She heard her father 
discuss with keen interest the latest plans for the 
decoration of villas and churches, and watched Italian 
and Spanish embroiderers at work under her mother's 
superintendence. She saw Duke Ercole's Italian 
version of the Meneechmi, and her cousin Niccolo da 
Corre^o's pastoral romance of CefaJo acted on a 
stage fitted up in the old Palazzo della Bagione. 
She met the most brilliant men and women of the 
day at her father's table, and heard the best con- 
versation and the most refined criticism from their 
hps. And she grew up a charming and graceful 
maiden, adored by her parents and teachers and 
beloved by all around her. 

In 1487, the Duke's illegitimate daughter Lucrezia 
was married to Count Annibale, a son of Giovanni 
Bentivoglio, lord of Bologna, and Francia, the famous 
goldsmith of that city, who often worked for Leonora, 
was employed to design the gold and silver credenza 
or dinner-service used on this occasion, with lamps 
encrusted with flowers and foliage, and goblets 
studded with precious gems. The marriage of 
Isabella, who was three years younger than her 
half-sister, was delayed for a time. The Duke and 

^ Gustave Grayer, VAri Ferrarma A Fipoque det Prmcet tTEtie, 
vol. iL p. 136. 



^dbyGoogle 



14 ISABELLA'S TROUSSEAU 

Duchess were reluctant to pwt from tJieir beloved 
child, and wished the wedding of their two daughters 
to take place at the same time. But Lodovico Sforza 
showed little inclination to fix the date of his 
marriage, while Francesco Gonzaga pressed his suit 
eagerly, and Leonora finally agreed that Isabella's 
wedding should take place in the spring of 1490, 
before she had completed her sixteenth year. Great 
preparations were made both at Mantua and Ferrara 
for the coming event All through the year painters, 
carvers, and goldsmiths were engaged in preparing 
the bride's trousseau, under her mother's watchful 
eye. Early in 1489* Ercole Roberti was sent to 
Venice, to buy gold-leaf and ultramarine for the 
decoration of the wedding chests. On his return 
he painted thirteen cassoni, for which he employed 
eleven thousand gold leaves, and designed the nuptial 
bed, as well as a magnificent chariot and gilded 
bucentaur which the Duke presented to his daughter. 
The tapestries and hanpngs for her rooms were 
made in Venice, seals and buttons and silver boxes 
for her use were engraved by Ferrarese artists, and 
a portable silver altar, richly chased and embossed, 
together with ornaments and office-books to match, 
were ordered from the skilled Milanese goldsmith 
Fra Rocco. The girdle or majestate, worn by royal 
brides and elaborately worked in gold and silver, was 
also ordered from Fra Rocco, who devoted many 
months to the task, and received 600 ducats from 
the Duke. No less than 2000 ducats were paid 
him for a similar belt which he made the next year 
for Beatrice, and which is described by contemporaries 
as a still greater marvel of workmanship. Isabella's 

• Grayer, op. at., U. 153. 



.dbyGoOgIc 



HER MARRIAGE 15 

dowry had been fixed at 25,000 ducats, while her 
trousseau was valued at 2000 ducats, and the jewels 
and other costly objects given her by the Duke 
were held to be worth another 8000, so that the 
whole of her marriage portion and outfit did not 
exceed 80,000 ducats, a modest fortune compared 
to her mother's dowry of 80,000 ducats and the 
150,000 ducats that were settled on her sister-in-law 
Anna Sforza. 

The wedding was celebrated at Ferrara on the 
11th of February 1490, and after the ceremony in 
the ducal chapel, the bride rode through the streets 
of the city in her fine new chariot draped with cloth 
of gold, with the Duke of Urbino on horseback on 
her right and the Ambassador of Kaples on her 
left. The banquet which followed was one of 
the most sumptuous ever held in the Castello 
of Ferrara. The walls of tiie Sala Grande were 
hung with the Arras tapestries brought from Naples 
by Duchess Leonora, including the "Queen of 
Sheba's Visit to Solomon," and six pieces known as 
" La Pastourelle," worked by hand in gold and silver 
and coloured silks of exquisite dehcacy. These 
priceless hangings originally came to Kaples with 
Queen Joan, and it was said that Flemish workers 
had been employed upon them during more than 
a hundred years. The Este princes held the 
tapestries among their choicest possessions and only 
usal them on great occasions; and in aft^r years 
they excited the admiration of the Emperor Charles 
V. when he visited R^^gio as the guest of Alfonso 
d'Este, and insisted on examining each piece sepa- 
rately by torchlight The magnificent dinner-service 
used at Isabella's wedding had been made in Venice 



iu,C00^lc 



16 ENTRY INTO MANTUA 

by a renowned goldsmith, Giorgio da Ragusa, from 
Cosimo Tura's designs. Crystal flagons and dishes 
of gold and enamel were supported by griffins and 
satyrs, dolphins and satyrs, the handles of golden 
bowls and cornucopias laden with fruit were adorned 
with genii or the eagles of the house of Este, while 
two hundred and fifty little banners, painted by 
Ferrara artists with the Este and Gonzaga arms, 
adorned the temples and pyramids of gilt and 
coloured sugar that were a triumph of the con- 
fectioner's art.^ 

On the following day the wedding party set out 
in the richly carved and gilded bucentaur, attended 
by four galleys and fifty boats, for Mantua, and 
sailed up the Po. The bride was accompanied by 
her parents, with their three young sons, Alfonso, 
Ferrante, and the future Cardinal Ippolito, as well 
as by her cousins, Alberto d'Kste, Niccolo and Borso 
da Correggio, and a hundred chosen courtiers, who 
escorted her to the gates of Mantua. On the ISth 
of February she made her triumphal entry into 
the city, riding between the Marquis and the Duke 
of Urbino, and followed by the Ambassadors of 
France, Naples, Milan, Venice, Florence, G^oa, 
Pisa, and other ItaUan States. The loyal citizens , 

of Mantua hailed their young Marchesana with 
enthusiasm, and it is said that as many as 17,000 
spectators were assembled in the town that day. I 

The streets were hung with brocades and garlands I 

of flowers. At the Porta PradeUa a choir of white- 
robed children welcomed the bride with songs and 
recitations. At the Ponte S. Jacopo, on the Piama < 

in front of Alberti's church of S. Andrea, at the | 

• Gruyer, op, at., ii. 8S. 



^dbyGoOglc 



WEDDING FESTIVITIES 17 

gates of the park, and on the drawbridge of the 
Castello, pageants and musical entertainments were 
prepared in her honour. At one point the seven 
planets and nine ranks of angehc orders welcomed 
her coming, and a fair boy with angel wings recited 
an epithahunitun composed for the occasion at the 
foot of the grand staircase of the Castello di Corte. 
There fUisabetta Gronzaga received the bride, and 
the princely guests sat down to a banquet in the 
state rooms, while the immense crowds assembled 
on the Piazza outside were feasted at the public 
expense, and the fountains and cisterns ran with 
wine. The Marquis had borrowed large stores of 
gold and silver plate, of carpets and hangings from 
all his friends and kinsfolk. Giovanni Bentivoglio, 
Mwco Pio of Carpi, the Gonzagas of Bozzolo, and 
many of Isabella's relatives had placed their treasures 
at his disposal for the occasion, and his brother-in- 
law, Duke Guidobaldo, had lent him the famous 
tapestries of the Trojan wm-, which were the glory 
of the palace of Urbino. The festivities were pro- 
longed until the last day of the carnival Tourna- 
ments and dances and torchlight processions fol- 
lowed each other in rapid succession, and each day 
a fresh banquet was spread on tables in the Piazza, 
and coTifetti, representing cities, castles, churches, 
and ftnimalfi in endless variety, were distributed to 
the delighted populace.' 

Only one thing was wanting to complete the 
splendour of tiie festival This was the presence of 
Andrea Mant^na, the great master who had spent 
thirty years in the service of the Gonzagas, and 
whose genius was so highly esteemed by the young 
1 D'Aico, Notiae d'ht^Ua EtUme, p. SI. 
VOL. I. B 



^dbyGoogle 



18 MANTEGNA'S ABSENCE 

Marquis. In June 1488, Francesco had given him 
leave to go to Rome, at the earnest request of Pope 
Innocent VIII., who employed him to paint his new 
chapel of the Belvedere. The artist, however, was 
not happy at the Vatican, and complained bitterly in 
his letters to the Marquis of the irregular payments 
and indifferent treatment which he received from the 
Pope, declaring that he was a child of the house of 
Gonzaga, and wished to live and die in their service. 
He was uneasy too about his unfinished Triumphs 
in the Castello of Mantua, and begged the Marquis 
to see that the rain did not come in through the 
windows and damage these canvases, which were his 
best and most perfect works. Francesco replied in a 
friendly letter, assuring him that his Triumphs were 
perfectly safe, and wrote again at Christmas 1489, 
begging the painter to return as soon as possible, 
since his help was indispensable in preparing the 
pageants and decorations for the wedding. But the 
messenger who brought the letter found Andrea ill 
in bed and the Pope's frescoes unfinished, and the 
Marquis was forced to celebrate his marriage without 
the presence of his favourite painter. 



■J 



idb,Goi)glc 



CHAPTER II 

1328—1478 

The court of Mantua and house of Gonzaga — GianlraDcesco II., 
the firet Marquis — Vittorino da Feltre and the Casa Zoiosa — 
Cecilia Gonzaga — Reign of Lodovico Gonzaga and Barbara of 
Brandenburg — Their patronage of art and learning — Marri- 
age of Federico to Margaret of Bavaria — Betrothal of Dorotea 
Gonsaga to Galeazso Sforza — Frescoes of the Camera degli 
Sposi. 

Mantua, which now became the home of Isabella 
d'Este, was a comparatively small city. The popu- 
lation only numbered 28,000, and the domains of the 
Marquis Francesco were both poorer and smaller than 
the Duchy of Ferrara. But under the rule of the 
Gonzaga family this little state had already acquired 
an important position in North Italy. Since the hard- 
fought day in 1828, when Lodovico Gonzaga defeated 
the rival &nuly of the Buonacolsi, and was chosen cap- 
tain of the people, and afterwards appointed Vicar- 
General by the Emperor, Mantua had rapidly increased 
in power and prosperity. His successors not only won 
the love of their subjects by their wise and paternal 
government, but by their hereditary valour and 
skiliul diplomacy succeeded in maintaining their 
independence against their two powerful neighbours, 
Venice and Milan, There was less splendour and 
luxury at the court of Mantua than at Ferrara, but 
the Gonzagas showed as genuine a love of art and 
learning as the princes of the house of Este. 
Gian&ancesco I., the fourUi prince of his race to bear 



^dbyGoogle 



20 THE GONZAGA PRINCES 

sway in Mantua, employed Bartolino da Novara, the 
architect of the Castello Rosso of Ferrara, to build 
the strong Castello, with the four massive towers at 
each angle, overlooking the lakes formed by the 
waters of the Mincio, on the east side of the city. 
He aiso rebuilt the old bridge of San Gioi^o, which 
crosses the Lago di Mezzo opposite the Castello, and 
the fine Ijombard-GJothic Duomo on the neighbour- 
ing Piazza di San Pietro, which GiuHo Romano 
transformed into a late Renaissance building in the 
reign of Isabella d'Este's grandson. The same 
prince paid a visit to the south of France in 1889, 
and during his residence in that country added sixty- 
seven French books to his hbrary, which at his death 
numbered 400 volimies.* 

Gianfrancesco II., who succeeded his father in 
1407, was raised to the dignity of Marquis when the 
Emperor Sigismund visited Mantua in 1488. This 
wise and enlightened prince strengthened the fortifi- 
cations of the city, drained the neighbouring marshes, 
and did his best to encourage agriculture, and the 
manufacture of cloth, which remained the staple 
industry of Mantua until the sack of 1630. Like 
most of the Gonzaga princes, he served the rival 
States of Venice and Milan alternately, but was a 
liberal patron of learning, and attracted the best 
foreign artists to his court Brunellesco came to 
Mantua twice, in 1432 and in 1436, to give him advice 
as to the construction of dykes. Alberti, the dis- 
tinguished architect, dedicated his "Treatise on 
Painting " to him, and even that greedy and querulous 
humanist, Filelfo, extoUed him as the most generous 
of patrons. His excellent wife, Paola Malatesta,^ 
> W. Bragbirolli in Etmama, 1880. 



^dbyGooglc 



VITTORINO DA FELTRE 21 

shared his cultured tastes, and trained her numerous 
sons and daughters in habits of virtue and piety. To 
her even more than to her husband was due the 
choice of Vittorino da Feltre as tutor to the Gon- 
zaga princes. This remarkable man became renowned 
among living scholars, not only for his knowledge of 
Greek, but for the high ideal of education which he 
held up before the age. In his eyes there was no 
loftier mission than that of the schoolmaster, and all 
his powers were devoted to this high calling. The 
Casa Zoiosa or Mcdson Joyeuse, where he settled in 
1425, at Gianirancesco's invitation, close to the 
Castello, soon became famous throughout Italy. 
Here, in these fair halls, on the banks of the lake, 
adorned with firescoes and surrounded with avenues 
of plane trees uid acacias, the high-bom youths and 
maidens in Vittorino's charge received that complete 
training of body and mind which he held to be the 
best preparation for life. He began by making a 

.^^w necessary reforms. His pupils' superfluous ser- 
vants were dismissed, the use of gpld and silver plate 
and of highly spiced dishes at their table was pro- 
hibited, and simple but abundant &re was provided. 
All swearing and bad language was forbidden, lying 
was treated as the blackest of crimes, good manners 
were especially encouraged, and Church festivals and 
fasts were strictly observed, since in Vittorino's eyes 
true learning was inseparable firom virtue and re- 
ligion. His course of instruction included Latin and 
Greek, mathematics, grammar, logic, philwophy, 
music, singing and dancing, and the hours of 

' study were pleasantly varied by games aXpaUa in the 
meadows along the Mincio, anA shooting, swimming, 
and fencing matches, as well as occasional fishing and 



^dbyGoogle 



22 THE CASA ZOIOSA 

hunting expeditions. He began by reading eareftUly 
chosen selections &om Virgil and Cicero, Homer and 
Demosthenes aloud to his scholars, explaining the 
meaning as he went along, and made them leam these 
passages by heart as the best way of forming their 
style. Afterwards he laid down a few simple rules for 
their guidance in composition, telling them to be sure, 
first of all, that they had something to say, and then 
to see that they said it frankly and simply, avoiding 
the subtleties of the schools. " I want to teach my 
pupils how to think," he said, " not to split hairs." 
Vittorino himself always paid special attention to 
backward pupils, and received many poor scholars 
who could not afford to pay the usual fees, teaching 
them, as he said, " for the love of God." On summer 
days he often took his scholars to a small country 
house on the height of Andes or Pietola, the birth- 
place of Virgil, which was the only property that he 
ever acquired, and told them stories of Perseus and 
Hercules, while they rested on the grass after their 
games ; and once or twice in the season more distant 
expeditions were made to the shores of the Lake of 
Garda or the Alps of Tyrol' 

Soon the fame of Vittorino's gymnasium brought 
him pupils from all parts of Italy. ' One of these 
was Federico di Montefeltro, the great and good 
Duke of Urbino, who placed his bdoved teacher's 
portrait in his palace, with the following inscrip- 
tion : " In honour of his saintly master Vittorino da 
Feltre, who by word and example instructed him in 
all human excellence, Federico has set this here." 
Lodovico Gonzaga, the eldest of Gianfr^ncesco's 

' f^ittorino da FeUre, Prettdtlacqtta ; Benoit, Viilonn de Feltre; 
S. Poglia in Arckivio Slorico Lombardo, xi. 150. 



^dbyGoOglc 



I 



CECILIA GONZAGA 23 

SODS, retained the deepest respect for his master all 
throu^ his life, and after he succeeded his father as 
Marqiiis, would never sit down in his old teacher's 
presence. His brothers Gianlucido and Alessandro, 
who were cut off firom public life by a spinal disease 
which they inherited firom their motiier Paola, found 
their best consolation in literary pursuits, and Gian- 
lucido is said to have known the whole of ViigH 
by heart. Their sister Margherita charmed her 
cultured husband, Duke Leonello d'Este, by the 
elegance of her Latin letters, and he wrote to tell 
her how much he rejoiced to think that she enjoyed 
the advantage of Vittorino's instruction, being per- 
suaded that for " virtue, learning, and a rare and 
excellent way of teaching good manners," this master 
surpassed all others. But the most accomplished 
of Vittorino's pupils was the Marquis's youngest 
daughter, Cecilia Gonzaga. At eight years she read 
the works of Chrysostom, and amazM learned visitois 
to Casa Zoiosa by the ease with which she recited 
Latin verse. As she grew up her charms and sweet- 
ness of nature captivated young and old, but trouble 
arose when her hand was sought by Odd' Antonio di 
Montefeltro, the elder brother of Federico, who, un- 
like him, was a prince of notoriously bad character. 
In vain Cecilia pleaded her wish to take the veil and 
devote herself to a life of contemplation, and the 
papal protonotary Gregorio Correr, who, as Abbot 
of S. Zeno of Verona, employed Mantegna to punt 
his noble triptych in that church, dedicated to her 
his treatise J}e Fvgiendo Saculo. Hot father was 
bent on the marriage, and punished Cecilia with 
blows and ImprisonmenL At length Paola's tears 
and Vittorino's remonstrances brought the Marquis 



^dbyGoogle 



24 BARBARA VON BRANDENBURG 

to a better mind, and with his sanction Cecilia 
entered the convent of Corpus Domini, a community 
of Poor Clares founded by her mother, who came to 
end her own days there, after Gianfrancesco's death in 
1444. When Fisanello visited Mantua three years 
afterwards, he designed tfae beautiiiil medal inscribed 
with the words Cedlia Virgo, showing on one side 
a profile portrait of her dehcate and refined features, 
and on the other her seated figure, with the crescent 
moon and unicorn as emblems of her maidenhood. 
Four years after this she died, before she was quite 
twenty-five.' 

Vittorino's good offices were exerted on beh^ of 
another of his pupils, Lodovico Gonzaga, who in a fit 
of anger at seeing his younger brother Carlo pre- 
ferred to him, fled to the camp of Fihppo Visconti, 
Duke of Milan, and took up arms against his &ther. 
Gianfrancesco vowed that he would disinherit this 
undutifiil son, and it was only at the end of three 
years, in deference to Paola and Vittorino's entreaties, 
that he consented to a reconciliation and publicly re- 
cognised Lodovico as his heir. Meanwhile the young 
prince's httle German bride, Barbara von Branden- 
burg, was growing up in his mother's charge, and 
profiting by Vittorino's instructions. The marriage 
had been arranged by the Kmperor Sigismund when 
he visited Mantua in 1438, and that autumn an 
escort of 200 Mantuan coiuliers was sent to Augs- 
burg to bring back the ten-year-old princess, with a 
golden chariot drawn by four horses, and a robe of 
gold brocade so stiff and splendid that the German 
ladies exclaimed " it stood up of itself 1 " Soon after 
Lodovico's return, in 1440, the marriage was solem- 
1 Paglia, op. cit. s Pastor, " History of the Popes," I iff. 



^dbyGoogle 



1 



LITERAKY TASTES OF LODOVICO 25 

nised, and Barbara proved the best of wives and 
mothers and the most admirable helpmeet to her 
husband during the thirty-four years of his long 
reign,* 

Amidst the cares of state and perils of war, 
Lodovico did not forget the lessons which he had 
leamt in the Casa Zoiosa, and while, as captain of 
the Florentine and Milanese armies, he proved his 
valour on many a hard-fought field, he ruled his 
people wisely and well, and showed a zeal for 
learning and an enlightened love of art worthy of 
Vittorino's scholar. Mindful of the happy dajrs 
wh^i he and his comrades played together in the 
fields of Pietola, he collected all the manuscripts of 
Virgil that he could obtain, and Platina, whom he 
employed to revise the text, wrote a poem called 
"The Dream of the Marquis," in which Viigil 
returns from the Elysian fields and begs Lodovico 
to complete his great work and puige his text &om 
the errors of the copyists. Petrarch and Dante were 
as dear to him as the classical poets. He employed 
artists to illuminate the ^Eneid and IHvina Com- 
meeUoy and a richly illustrated MS. of the Fihcolo 
of Boccaccio £rom his collection, bearing the black 
ea^es and lions of the GJonzagas, is now preserved in 
the Bodleian Library at Oxford. One autumn, when 
he was taking the baths at Petriolo, he b^^^ed his wife 
to send him his St. Augustine, Quintus Curtius and 
Lucan. which had been left behind at Mantua. 
Another time he borrowed Borso d'Este's precious 
Codex of Pliny, while his wife be(^;ed the Duke to 
lend her S. Caterina of Siena's prayers. Lodovico 

1 B.Ht^atmai, Barbara wmHokenxolUm Mar igriifin von Mmitua; 
P. Kristellei in HohausoUem Jahrtmck, 1899, p. 66, &c. 



^dbyGooglc 



26 ART AT HIS COURT 

was also much interested in natural history, and 
made a valuable collection of books with illustrations 
of birds uid animals. Under his patronage a printing- 
press was set up in Mantua, and Boccaccio's De- 
camerone was the first book published there in 1478. 

The decoration of his capital was another object 
to which this admirable prince devoted his best 
attention. At his invitation Alberti paid repeated 
/visits to Mantua, and designed the chapel of the 
Incoronata in the Duomo, and the churches of S. 
Sebastian and S. Andrea. This last church, which 
was founded in 14<72, to receive the sacred blood said 
to have been brought to Mantua by the centurion 
Longinus, was justly admired as one of the earUest 
and most successful examples of ecclesiastical archi- 
tecture in the classical style. Alberti's designs were 
mostly curied out by Luca Fancelli, another Tuscan 
architect, who entered Lodovico's service in 1450, 
and built or improved the beautiful ducal villas at 
Goito, Cavriana, Gronzaga, and Revere, which are so 
often mentioned in Isabella d'Este's letters. The 
best sculptors and painters were employed by 
Lodovico to decorate these sumptuous countiy 
houses. Pisanello adorned a hall in the Castello 
with frescoes, and remuned at Mantua imtil he 
received an imperious summons &om Leonello 
d'Este, threatening him with the forfeiture of all 
his property in Ferrara if he did not return imme- 
diately. Donatello spent nearly two years at Mantua, 
wh^% he executed the noble bronze bust of Lodovico, 
now at Berlin, and began the Area of St Anselm in 
the Duomo. The Marquis often employed the great 
Florentine sculptor to send him antiques, but com- 
plained bitterly how difficult it was to induce him to 



^dbyGoogle 



ANDREA MANTEGNA 27 

finish anything. He was more fortunate with Man- 
tegna, who, after repeated and urgent invitations, 
at length came to Mantua in the summer of 1439, 
and remained there imtil his death, half-a-century 
later. 

That love of antiquity with which Vittorino had 
inspired him in early youth, and which he admired 
in Alberti's architectural designs, first led him to 
appreciate the genius of this great Paduan master, 
who was animated with the true classical spirit. He 
treated Andrea with unalterable kindness, gave him 
a hberal salary of fifteen ducats a month, with 
supplies of com, wood, wine, and lodgings for his 
family, and bore patiently with the irritable master's 
frequent complaints against the tailor who had spoilt 
his new coat, or the neighbour who had robbed his 
orchard of five hundral quinces. And when in the 
last years of his reign the treasury was exhausted 
by a long war, and the plague was raging in Mantua, 
the good Marquis replied to Andrea's bitter re- 
proaches in the following noble and kindly letter: 

"Andrea," he wrote from Goito, "we have re- 
ceived a letter from you which it really seems to us 
that you need not have written, since we perfectly 
remember the promises we made when you entered 
our service, neither, as it seems to us, have we 
&iled to keep these promises or to do our utmost 
for you. But you cannot take from us what we 
have not got, and you yourself have seen that, when 
we have had the means, we have never failed to do 
all in our power for you and our other servants, 
and that gladly and with good wilL It is true that, 
since we have not received our usual revenues during 
the last few months, we have been obliged to defer 



^dbyGoogle 



28 VIRTUES OF BARBARA 

certain payments, such as this which is due to you, 
but we are seeking by every means in our power to 
raise money to meet our obligations, even if we are 
forced to mortgage our own property, since all our 
jewels are already pawned, and you need not fear 
but that before long, your debt will be paid gladly 
and readily."' 

In the government of his people and in the ad- 
ministration of his affairs Lodovico was ably assisted 
by his excellent wife Barbara, the Hohenzollem 
princess who, leaving her own land at so early an 
age, brought the solid and domestic virtues of the 
Teutonic race to blend with the refined tastes of 
the Gonzagas. A prudent housewife and devoted 
mother, she watched over the education of her chil- 
dren with unwearied care. When Platina, who be- 
came her son Federico's tutor, after the death of 
Vittorino in 1446, was sent on a journey to Greece, 
she looked out at Mice for another master, saying it was 
a pity the boy should waste his time ; and when his 
successor, Filelfo, complained that Federico was lazy 
and indifferent, and had no real love of books, she 
counselled patience, and remarked that he would 
probably develop later. Under her vigilant eye no 
foolish luxury or wasteful expenditure was allowed. 
A refined simpUcity marked the daily life of the court, 
and display was reserved for state occasions. At 
the same time Barbara took a lively interest in the 
welfare of her husband's subjects. She encouraged 
the cloth manufacture by her example and influence, 
and large quantities of this fabric were yearly ex- 
ported to Germany. When her sister. Queen Doro- 

1 Arc/Uvia Gonzaga, lib. 86, quoted by A. Bascbct, Gaeelte des 
Beaux ArU, 1866. 



^dbyGoogle 



COUNCIL OF MANTUA 29 

thea of Denmark, visited Mantua in 1475, a great fair 
was held in her honour, and as many as 5000 pieces 
of cloth were offered for sale. 

Barbara's love for her adopted country did not 
weaken the ties which bound her to her old German 
home. She kept up an active correspondence with 
her kinsfolk beyond the Alps, and entertained her 
father the Elector John and her micle the Margrave 
Albert of Brandenburg repeatedly at Mantua. Her 
third and &vourite son, the tail and handsome Gian- 
franeesco, was sent to be educated under the Mar- 
grave's eye at Anspach, while Bodolfo, her fourth 
son, the gallant soldier who afterwards fell at Fomovo, 
completed his knightly training at the court of Charles 
the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. But the proudest day 
of Barbara's life was that of the opening of the Gene- 
ral Council which Pope Pius II. summoned to meet 
at Mantua in 1459. It was Albert of Brandenburg 
who, at Barbara's su^estion, had advised the Pope 
to choose Mantua for the meeting of this Council, 
which was to restore peace to Christendom ^d pro- 
claim a crusade against the Turk. Only England, 
distracted by the Wars of the Roses, and Scotland, 
" buried in the far northern seas," sent no answer to 
the Pope's appeaL Princes and ambassadors arrived 
from all parts of Italy and Germany. Pius II. 
and his eight Cardinals, Francesco Sforza, Duke of 
Milan, Albert of Brandenbui^, and Duke Sigismund 
of Atistria were among the guests who were enter- 
tained in the Castello. The Pope, who spent four 
months at Mantua, was greatly impressed by the 
noble character of the Marchioness, whom be de- 
scribed in one of his letters as " distinguished among 
all other matrons of the age by her shining graces of 



^dbyGoogle 



80 A BAVARIAN BRIDE 

body and mind." Two years afterwards, he gratified 
Barbara's fondest wish by bestowing a Cardinal's hat 
on her second son Francesco, a boy of seventeen, 
who was still studying at the University of Favia. 
Her maternal pride was equally pleased when, in 
1462, the Emperor Frederick II. arranged a mar- 
riage for her eldest son Federico with Margaret, 
daughter of Duke Sigismund of Bavaria. But the 
bad manners and rude habits of the German envoys, 
who came to Mantua to draw up the marriage con- 
tract, shocked the Italians, who declared that they 
behaved like cooks and scuUions ; and Federico, who 
is said to have been in love with another maiden, 
fled to Naples rather than marry this foreign bride. 
For several months nothing was heard of him, but 
at last he was discovered by King Ferrante, living in 
a destitute condition under an assumed name in the 
poor quarters of the city, and some time passed 
before his mother could induce him to return home 
and crave his father's forgiveness. In March 1468, 
Gian&ancesco and Rodolfo Gonzaga were sent to 
bring home the bride, who entered Mantua in state 
on the 7th of June. The chronicler Schivenoglia, 
who was Federico's secretary, evidently shared his 
master's dislike for the Germans, and describes the 
bride as short of stature, blonde and plump, and 
unable to speak a word of Italian ; whUe her atten- 
dants were clad in coarse red clothes of ugly shape 
and colour. " As to their customs and manners," he 
adds significantly, " I will say nothing." ^ Margaret 
herself, however, soon learnt to appreciate the refine- 
ment of Italian manners, and when some years later 
she paid a visit to her old home took a troop of 

1 A. Schivenoglia, CmuKa di Mantooa, 1445-1484. 



^dbyGoOgle 



DEFORMITY OF THE GONZAGAS 81 

richly attired singers and minstrels with her to 
Bavaria. We hear little else of Federico's bride, 
who had neither the vigorous character of the 
Marchesa Barbara nor the beauty and charm which 
made Isabella d'Este &mous. But she was a good 
wife and mother, and her placid, gentle face, framed 
in a quaintly peaked, pearl-trimmed cap, bearing the 
Greek motto Amomoa — spotless — may still be seen 
carved in low reUef on a block of Carrara marble 
which once adorned the portals of the Gonzaga 
villa at Revere, and is now in the Academy of 
Mantua. 

A worse trouble befell Lodovico and Barbara in 
the terrible affliction of their two elder daughters, 
Susanna and Dorotea, both of whom inherited the 
deformity which ^flicted Paola Malatesta in her 
latter years. When Susanna, who had been be- 
trothed as a child to Galeazzo Maria, the eldest son 
of Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, grew up hunch- 
backed, her younger sister's name was substituted in 
the marriage contract But soon it became rumoured 
abroad that Dorotea, although a £ur and attractive 
maiden, had one shoulder higher than the other, and 
before the wedding took place, the Duke demanded 
a medical certificate of her state of health. Rather 
than comply with this insulting condition, Lodovico 
broke off the negotiations and resigned his own 
appointment as captain of the Milanese forces. Both 
Galeazzo, who seems to have been really attached 
to his affianced bride, and his mother, Duchess 
Bianca, who was a personal friend of Barbara, 
endeavoured to reopen communications. But the 
Marquis declined all further correspondence on the 
subject, and in May 1465, refused the Duke's invita- 



^dbyGoogle 



82 DOROTEA MEETS GALEAZZO 

tion to attend the wedding of his daughter Ippolita 
with the King of Naples's son, Alfonso, Duke of 
Calabria. When, however, the newly wedded pair 
were on their way to Naples, the Marquis and his 
family met them at Reggio, and Dorotea saw her 
old lover again. The minute directions which Bar- 
bara gave her son Federico on this occasion prove 
that she had not yet abandoned all hopes of the 
marriage. 

"We do not yet know," she wrote on the 14th of 
June, " whether Signor Galeazzo will be present, but 
if he should come to Reggio, I think it well to warn 
you how to behave. First of all, as soon as you see 
the Milanese party approach, you and your wife must 
dismount and advance to meet them with out- 
stretched hands and courteous reverence. Be care- 
ful not to bend your knee before them, but salute 
the illustrious Duke and Duchess, and shake hands 
with Fihppo and Lodovico, and also with Galeazzo, 
if he is present and offers to shake hands. Dorotea 
must also give him her hand and curtsey to him, but 
if he does not come forward let her not move a step. 
Then we will take the Duchess up in our chariot, 
and you must all three of you pay her reverence. 
Dorotea must either wew her camora of black and 
silver brocade, or her crimson or gold-embroidered 
one, whichever of the three she chooses. Your wife 
may shake hands with the princes or not, as she 
pleases, for in her condition whatever she does will 
be excused. But I hope you will take a htUe 
trouble in the matter, and explain all this clearly to 
Dorotea, and see that she makes no mistake; If we 
could be present at the interview, I would not 
trouble you, but I fear oiu* chariot may be delayed 



^dbyGooglc 



LODOVICO'S DAUGHTERS 88 

and we may arrive too late to receive the Milanese 
princes." ^ 

The meeting passed off happily, and Barbara 
wrote to her absent son. Cardinal IVancesco, saying 
that Dorotea had played her part well, and that 
Galeazzo had treated her with marked attention. 
Early in the next year the Duke of Milan died, and 
Galeazzo's first act was to renew his suit. Already 
the preliminaries of the contract were drawn up, 
when Dorotea fell suddenly ill of fever, and died in 
a few days. Ill-natured persons said that the new 
Duke had poisoned his bride to be rid of the bargain, 
but Galeazzo himself expressed the deepest grief, 
and after his marriage to Bona of Savoy brought his 
wife to stay at Mantua, 

Two of Lodovico's remaining daughters muried 
German princes, one of whom, the Count von Giiirtz, 
treated his wife so badly that she came back to 
Mantua a yeax after her marriage, while the other, 
Barbara, became, in 1474, the spouse of Count Eber- 
hard von Wurtemberg, the founder of the University 
of Tubingen. 

Fortunately all Lodovico's sons grew up tall and 
strong. Three of them were valiant soldiers, who dis- 
tinguished themselves in the service of the Pope and 
the King of Naples, while the youngest, Lodovico, 
bom in 14d8, became Bishop of Mantua, and his 
brother, Cudinal Francesco, rose to still higher dis- 
tinction in the Church. This young ecclesiastic was 
a refined connoisseur, and early showed his passion 
for music and antiques. When, after his appoint- 

' Stefano Davari, // MalTimotiio di Dorotea Gonzaga; Paul Kris- 
teller, Barbara von Brandenburg, HohensoUem Jatirbtich, vol iii. 
p. 66, &c 

VOL. I. C 



^dbyGoogle 



84 CARDINAL FRANCESCO 

ment as papal l^ate in 1172, he stayed at the baths 
of Porretta, in the Apennines, on his return from 
Rome, to recruit his health, he sent his father the 
following letter, begging that the painter Mantegna 
and the miosician Mal^sta mi^t be sent to keep 
him company : — 

"Most honoured and illustrious Father, — I hope 
to arrive at Bologna on the 5th or 6th of August, but 
shall not stay there more than two or three days, and 
intend to go on to the baths, where I beg Your 
Highness to be pleased to order Andrea Mantegna 
and Malagista to stay with me, in order that I may 
have some distraction and amusement to enable me 
to avoid sleep, as is necessary for my cure. It will 
be a great pleasure to show Andrea my cameos and 
bronzes, and other tine antiques, which we can ex- 
amine and discuss together, and Malagista's playing 
and singing will make it easier for me to keep awake. 
So I beg you to let me have these two for my com- 
panions. After taking the baths, I will return to 
Bologna for eight or ten days, and then come to 
spend all October with Your Excellency at Mantua. 
... I am able, thank God, to ride again since I left 
the bad air of Rome, and am already much better. — 
Your most devoted son, Francesco Gonzaga, Car- 
dinal and l^ate." ' Foligno, 18th July 1472. 

Both artists were sent to join Francesco at 
Bologna, and on Sunday, the 24th of August, the 
young Cardinal-legate made his solemn entry into 
Mantua, bringing in his train the distinguished archi- 
tect Leo Battista Alberti, and the young Florentine 
poet Angelo Poliziano, whose famous drama of 

> Anhivio Gtmsaga, quoted hy A. Baschet, GaeelU da Beatix 
Arb. vol. XX., 1866. 



^dbyGoOgle 



SALA DEGLI SPOSI 85 

" Orfeo," composed by him in three days, was acted 
for the first time on this occasion. The event was 
commemorated by Mantegna in a still more splendid 
form in the frescoes of the Camera degU Sposi, which 
were completed in 1474, as recorded in the proud 
inscription placed by the painter on a tablet, held by 
winged boys, over the door : " To the illustrious 
Lodovico II., Marquis of Mantua, most excellent 
prince, in the faith invincible, and his illustrious 
wife, Barbara, the incomparable glory of women. 
Their Andrea Mantegna of Padua has completed 
this humble work to their honour. 1474." 

Here, in the Marquis's own nuptial chamber, in 
the comer tower of the Castello, the great master has 
left us a Uving record of the Gonzaga family. The 
painter's genius has transformed this small room in 
the heart of the grim old fortress into a fairy bower, 
decorated with garlands and tapestries, where sportive 
loves play on a marble parapet under tbe blue sky. 
On one wall the reception of a foreign ambassador, 
probably the envoy sent by the Duke of Wiirtem- 
berg to ask for the hand of Lodovico's daughter 
Barbara, is represented. A secretary is seen handing 
the letter to the good prince, who, with his wife at 
his side, is seated in true patriarchal fashion under an 
open loggia on the garden terrace, surrounded by his 
children and grandchildren, his courtiers and pet 
dwarfs. His eldest son, Federico, advances to re- 
ceive the German ambassador, while the bride-elect, 
standing behind her mother's chair, tarns her eyes 
with eager gaze in tlie same direction. On the op- 
posite wall of the nuptial chamber, a second fresco 
conunemorates the arrival of the young Cardinal and 
his suite of servants on his return from Borne. The 



^dbyGoogle 



86 MANTEGNA'S FRESCOES 

Marquis goes out to welcome him, with his sons, 
Federico and Gianfraneesco, and his two little grand- 
sons, Francesco, afterwards the husband of Isabella 
d'Este, and Sigismondo, the future Cardinal In 
both of these family groups the striking personality 
of the different personages has been cleariy brought 
out by the painter. We see the gallant bearing of 
the soldier-sons, the culture and wisdom of the man 
of the world mingled with the sober gravity of the 
ecclesiastic in the sleek face and portly figure of the 
young Cardinal, while all the strength and goodness 
of Barbara's character lives in the sensible German 
fece that looks out from under the quaint square 
head-dress, and in the grave, black eyes that are fixed 
on her lord's face, and seem to express her readiness 
to help him with her sympathy and advice. The 
sunny landscape, with the Pantheon and Coliseum 
among the seven hills, recalls the Eternal City from 
which Francesco had lately returned, and if the 
medallions of CeesMS and myths of Hercules and 
Orpheus are emblems of Lodovico's taste for classical 
history and love of music, the peacock on the balus- 
trade, the tame lion crouching at his feet, and the 
favourite greyhound asleep under his chair, remind 
us of his interest in birds and animals. 

Thus, in these noble frescoes which still light up 
the old walls of the Castello with colour and bright- 
ness, the great master has not only left us a faithful 
picture of Lodovico and his family, but has enabled 
us to realise the strong German sense of family 
affection and home life, combined with the splendour 
and culture of an Italian court, which Isabella found 
at Mantua when she became the wife of Francesco 
Gionzaga. 



^dbyGooglc 



D,t„db,Google 



LODOVICO GONZAGA AND HIS SONS 
By Andrea Manteona 
{Sala degli Spisi. Mantua] 



idb,Googlc 



CHAPTER III 

1478—1490 

Reiga of Federico Goiuaga — Death of bis wife and mother — His 
love for his daughters — Visit of Lorenzo del Medici — 
AccessioQ of Francesco GoDzaga^His character and warlike 
tastes — Betrothal of Elisabetta Gonzaga to Guidobaldo, Duke 
of Urbino — His visit to Mantua — Marriage of Elisabetta — 
Her return to Mantua for Francesco's wedding~~Her friend- 
ship with Isabella d'Este — Excursion to the Lago dl Garda — 
Visits to Ferrara. 

LoDovico GoNZAGA died at the age of sixty-four 
oa the 12th of June 1478, at his villa of Goito, less 
than a month after writing his kind and dignified 
reply to Mantegna's remonstrances, while the plague 
was still raging at Manttia. On his deathbed he was 
induced by his wife, whose affection for her yoxmger 
children overcame her natural wisdom, to divide his 
State, and leave her favourite son, Gianfirancesco, 
the principality of Bozzolo and Sabbioneta, while 
CastigUone was bequeathed to Rodolfo Gonzaga and 
Gazzuolo to Bishop Lodovico. This division not 
only weakened the State, but led to serious family 
dissensions in the future. During Barbara's life- 
time, however, all went well. Her eldest son, the 
new Marquis, Federico, consoled his widowed mother's 
grief, and treated her with the greatest respect, tell- 
ing her, in true humanist fashion, that she had lost 
a lord whom she was bound to obey and kept a son 
whose duty it was to obey her. A year afterwards 
his wife, Margaret of Bavaria, died, leaving a young 



^dbyGoogle 



88 DEATH OF BARBARA 

family of five children, who were tenderly cared for 
by their grandmother. But on the 10th of Novem- 
ber 1481, Barbara herself died at the age of fifty- 
eight, deeply lamented by all her children. Fra 
Bernardino da Feltre, the eloquent Franciscan Mar, 
pronounced her funeral oration, and Matteo Bossi, 
the learned Abbot of Fiesole. addressed a Latin 
epistle of condolence to Cardinal Gonzaga on the 
death of this admirable lady. She was buried by her 
husband's side in fi^nt of the Area di S. Anselmo in 
the Duomo, and her sons desired Luca Fancelli to 
raise a splendid monument over her grave. But the 
Cardinal died in 1488, and although Bishop Lodovico 
intended to carry out his scheme, it seems doubtful 
if the tomb was ever erected. 

Before the good Marchesa died she had the joy 
of seeing her granddaughter, Chiara — bom in July 
1464 — married to the King of France's cousin GQbert, 
Due de Montpensier, and her eldest grandson Fran- 
cesco, who was two years younger, betrothed to 
Isabella d'Este, with whose mother Leonora she had 
long been on firiendly terms. Federico himself was 
an affectionate father, and took great interest in his 
two younger daughters, EUsabetta, whose delicate 
health made her an object of especial anxiety, and 
Maddalena, who was only seven years old when her 
mother died. On the 14th of August 1481, Violante 
de' Preti, the faithful governess in whose charge the 
young princesses were spending the summer at the 
ducal viUa of Porto, wrote the following report to the 
Marquis, who was frequently absent from Mantua 
during the long war with Venice : — 

" Most illustrious Prince and excellent Lord, — 
You will be glad to hear that both your illustrious 



^dbyGoogle 



4 



FEDERICO'S DAUGHTERS 89 

daughters are well and happy and very obedient, 
so that it is a real pleasure to see them busy with 
their books and embroidery. They are very easy to 
manage, and they enjoy riding their new pony, one 
on the saddle, the other on pillion. They ride all 
about the park, but always attended by servants on 
horseback, and we follow in the chariot They are 
quite delighted with this pony, and Your Excellency 
could not have made them any present which gave 
them greater pleasure. I hope, my dear lord, by the 
grace of God, to be able to give you good news every 
day, in order that Your Highness may rest satisfied, 
to whose &vour I commend myself. — Your devoted 
servant, Violante de' Pketi."' 

On February 28, 1483, the little princesses received 
a visit from no less a personage than Lorenzo dei 
Medici, who spent a night at Mantua on his way to 
attend a conference at Cremona, where a new league 
was formed against Venice, and sent word to 
Violante's pupils by their dancing master that they 
might expect him after dinner. In her next letter to 
the Marquis, Violante describes how the little girls 
came to meet the Magnifico Lorenzo, and led him 
into their rooms, and how he sat down between them 
and talked for some time, and told them, when he 
took his leave, that their father was rich in fair 
children. The next day their brother, Francesco 
Gonzaga, who entertained this distinguished guest 
in his father's absence, wrote and informed the 
Marquis how he had accompanied the Magnifico 
Lorenzo on foot to mass at S. Francesco, and how 
he wait on &om the church to the house of Andrea 
Mantegna, "where he greatly admired some of 
' A. Liuio e R. Benier, Maiitotta e Urbtno, p. 6. 



^dbyGoogle 



40 ANDREA MANTEGNA 

Messer Andrea's paintings, as well as certain heads 
in high relief and other antiques in which he seemed 
to take great delight." ' 

Federico himself treated Mantegna with great 
kindness, and wrote affectionately to him when he 
was iU in October 1478, telling him to try and get 
rid of the fever as soon as he could, but not to trouble 
his head about the work at present He employed 
Andrea to decorate his new villa of Marmirolo, and 
when in 1484 the Prefect of Rome, Giovanni della 
Rovere, a brother-in-law of Duke Guidobaldo of 
Urbino, begged Bishop Lodovico Gonzaga for a 
picture by Mantegna, that prelate replied that the 
painter was unable to comply with his request, since 
his time was entirely engaged in painting a hall in 
one of the Mantuan palaces. And when Andrea 
declined to copy a drawing sent him by Bona, Duchess 
of Milan, who begged that he would " reduce it to a 
more elegant form," the Marquis excused his some- 
what blunt refusal, saying that "these excellent 
masters are often somewhat fantastic in humour, and 
that we must be content to take what they choose 
to give us.'" Federico intended at one time to make 
considerable additions to the Castello, and wrote to 
ask his Other's old Mend Federico di Montefeltro 
for a plan of his famous palace of Urbino, but 
the execution of this project and many others 
was hindered by the constant wars which ex- 
hausted his treasury. His old tutor Filelfo often 
reproached him with his parsimony, saying that the 
Marquis had never forgiven him for complaining to 

1 Arc/avio Gonxaga, quoted hj A. Baschet, Gaeette det Beaux 
ArU, 1866. 

' Archivio Gonzaga, lib. xcix., quoted b; A. Baachet, &c. 



^dbyGoOgle 



FRANCESCO GONZAGA 41 

his parents of his indolence when he was a boy, but 
Federico appointed one of the querulous old scholar's 
twenty-four children to be his son's tutor, while 
Colombino of Verona, the commentator of Dante, 
instructed his two little daughters. After his visit 
to Ferrara in 1482, he begged Duke Ercole to send 
him L'Asino dOro, an Italian version of Apuleius's 
poem, and gave Isabella's tutor Battista Guarino a 
grant of wheat during the famine which prevailed 
in that city. But when, in 1488, the said Guarino 
applied for the post of tutor to his sons, the Marquis 
replied that this was impossible, since in the first 
place he could not afford to pay him a salary, and 
in the second place his sons did not require a teacher. 
Francesco, he explained, was already seventeen and 
his own master, while Sigismondo, a boy of fourteen, 
was studying at the University of Pavia, and Gio- 
vanni, being only nine, was too young to need a 
tutor. A year afterwards Federico died, and was 
succeeded by his eldest son, Francesco, the affianced 
husband of Isabella d'Este. 

Although Small of stature, the young Marquis 
was vigorous and athletic, and from early boyhood 
showed greater inclination for manly sports and 
exercises than for study. One of his first tutors 
complained that he would never sit still and that it 
was very difficult to induce him to fix his attention 
on his book. Throughout his life he retained these 
characteristics. He was passionately fond of hunting, 
kept hundreds of dogs, and was especially proud of 
his famous breed of Barbary horses, which carried off 
prizes at all the races for which they were entered, and 
were sent by their owner as presents to Kings and 
Emperors. A brave soldier and shrewd politician, 



^dbyGoogle 



42 THE TRIUMPHS 

with the help of his clever wife he ndsed Mantua to 
the foremost rank among the smaller Italian states, 
and although he inherited Uttle of his grandfather's 
and uncle's taste for letters, he was ftilly alive to the 
lustre and renown which his court and person derived 
fix>m great artistic achievements, and became a liberal 
patron of scholars and painters. He was naturally 
fond of luxurious and splendid surroundings, and 
employed Mantegna soon after his accession to paint 
his great series of Triumphs for a hall in the Castello. 
As a child he had learnt to revere the genius of the 
great master who had worked for three successive 
generations of his house, and when he sent him to 
Rome in 1488, told Innocent VIII. that Andrea 
was "a most excellent painter, who had no equal 
in the present age." His own letters to Mantegna 
during this prolonged absence show the most friendly 
regard, and are a proof of the famihar and intimate 
relations that existed between the painter and the 
members of the Gonzaga famUy. 

Another pleasant feature of Francesco's character 
was his affection for his little sisters. In August 
1486, he arranged two excellent marriages for these 
young princesses. Elisabetta was betrothed to 
Guidobaldo, the son and successor of Duke Federico 
of Urbino, while Maddalena became the affianced 
bride of Giovanni Sforza, lord of Pesaro and cousin 
of the reigning Duke of Milan. The young Duke 
of Urbino visited Mantua on this occasion, and 
Silvestro Calandra, the court chamberlain, wrote on 
the 26th of August to the absent Marquis : " To-day 
this illustrious Duke went in a boat for his pleasure 
after dinner on the lake, but, being little used to the 
water, felt unwell and landed at the gate of the 



^dbyGoogle 



ELISABETTA'S WEDDING 48 

Corte to see the Triumphs of Ctesar, which Man- 
tegna is painting, which pleased him greatly, and 
then passed by the Via Coperta into the Castello." * 
That Christmas Chiara Gonzaga, the young Duchess 
of Montpensier, came to visit Mantua for the first 
time since her marriage five years before, and the 
three sisters prepared a " beautiful festd. " for their 
brother's entertaimnent, and were sorely disappointed 
when three days before the feast they heard that 
he had been obliged to put off his visit. " Illustrious 
Prince and dearest brother," they wrote in a joint 
epistle, "we three sisters, with some other gentle 
ladies, had prepared a most beautiful entertainment 
for Your Excellency, since we made sure that we 
should enjoy your presence at this solenm festival 
But now that we hear our hopes were vain we are 
grievously disappointed, and feel very unhappy, and 
can enjoy no mirth or pleasure without you, and 
indeed it seems to be a thousand years since we have 
seen you. So now we pray you earnestly, by that 
gentle and brotherly love you bear us, to come and 
console us in the New Year and taste the pleasures 
that we have prepared for you in ovi fegtci, which 
will certainly gratify you and give us the greatest 
possible delight. — Your sisters and servants, Chiara, 
Elisabetta and Maddalena Gonzaga."* 

In February 1488, Elisabetta set out on her 
journey to Urbino, and after experiencing terrible 
weather on the Po, enjoyed a brief rest at Ferrara, 
as the guest of the hospitable Duke and Duchess. 
But hardly had the wedding party left Ferrara than 
the tempest began again. At Ravenna, where the 

1 Liuio e Renier, Maaiova e Urintio, p. 9- 
> Ibid., p. 8. 



^dbyGoOgle 



44 COURT OF URBTNO 

Podestk gave them lodgings, the rain came through 
the roof in such torrents that it was almost impossible 
for the princess to find a dry place in her bed, and 
as they rode on through the Apennines, the roads 
were so bad and the rivers so much swollen that 
the attendants often had to carry Elisabetta and 
her horse bodily in their arms. " If it had not 
been for their devotion," she wrote to her brother, 
" I should eertainlynot have reached Urbino alive."' 
After this perilous journey, in what Francesco's sec- 
retary Capilupo calls " the most detestable weather 
ever known for weddings," Elisabetta found a splen- 
did reception awaiting her at Urbino. The Duke's 
loyal subjects poured out of the city gates, troops 
of white-robed children waving laurel boughs came 
down the hillside to welcome her with shouts of 
joy, and the splendours of the wonderful palace on 
the heights, with its gorgeous tapestries and treasures 
of gold and silver, consoled the Mantuan courtiers 
for the perils and sufferings of the way. The young 
Duke Guidobaldo was a very handsome and courteous 
prince, exactly the same age as his wife and skilled in 
all knightly exercises, although even at this early age 
he suffered cruelly from gout. From the first he 
showed himself a devoted husband, while Elisabetta's 
charm and goodness soon won all hearts in her new 
home. But the happiness and splendour of her 
present surroundings could not make her forget the 
old home to which she was so fondly attached, and 
she wept bitterly when her brother Giovanni and 
the Mantuan escort took their departure. " I was 
very unhappy at parting from Messer Giovanni," she 
wrote to the Marquis, " and feel that I am abandoned 

1 Luzio e Renier, Maalova e Urbino, p. 87. 



^dbyGoOgle 



ELISABETTAS ILL-HEALTH 45 

by all my own family." But in August she had the 
joy of seeing Francesco, who paid his sister a flying 
visit, and showed his affection for her by frequent 
presents of fish, fruit, and game, as well as antiques 
and horses for his brother-in-law's acceptance. In 
1489, the young Marquis was appointed captain- 
general of the Venetian armies, a post which he held 
with distinction during the next nine years, and 
which occupied his time fully. A few months later, 
in October, Elisabetta and her husband were present 
at her sister Maddalena's marriage to Giovanni 
Sforza at Pesaro. But her health, which was never 
strong, gave way under the strain of these prolonged 
festivities, and she fell seriously ill in November. 

" We found Madonna, your sister," wrote Fran- 
cesco's secretary Capilupo, who accompanied the 
Mantuan doctor sent by the Marquis to Urbino, 
" looking very thin and pale, with none of the bri^t 
and healthy colour that she used to have in her 
cheeks. ... It is true there is a grace and gentleness 
about her which is that of a creature angelic rather 
than human, and although she will not allow us to 
say she is thin, and keeps up bravely, her limbs betray 
her weakness. She is up and dressed all day, but 
confesses that she is obliged to sit down when she 
has walked once or twice across the room." ^ The air 
of Urbino was pronounced to be too keen for the 
deUcate young Duchess in winter, and as soon as she 
was fit to travel she came to Mantua for change, and 
remained there for her brother's wedding. She it 
was, we have already seen, who greeted the youthful 
bride on the threshold of the Castello di Corte, and 
whose gentle face and winning smile was the first 

1 Luzio e Renier, MaUova e Urbmo, p. 50. 



^dbyGoOgle 



46 THE MARQUIS FRANCESCO 

sight that met Isabella's eyes as she passed into 
her new home. A Mantuan chronicler, probably 
Amedei,' who was present at the Marquis Francesco's 
wedding, describes Isabella as the most fascinating 
child in the world, and the bridegroom as a youth of 
majestic bearing, with broad forehead, keen eyes, and 
thick locks. To judge from contemporary portraits, 
Francesco's appearance could hardly have been called 
prepossessing. The terra-cotta bust preserved in the 
Museum at Mimtua, and the two portraits by Man- 
t^;na, the one painted when he was a boy of eight in 
the Camera degli Sposi, the other representing him 
twenty years later kneeling before the Virgin of 
Victory, all show us the same swarthy complexion, 
irregular features, and dark bushy locks. He had 
neither the good looks of his undes nor the dignity 
of his father, and his short, stunted figure gives the 
impression that he had murowly escaped inheriting 
the deformity which aflHicted the former generation 
of Gonzagas. But he was young and vigorous, full 
of courage and activity, and as impetuous in love as 
he was in war. And he was naturally enough deeply 
enamoured of his fair young wife. Isabella on her 
part' was fondly attached to her husband, and proud 
of his valour and unrivalled skill as a bold rider and 
fearless jouster. Both in character Mid intellect he 
was greatly her mferior, but even when in later years 
estrangements arose between the husband and wife, 
Isabella resolutely shut her eyes to his open acts of 
unfaithfulness, while Francesco placed the most 
absolute confidence in his wife and to the last 
retained the deepest admiration for her great 
qualities. 

1 D'Arco, Notuie d'ltabella cCEtle. 



^dbyGoogle 



ANTONIA DEL BALZO 47 

In these early days no shadow dimmed the bright 
prospects of the young Marchesana. Her joyous 
nature, her youth and beauty, brought sunshine into 
the old Castello on the Mantuan lakes, and she was 
soon as much adored in her new home as she had been 
in her fether's home. Her ready tact and good sense 
helped to allay the dissensions which had arisen be- 
tween the young Marquis and his uncles. Bishop 
Lodovico in particular had inctirred his nephew's dis- 
pleasure after his elder brother's death by his efforts 
to obtain the Cardinal's hat which Francesco wished 
to secure for his brother Sigismondo, and held a rival 
court ofhisownat Gazzuolo. But soon after Isabella's 
marriage the Bishop sent to Venice for a costly jewel 
which he offered her as a wedding present, and the 
young Marchesana always kept up a friendly inter- 
course with him and his brother Gianfrancesco, the 
lord of Bozzolo. This gallant soldier served King 
Ferrante of Naples for many years, and, during his 
residence in Southern Italy, married Antonia del 
Balzo, the beautiful and accomplished daughter of 
Pirro, Prince of Aitamura, the representative of 
the old Provencal family of Des Baux, who had fol- 
lowed Charles of Anjou to Naples, and bore the star 
in their coat-of-arms in proud token of their descent 
from Balthasar, one of the Three Kings.' The Gonza- 
gas of Bozzolo shared Isabella's love of romances and 
plays, and she constantly exchanged books with them 
or assisted at the dramatic performances in which 
they took delight. At her request Francesco BeUo, 
the blind improvisatore of Ferrara, who had settled 
at the court of Bozzolo, came to Mantua on a visit ; but 
Gianfrancesco, who suffered from increasing infirmities 
^ V. Koad, Gion. St. d. Lot. It., vol xiii. 



^dbyGoogle 



48 FRIENDSHIP OF ISABELLA 

and became prematurely old dming the last years of 
his life, entreated her to send him back soon, since 
the poet's recitations were one of the few pleasures 
that he was still able to enjoy. Antonia remained 
one of Isabella's intimate fidends to the end of her 
long life, and in August 1492, when the Marchesana 
passed throu^ the town of Canneto in their dominions 
on her way to Milan, she wrote back to tell her hus- 
band how Madame Antonia had come out to meet her 
with her two beautiful daughters. " Messer Andrea 
Mantegna," she exclaimed, "could not paint fairer 
maidens I " ^ 

With the more immediate members of her hus- 
band's funily Isabella soon became a great favourite. 
Both her brother-in-law, Monsignore il protonotario, 
as Sigismondo was styled, and the young Giovanni, a 
merry lad of sixteen, were from the first her devoted 
slaves. Giovanni especially took part in all Isa- 
bella's amusements, and kept up a lively corre- 
spondence with her when she was absent from 
Mantua. But, of all her new relations, the one 
whom Isabella admired the most and loved the best 
was her sister-in-law, Elisabetta. From the day when 
the young Marchesana arrived at Mimtua, a fast 
friendship sprang up between these two princesses, 
which was destined to prove as enduring as it was 
deep and strong. " There is no one I love like you," 
she wrote to EUsabetta in the ardour of her affection, 
" excepting my only sister, the Duchess of Ban " — 
Beatrice d'Este. And through all the changes and 
turmoil of the coming years, through the political 
troubles and fears and plots which tore Italy in 
twain and divided households against each other, 

' LdiIo e Renier in Archimo Storico Lombardo, vol. xvii. p. 341. 



^dbyGoOglc 



AND ELISABETTA 49 

Isabella's fidendship for her beloved sister-in-law 
never altered 

The two princesses had much in common. Both 
of them took especial delight in music and singing. 
Both were studious in their tastes, and showed the 
same kindly interest in painters and scholars. Isabella 
was more than three years younger than the Duchess, 
who had reached the age of nineteen at the time of 
her brother's wedding. She was more brilliant and 
witty, quicker at gay repartee and merry jokes. And 
she was also more talented and many-sided in her 
tastes. In future years she took an active part in 
poMtics, showed herself a skilful and able diplomatist, 
and was a match for Ciesar Borgia himself. Elisa- 
betta was graver and more thoughtful She had 
neither the physical strength nor the striking beauty 
and high spirits of Isabella. But her sweetness and 
goodness inspired those who knew her best with 
absolute devotion. She was adored, not only by 
her husband and brothers, but by the most brilliant 
cavaliers and distinguished men of letters of the age, 
by Baldassarre Castiglione and Pietro Bembo. 

On this occasion Elisabetta remained at Mantua, 
by her sister-in-law's especial wish, till June. Dur- 
ing the frequent journeys of the Marquis to Venice, 
the two princesses were inseparable companions. To- 
gether they sang French songs and read the latest 
romances, or played scartino, their favourite game at 
cards, in the pleasant rooms which Francesco had 
prepared for his bride on the first floor of the Castello, 
near the Sala degh^ Sposi. Together they rode and 
walked in the park and boated on the crystal waters 
of the lake, or took excursions to the neighbouring 
villas of Porto and Marmirolo. By the middle of 

VOL. I. D 



I u, Google 



50 THE LAGO DI GARDA 

March, the Duchess's hedth was sufficiently improved 
to venture on a longer trip, and on the 15th, Isabella 
wrote to her absent lord : " To-day, after dinner, with 
Your Highness's kind permission, the Duchess of 
Urbino and I are going to supper at Goito, and to- 
morrow to Cavriana, where the wife of Signor Fra- 
cassa (Gasparo San Severino) will meet us, and on 
Thursday we are going on the lake of Garda, accord- 
ing to Your Highness's orders, and I have let the 
Rector of Verona know, so that we may find a barge at 
Sermione" A few days later she wrote from Cavriana 
to inform her husband of the success of their expedi- 
tion. " The Duchess of Urbino and I, together with 
Signor Fracassa's wife, went on Thursday to dine 
at Desenzano and to supper at TuscuUano, where we 
spent the night, and greatly enjoyed the sight of this 
Riviera. On Friday we returned by boat to Ser- 
mione, and rode here on horseback. Wherever we 
went we were warmly welcomed and treated with the 
greatest attention, most of all by the captain of the 
lake, who gave us fish and other things, and by the 
people of Saib, who sent us a fine present. To-morrow 
we go to Goito, and on Tuesday back to Mantua." ' 
So for the first time Isabella saw the lovely shores of 
Garda and the lemon groves of Sal6, and lingered in 
the classic gardens of Sermione, charmed with the 
delights of that fair paradise which she was often to 
visit in years to come. "These Madonnas," wrote 
one of the gentlemen-in-waiting, Stefano Siceo, from 
Cavriana on the 20th, " have been indefatigable in 
making excur^ons by boat and on horseback, and 
have seen all the ^rdens on the lake with the 
greatest deUght. The inhabitants have vied with 

1 Luzfo e Benier, Matitoea e Vrbuio, p. 54. 



^dbyGoOgle 



LETTERS FROM FERRARA 51 

each other in doing them honour, and one Fermo 
of Caravazo caused his garden to he stripped for the 
Marchesana and her party and loaded them with 
lemons and pom^;Tanates." ' 

Meanwhile the blank which Isabella's departure 
had left at Ferrara made itself daily felt. Her old 
tutor Jacopo Gallino wrote that he could not keep 
back his tears when he thought of those happy days 
when she read Virgil at his side, and repeated the 
Eclogues in her clear voice. At Isabella's request 
he sent her old Latin books to Mantua that she 
mi^t pursue her studies and sometimes remember 
her poor old tutor. Another servant, Brandelisio 
Trotti, describes in his letters how he wanders, from 
room to room, through the desolate chambers where 
her angelic face once smiled upon him, recalling 
each word and act, and saying to himself: '* There 
my divine lady lived — here she spoke those sweet, 
thoughtful words." " In the whole palace," wrote 
Leonora's chamberlain, Bernardino dei Prosperi, 
" there is not a single courtier or serving woman 
who does not feel widowed without Yoiu" Highness. 
Even the tricks and jests of the dwarfs and clowns 
fail to make us laugh." Most of all to be pitied 
was the poor Duchess, who would not even allow 
the little window-shutters of Isabella's apartment 
to be opened, saying that she had not the heart to 
visit those empty rooms, knowing how great was 
the blank that she would find there. 

Isabella, to do her justice, did not forget her 
old friends. She wrote kind letters to her old tutors, 
Battista Guarino and Jacopo Gallino, and sent them 
presents of black damask and velvet in gratitude 

1 Luzio e Benier, ManUna e Urhino, pp. 54—56. 



lb, Google 



52 DEATH OF MADDALENA 

for their past services. She even remembered the 
clown Fritella, and sent a ducat and three yards of 
tan-coloured satin to this pet dwarf, who remained 
deeply attached to the young Marchesana, and 
whose blotted, ill-spelt letters are still preserved in 
the G^nzaga archives.' Early in April the Marquis 
took her back to Ferrara for a short visit, and in 
July, after the Duchess of Urbino had left Mantua, 
she returned to spend another fortnight with her 
parents. The sudden death of Maddalena Gonzaga, 
the young wife of Giovanni Sforza, on the 8th of 
August, within a year of her marriage, was a great 
shock to all her fEunily, and Isabella grieved most 
of all for the sake of EUsabetta, whose health was 
severely affected by this unexpected sorrow. Isa- 
bella herself was suffering from a slight attack of 
fever at the time, and Beatrice dei Contrari, the 
faithful Ferrara lady whom Leonora had solemnly 
charged to watch over her young mistress's welfere, 
would not allow the sad news to be told her for 
some days, " knowing her cordial affection for Ma- 
donna Maddalena, and feuring," as she wrote to the 
Marquis, " lest we should add ill to ill." ' A month 
later the Marchesana and her ladies took another 
excursion to the shores of Garda, and wrote to tell 
Elisabetta how much she missed her in these &ir 
regions and how ardently she wished for her to 
enjoy the good fish and the delights of the arch- 
priest's garden at Tuseullano. After her retiu-n 
to Mantua, she received a visit from her brothers 
Alfonso and Ferrante, and intended to accompany 
them to Ferrara, as her mother was suffering from 

1 A. Luzio, / PrtceUori tTItabella tfEtle, pp. 13, 17. 
* Lusio e Renter, Manlooa e Urimo, p. 55. 



^dbyGoogle 



ISABELLA AT FERRARA 58 

fever, but in deference to Francesco's wish put oflF 
the visit till November. On arriving at Ferrara, 
Isabella found the Duchess engaged in active 
preparations for Beatrice's wedding, which was to 
take place at Pavia in January, but amid the stir 
and excitement around her she managed to write 
the following affectionate little note to her hus- 
band: — 

" My dearest lord, — If I have not written before, 
it is not that you have not been continually in my 
heart, but that I had simply not a moment to 
spare as long as the Milanese ambassador was here. 
Now I must do my duty and tell you that I can 
have no pleasure when I am away from Your 
Highness, whom I love more than my own life. — 
One who loves Your Highness more than herself, 
IsABEiXA DA EsTE DA GoNZAGA." Fcrrara, 
November 25, 1490. 

On the 28th Francesco replied to this loving little 
note in similar terms : — 

" Since you feel that you cannot be happy away 
from me any longer, which is only natural, con- 
sidering the immense love which we both feel for 
each other, it seems to me that, now you have 
satisfied your illustrious &therand mother's wishes, as 
well as your own affection for your femily, you might 
return home for our own happiness, and so I shall 
look forward to your arrival with impatience." 

And on the same day Beataice dei Contrari wrote 
to the Marquis: — 

" My illustrious lady is as beautiful, well and gay 
as possible, and wants nothing but the presence of 
Your Excellency to make her perfectly happy." ^ 

^ Luzio e RenJer in Jrckivio Storico Lomhardo, vol xvii. p. 81. 



^dbyGoOgle 



CHAPTER IV 

1490—1498 

Marriage of Beatrice d'Este to Lodovico Sforsa — Isabella's pre- 
parations for the wedding — Journey to Pavia and Milan — 
Marriage of Alfonso d'Este to Anna Sforsa — F£tes at Pemtra 
— Correspondence of Isabella with Lodovico and Beatrice 
Sforza — Isabella administers affairs of State — Galeotto's 
dyke — Visits to Ferrara, Milan, and Genoa — The Duchess of 
Urbino comes to Mantua — Isabella's affection for Elisabetta. 

The next few weeks after Isabella's return were 
spent in preparations for her journey to Milan. 
She had gladly accepted the courteous invitation sent 
her by Lodovico Sforza to accompany her mother 
and sister to the wedding, although her husband 
thought it best to decline for his part, fearing to 
offend the Signory of Venice, who looked with sus- 
picion on this alliance between the Sfoizas and Estes. 
The young Marchioness was determined to make a 
brave show on this occasion, and all the merchants in 
Venice and Ferrara were required to ransack their 
stores and supply her with furs, brocades, and jewels. 
Zorzo Brognolo, the Gonzagas' trusted agent in 
Venice, was desired to search all the shops in Venice 
for eighty of the very finest sables to make a sherrda 
or mantle. " Try to find one skin with the head of 
the animal," Isabella adds, " to make a muff, which I 
can carry in my hand. Never mind if it costs as 
much as ten ducats ; I will give the money gladly as 
long as it is really a fine fur. You must also buy 
eight yards of the best crimson satin which you can 



^dbyGoOglC 



MARRIAGE OF BEATRICE 53 

find in Venice to line the said sberma, and for Gk>d's 
sake use all your accustomed diligence, for nothing, I 
assure you, will give me greater pleasure." ' A few 
days later she entreats Giacomo Trotti, the Duke of 
Ferrara's ambassador at Milan, to send her two skins of 
Spanish cat, the best and finest that are to be found 
in that city, to trim this sumptuous mantle ; and in 
January 1491, when she had already started on her 
journey, she writes to G^noa and orders another 
sbenda of costly brocade to be sent by express 
courier to await her arrival at Pavia. 

The cruel hardships to which the Marchioness 
and her ladies were exposed during their journey in 
barges up the Po, the actual cold and hunger which 
they suffered, are vividly described in Beatrice dei 
Contrail's letters to the Marquis, while Isabella her- 
self has left a lively narrative of the brilliant festivities 
with which the Moro's wedding was celebrated in her 
letters to her young brother-in-law Giovanni Gon- 
zaga.* The young princess threw herself with ardent 
enthusiasm into the pleasures of the hour, and the 
friendship which she formed on this occasion with 
her new brother-in-law Lodovico Sforza was destined 
to prove an important factor in North Italian pohtics. 

The espous^ of her brother Alfonso with Anna 
Sforza, niece of Lodovico and sister of the reigning 
Duke of Milan, Giangaleazzo, were solemnised in the 
ducal chapel at Milan on the 28rd of January, but 
the final nuptial benediction was deferred for the 
present, and, on the 1st of February, the bridal pair 

1 Liuio in fitiema Antoiopa, 1896, p. 455. 

^ For detail! of the wedding and the later visits of Isabella to 
Milan, as well as the correspondence between the sisters, &c., see 
lay work on " Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Milan," chaps, v. and vi. 
(Dent & Co., 1899). . 



^dbyGoogle 



56 ISABELLA VISITS THE CERTOSA 

set out on the return journey to Ferrara, accompanied 
by Duchess Leonora, Isabella, and their respective 
suites, and escorted by 200 Milanese knights and 
nobles. On their way to Pavia the distinguished 
travellers paid a visit to the famous Certosa, which 
the Dukes of Milan justly counted one of the finest 
jewels in their crown, and which both Isabella and 
her mother had expressed their wish to see. At 
first the Prior raised objections, and told the 
Regent that no women might be admitted into the 
convent precincts without a dispensation from the 
Pope. But Lodovico overruled his scruples, saying 
that he would take the responsibihty upon himself, 
and gave peremptory orders that church and convent 
should be thrown open on this occasion, and that 
the Duchess and her party should be feasted with 
"an abundance of lampreys" and other delicacies. 
After this no further objection was raised by the 
Prior, and the archives of the Certosa record how, 
on the 6th of February 1491, "there came to this 
monastery the wife of the Duke of Ferrara, with the 
Marchioness of Mantua and the brother and sister of 
the Duke of Milan, together with a suite of 400 
horses and 800 persons, and the expense of supplying 
them with confectionery, fish and Malvasia wine 
amounted to 400 lire." ' 

That winter was exceptionally severe ; the streets 
of Milan and the pwk of Pavia lay deep in snow, and 
when the wedding party reached Ferrara the Po was 
still frozen over and himdreds of workmen were em- 
ployed to break the ice and make a passage for the 
bucentaur. On the 12th of February, the bride 
entered the city on horseback, escorted by the Duke 

^ Carlo Magenta, / VitconU e Sforza nel CatUUo di Pavia. 



^dbyGoogle 



ALFONSO D-ESTE'S WEDDING 57 

and Alfonso, and followed by the Marquis and 
Marchioness of Mantua, Annibale Bentivoglio and 
his wife, Lucrezia d'Este, Ercole's leiumed sister 
Bianca d'Este, with her husband Galeotto della 
Mirandola, and the Ambassadors of Milan, Venice, 
and Naples. Four triiunphal arches, adorned with 
mythological groups, had been erected along the 
route by the ducal architect Biagio Rosetti, the 
builder of the Campanile of the Duomo and of the 
famous Palazzo Diamante. The Sun-god was seen 
driving his chariot on the arch opposite the 
Schifanoia palace, Cupid rode in his car drawn by 
doves in front of the Franciscan church, the Great 
Twin Brethren with their prancing steeds were repre- 
sented on the arch before the Duomo, while all the 
chief gods of Oljrmpus welcomed the bridal pair at 
the gates of the Castello. Here Leonora received 
the bride, and the nuptial blessing was pronounced 
by the Archbishop in the ducal chapel, while the 
German Kapellmeister, Don Giovanni Martini, played 
exquisite oi^n melodies, and the choir boys sang 
their sweetest strains. This was followed by a 
banquet and a representation of the Menaechmi with 
scenery painted for the occasion by a Ferrara master, 
Niccolo del Cogo, and a ball in which the Marquis of 
Mantua danced with t}ie bride and Alfonso with the 
Marchioness. Later in the evenftig Isabella and 
Anna Sforza danced country dances together amidst 
the applause of the assembled company, after which 
the bride was escorted to her chamber by her family 
and courtiers, with lighted torches and much noisy 
merriment." 

The concourse of guests assembled at Ferrara 
I Luzio e Renier in Arck. SL Lomb., vol. xvii. p. 96, 



^dbyGoogle 



58 ISABELLA GOVERNS MANTUA 

on this occasion was enormous. The Venetian Am- 
bassadors, Zaccaria Barbaro and Francesco Capello, 
brought as many as 150 persons in their suite, and 
the Duke's steward records that upwards of 45,000 
pounds of meat were consumed at court during the 
week.' 

On the 17th of February, Isabella wrote a de- 
tailed account of these festivities to her sister 
Beatrice, whose absence from.Ferrara at this eventful 
time was the only thing she r^retted, and promised 
to keep her better supplied with letters now that the 
fites were over and she was quietly at home again. 
Lodovico, in his anxiety to gratify his sister-in-law, 
agreed to send a weekly courier to Mantua, and 
seldom failed to write himself, while Beatrice's 
Ferrarese ladies-in-waiting, Teodora degli Angeh and 
Polissena d'Este, kept Isabella well informed of all 
that happened at the court of Milan. Both the Duke 
and Duchess of Ban were exceedingly anxious that 
Isabella should join their hunting parties at Favia 
and Vigevano that summer, but the Marcbesa was 
unable to leave home, since her husband visited 
Bologna in June for his brother Giovanni's wedding 
to Laura BentivogUo and afterwards went on to see 
his sistCT at Urbino. Money was short at Mantua, 
and Isabella could ill ^ord the expense of another 
journey to her -sister's brilliant court. So she 
reluctantly declined hex pressing invitations, and 
like a good wife devoted herself to the management 
of her lord's pubhc and private affairs. 

The long letters which Isabella addressed to 
Francesco in his absence show how seriously she 
applied herself to public business and how anxiously 
1 Muretori, R. I. S„ voL xziv. 



^dbyGoogle 



GALEOTTO'S DYKE 59 

she considered the good of his subjects. She often 
consulted her father and her brother-in-law Lodovico 
Sforza, on questions which concerned them as neigh- 
bouring Powers. That summer she was much 
troubled about a certain dyke which her uncle 
Galeotto della Mirandola had constructed in his 
dominions whereby the waters of the river Secchia 
were diverted from Mantuan territory, and many far- 
mers and peasants were threatened with ruin. In 
August, the Marchesa addressed an uigent entreaty 
to Lodovico, complaining that Galeotto had not only 
refused to attend to her request, but that, when she 
proposed to refer the question to the K^ent of Milan, 
he had actually boasted that the Moro was far more 
friendly to him than to the Gonzagas, " although," she 
added indignantly, " oiu- two houses are not only 
connected by ties of blood uid marriage, but united 
by the closest friendship, and all the world knows the 
great kindness and paternal affection which you have 
shown to my lord and in a still higher degree to 
myself, so that Messer Galeotto need not presume to 
think himself more highly favoiued than we are." 

Galeotto however remained obdurate, uid Duke 
Ercole at his daughter's request sent a shrewd lawyer, 
Pellegrino Prisciani, to examine the case and give 
her the benefit of his advice. In a letter dated the 
18th of September, written from her favourite villa 
of Porto, she gives her father an amusing account of 
Messer Pellegrino's visit, and describes how the advo- 
cate listened attentively while she laid the case before 
him and took down notes of all that she said, after 
which he went on to Mirandola to hear Galeotto*s 
defence and report both sides of the question. 

" Messer Pellegrino," she writes in her lively style, 



,y Google 



60 A PEDANTIC LAWYER 

"began by making me a long eocordium which to 
my mind altogether surpassed the speech which he 
addressed to you. For in haranguing Your Excel- 
lency he only quoted Pliny, whereas in speaking to 
me he quoted Ptolemy, Vitruvius, Homer, Horace, 
as well as an innumerable quantity of other authors 
about whom I knew as little of the one as of the 
other I One thing however really pleases me. It is 
that after seeing and examining bM. these plans I have 
begun to learn something about architecture, so that 
in future when you tell me about your buildings I 
shall be able to understand your explanations better." 
And in a postscript she adds : " M. Pellegrino 
departed yesterday, so well primed with our argu- 
ments regarding the dyke of Secchia that I cannot 
ima^ne how Messer Galeotto will be able to answer 
him, unless, as is generally the case, he persists in 
denying the truth 1 " ^ Unfortunately we do not 
learn the result of the lawyer's mission, but as we 
hear no more on the subject can only conclude that 
the Prince of Mirandola was brought to reason and 
that the fair Marchesa won her case. 

In November, Isabella spent some weeks at 
Ferrara, and while she was there heard to her sur- 
prise that her husband had suddenly gone to Milan. 

'* My dearest lord," she wrote to him on the 4th 
of December, " I hear that you are gone to Milan 
and am vexed not to have known of this before your 
departure, as I would have left all the pleasures 
which I am enjoying here in the company of my 
father and mother, and would have come to Mantua 
at once to see Your Highness. But, as I did not 
know this in time, I send these few lines by a courier 
> Liudo e Renier in Giom. St. d. tdi. It., 1900. 



^dbyGoogle 



ISABELLA GOES TO MILAN 61 

on horseback to satisfy my anxiety as to your welfare, 
begging you to commend me to Signor Lodovico 
and the Duchess. — From her who longs to see Your 
Highness, Isabella d' Este, with her own hand." 

Francesco explained in a letter from Milan that 
he had informed his wife of his intended journey in a 
note which never reached her. Now he told her of 
the kindly reception which he had received from 
Lodovico and Beatrice, and of the honours and atten- 
tions with which he was loaded, " all of which," wrote 
Isabella in reply, "gave me incredible consolation, 
and were no less dehghtful to me than if I had 
been there in person." ' 

It was only in the following summer that Isabella 
herself was able to accept the Moro's repeated in- 
vitations and pay her long-deferred visit to Milan. 
A series of fites and dramatic representations were 
to be given at Pavia in honour of Duke Ercole, and 
Francesco Gonzaga wrote from Venice urging his 
wife to accompany her father. This, Isabella de- 
clared, was absolutely impossible. " I have received 
your letter," she wrote on the 25th of July, " and 
understand that you wish me to go to Milan. 
Certainly that is my own wish also, especially since 
I hear the idea gives you pleasure, which is my 
sole object in life, so that now I should go there with 
the greatest good-wilL But it is quite impossible 
that I should accompany my father, or even start 
soon ^ter him, as I have not the means. Half of 
my household are ill, and I must wait till they have 
recovered, and Your Highness can choose the gentle- 
men who are to accompany me. Meanwhile I will 
arrange my affairs so as to be ready to start as soon 

1 Luzio e Renier in Arch. St. Lomb., voL xvii. p. Il6. 



lb, Google 



«2 HER JOURNEY 

as possible. But, of course, if Your Highness thinks 
differently, I will set out to-morrow, even if I have 
to travel alone and in my chemise. If, however, you 
are agreeable, I will write to Signor Lodovico and 
accept his invitation, and will let him know the date 
of my departure later on." 

The proud young princess had certainly no in- 
tention of appearing at the splendid court of Milan 
" in her chemise," as she described it. During the 
next few days letters were written and coxuiers were 
sent flying in all directions to order new clothes and 
jewels, not only for herself, but for the members of 
her suite. "Since we have to go to Milan in the 
middle of this month," the Marchioness wrote to her 
old servant, Brandelisio Trotti, at Ferrara, " I am 
anxious that the necklace of a hundred hnks should 
be finished by then, and I beg and implore you by the 
love you bear me to see it is ready in time. And 
since I am anxious that the few persons who accom- 
pany me should be honourably adorned with chains, 
I should be very glad if you would kindly lend your 
son Negro one of your own, as you did at my wed- 
ding." At length all the final preparations were made, 
and Isabella set out on her journey on the 10th of 
August. But half-way to Pavia she suddenly found 
that her best hat and jewelled plume had been for- 
gotten, and sent back the key of her black chest with 
orders to one of her servants to send it post haste.* 

The visit proved a great success, and Isabella's 
letters to her husband dwell with delight on the 
brilliant round of entertainments, hunting parties, 
and theatricals provided for her amusement, on the 
affectionate kindness of Lodovico and Beatrice, and 

1 Luzio e Renier, op. ciL, pp. 348-350. 



^dbyGoogle 



THE COURT OF MILAN 63 

the enthusiastic welcome given her by the people of 
Milan and Pavia. Political events also occupy a 
prominent place in her correspondence at this time. 
Alexander Borgia had just been elected Pope in 
great measure owing to the powerful support of 
Lodovico's brother, Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, and 
Isabella faithfully reports the latest news firom Rome 
and the satisfaction of the More at the elevation of 
this Pontiff, who was to become ere long his most 
bitter enemy. But, in the midst of aH these pleasures 
and distractions, Isabella often si^ed for her hus- 
band's presence. " I will not deny," she wrote 
affectionately to him, "that I am enjoying the 
greatest pleasures ; but, when I think how far off I 
am from Your Excellency, I feel they are not half as 
delightful as they would be if you were here." The 
Marquis, however, was engaged in attending the 
public races at Brescia, Siena, Lucca, and other 
cities, and gladly gave his wife leave to visit Genoa 
before her return home. New and warmer clothes 
were necessary for this expedition now the summer 
was over, and Isabella wrote to her chamberlain, 
Alberto da Bologna, desiring him to have a new 
grey satin camora, with black velvet sleeves, made 
for her without delay.' Some misunderstanding, 
however, arose on the subject, for a week after- 
wards Isabella wrote again, this time in very im- 
perious fashion, telling Alberto that he must have 
lost, not only his memory, but his brain and 
eyesight by the fall of which he complained, and 
repeating her orders with greater minuteness than 
before. But no sooner had she sent this letter than 
she repented of her hasty temper, and with her usual 

^ Luzio e Renier, Nuixa Jntologia, IS96, p. 451. 



^dbyGoOgle 



64 ISABELLA AT GENOA 

kindness she wrote another note, assuring her old 
servuit that she had only been joking 1 On the 1st 
of October, the Marchioness went to Genoa, attended 
by two of Lodovico's Avourite courtiers, Girolamo 
TuttaviUa and the Mu^hesino Stanga, and was 
received by the governor, Adomo, who rode out to 
meet her with an escort of Genoese nobles, mounted 
on richly draped mules, " which made a fine show," 
But, as Isabella herself tells us, the splendour of her 
reception was marred by a curious incident which is 
highly characteristic of the times. *' At six o'clock," 
she writes, " we entered Genoa, amid the noise of 
guns and trumpets, and I was conducted to the house 
of Messer Cristoforo Spinola, where the governor's 
wife and sister-in-law and other noble ladies were 
waiting to receive me. Before I had time to dis- 
mount, a crowd of workmen gathered round me, and 
seized my mule, according to their custom here. 
They snatched the bridle and tore the trappings 
to pieces, although the governor interfered, and I 
willingly gave it up to them. I was never so much 
frightened in my life, and was really afraid of some 
accident, but fortunately I did not lose my head. 
At length I was released from their hands, leaving 
my steed, a mule which Signer Lodovico had lent 
me, to be their prey. I must redeem it at a fair 
price, and shall have to buy a new set of trappings ! " ' . 
Isabella was summoned back to Milan by her 
sister's sudden illness, and as soon as she could leave 
Beatrice hastened home. Francesco was growing 
impatient at her prolonged absence, and wrote urgent 
letters desiring her to return, as his presence was re- 
quired in another part of bis dominions, and he had sent 

* Luzio e Renier, op. at., p. 359- 



^dbyGoOgle 



ISABELLA'S CLASSICAL STUDIES 65 

GioTanni to Rome to congratulate the new Pope on 
his accession. Unluckily, Beatrice dei Contrari fell 
dangerously ill on the return journey, and during some 
weeks Isabella was very anxious about this favourite 
companion. When she went to Ferrara in the end 
of November, she bej^;ed Beatrice to send her daily 
reports of her condition, " for, loving you as I do," she 
wrote, "I long to hear every hour how you are." 
Happily the lively maid-of-honour*s high spirits did 
not desert her, and she wrote amusing letters to 
Isabella, telling her how the Marquis had paid her a 
visit and spent two hours in her company, lamenting 
his wife's absence. " After discussing all manner of 
subje<!ts," adds the writer, "he ended by saying that he 
should have to take me for his wife in your absence, 
to which I repUed that I feared he would have a bad 
bargain, since Your Illustrious Highness is young and 
beautiful, and I am old and ugly and nothing but a 
bag of bones I " ^ 

The Marchesa however could not leave her mother, 
who had been in bad health all the summer, and 
remained at Ferrara until the end of the year, when 
Leonora set out for Milan and Isabella accompanied 
her to the borders of the Mantuan territory. Here 
the mother and daughter parted. The Duchess went 
on to Milan, where she was present at the birth of 
Beatrice's first-bom son, while Isabella returned home 
to devote herself to her studies, and make up for 
lost time, as she told her mother, by &esh zeal and 
assiduity. 

In spite of the manifold occupations and distrac- 
tions (^ the last two years, the young Marchesa 
had by no means given up her classical studies. 
I Liuio e Renier, op. cii., p. 360. 
VOL. I. E 



., Google 



66 HER TUTORS 

In a Latin letter which she addressed to her old 
teacher Guarino, in January 1492, she deplores the 
cares of state which interfere with her good inten- 
tions, and at the same time tells him that it is quite 
unnecessary to commend his daughter to her notice . 
since she already loves the girl both for her own sake 
and that of her father. A few months later she b^an 
to read Latin again with a new tutor, and in another 
letter Guarino exhorts her to persevere in the acqui- 
sition of that learning whidi cannot fall to bring 
her fame, since a truly cultured woman is as rare as a 
phoenix. For a time the Mantuan scholar Sigismondo 
Golfo helped the Marchesa in her studies, and sent 
her long letters retailing the court gossip, when she 
was at Milan or Ferrara. Since, however, she was no 
longer as familiar with Latin as she had been in her 
girlhood, she begged him to write to her in Italian for 
the present, in spite of the humanist's protests at this 
unworthy practice. By the end of the year, however, 
Golfo left Mantua, and in his stead Guarino sent 
Isabella one of his best scholars, Niccolo Panizzato, 
whom Leonora had chosen to accompany her son 
Ferrante on a journey to Hungary, and who was now 
a public lecturer in the University of Ferrara. The 
Marchioness agreed to give him the modest salary of 
three ducats a month and to provide for his family, and 
desired Niccolo to come to Mantua by the first boat 
that was available after the carnival f&tes were over, 
in order that she might lose no time in setting to 
work. But hardly had the new teacher set foot in 
Mantua, than Isabella sent him back to resume his 
worit at Ferrara, saying that her time was too fully 
occupied for her to resume her studies. Both the 
youth himself and Isabella's old master were bitterly 



^dbyGoogle 



LETTERS TO ELISABETTA 67 

disappointed. " It is really a thousuid pities," wrote 
Guarino, " both for the sake of the poor young man 
and for oin^elves, who hoped to have a Madonna of 
our own who would become honoured as a tenth 
muse." ' But the true reason for this sudden change 
of mind was the news whidi Isabella had just 
received that her beloved sister-in-law Elisabetta was 
on her way to Mantua. During the last year the 
Duchess of Urbino's presence had been anxiously 
expected at her brother's court But her coming had 
been r^)eatedly delayed by protracted illness, and 
Isabella's letters show how bitterly she had been 
disappointed in her hopes of once more welcoming 
this dear companion. When a year before Elisa- 
betta, instead of coming to Mantua, had been wdered 
to take the baths of Viterbo, the Marquis sent his 
sister's old friend, the Castellan Silvestro Calandra, to 
cheer her solitude, with the following letter, which 
does justice both to the warmth of Isabella's heart 
and the excellence of her sense : — 

" By the love I bear you, my dearest sister, 1 
must say this one thing, that I hope the first bath 
you take will be a steadfast resolve to avoid all 
unwholesome things and live on those which give 
health and strength. Above all, I hope you will force 
yourself to take regular exercise on foot and horse- 
back, and to join in pleasant conversation, in order 
to drive away melancholy and grief, whether they 
arise from mental or bodily causes. And you will, 
I hope, also resolve to think of nothing but of your 
health in the first ^lace, and of your own honour 
and comfort in the second place, because in this 
fickle world we can do nothing else, and those who 
1 Ltuio, / PrtcettoH ibabeUa tfEtte, p. S5. 



^dbyGoOglc 



68 THE DUCHESS OF URBINO 

do not know how to spend their time profitably, 
allow their lives to slip away with much sorrow aad 
little praise. I have said all this, not because Your 
Highness, being most wise yourself, does not know 
all this far better than I do, but only in the hope 
that, being aware of my practice, you may the more 
willingly consent to live and take recreation as I do, 
and as the Castellan will be able to inform you. 
And my husband is well content that he should 
remain with Your Highness until you leave the baths 
and as long afterwards as you choose, always on the 
understanding that you will soon come to Mantua, 
since otherwise he will not only recall the Castellan, 
but will, if possible, renounce all his love and connec- 
tion with you 1 " 

Calandra himself was given a letter couched in the 
same terms, giving him leave to remain with the 
Duchess as long as she persevered in her intention 
of coming to Mantua. " If, however, the Duchess 
changes her mind," wrote the imperious young 
Marchesa, " not only are you to return at once, but 
you are also to assure her that neither you, nor any 
one else, wilt be sent to her horn us, and that the 
tender love we bear her will undergo a complete 
change." 

But, although Elisabetta returned from Viterbo in 
somewhat better health, fresh causes arose to delay 
her visit to Mantua. First Guidobaldo fell ill, then 
he took his wife with him to Rome, after which she 
had a fresh attack of her old gastric complaint. 
When, in January 1493, Isabella heard that, instead 
of coming to Mantua, the Duchess had been sent to 
take the baths of Forretta, she began to despair of 
ever seeing her again, and wrote saying that nothing 



^dbyGooglc 



COMES TO MANTUA 69 

could give her pleasure this carnival, since all the fine 
plans which she had made for their mutual amuse- 
ment were blown to the winds ! " And the time 
which I hoped to spend in joyful intercourse to- 
gether 1 will now pass in dreary solitude, sitting alone 
in my studio lamenting your illness and praying God 
soon to restore you to health, so that if our desires 
may not be granted this carnival, they may at least 
be satisfied before the end of Lent." 

This last wish was happily fulfilled. On the 9th 
of March the Duchess started for Mantua, and 
Isabella sent the poet Picenardi with his lyre, in the 
bucentaur which went out to meet her, in order that 
he might beguile the journey with music uid song. 
The Marchesa herself and the chief citizens went 
to meet Elisabetta at Revere, and brought her back 
to Mantua amidst universal rejoicing. " And I really 
think," wrote Isabella to her mother a few days later, 
" that she is already beginning to feel the good effects 
of her native air and of the caresses with which I 
load her all day." ' 

' LuBio e RenJer, Maniova e Urbino, pp. 58-62. 



^dbyGoogle 



CHAPTER V 

1481—1493 

CorreBpondence of Isabella with her fkmjly and friends ; with 
merchants and jewellers — Her intellectual interests — Love of 
French romances and elassical authors — Greek ftnd Hebrew 
tnnslations and derotionaJ works — Fn Mariano and 
Savonarola — Antonio Tebaldeo — Isabella's friendships — 
Niccolo da Correggio — Sonnets and eclogues composed for 
her — Her love of music — Songs and favourite instruments 
— Atalante Migliorotti's lyre — Isabella's ctanerino in the 
Castello — Liombeni decorates her tbidiolo — Mantegna 
returns from Rome — Paints Isabella's portrait — Giovanni 
Santi at Mantua. 

Nothing is more remarkable in the history of 
Isabella than the vast correspondence which she 
carried on with the most different personages on the 
greatest variety of subjects. Her appetite for news 
was insatiable, her curiosity boundless. There was 
nothing which did not excite her interest, from the 
most important affairs of state down to the newest 
fashion in dress or jewellery, from the most recent 
discoveries in the New World or the last cantos of 
Ariosto's "Orlando" to the purchase of a carved 
turquoise or a Persian kitten. And she entered into 
the smallest details on these subjects with the same 
keen zest, and gave her orders with the same clearness 
and minuteness, whether the defence of the State or 
the painting of an illuminated missal were in question. 
The correspondence which she kept up with her 
relatives alone during these first years after her mar- 
riage must have occupied many hours. She wrote 



^dbyGoogle 



jOOgIc 



idb,Goi)glc 



CORRESPONDENCE OF ISABELLA 71 

weekly letters to her mother at Ferrara, to her sister 
Beatrice and Lodovico Sforza at Milan, to Elisabetta 
Gonzaga at Urbino, and corresponded frequently 
with her half-sister Lucrezia Bentivoglio and her 
husband, as well as with her own brothers. Alfonso 
d'Elste, her eldest brother, was deeply attached to this 
sister, who was only two years older than himself, 
and who shared his literary and artistic tastes. One 
day in the autumn of 1490, after paying Isabella a 
visit at Mantua, he sent her a long description of a 
tournament at Bologna, in which his brother-in-law 
Annibale Bentivoglio appeared in the guise of 
Fortune umI Count Niccolo Rangone figured as 
Wisdom. Both princes were attended by pages in 
French, German, Hungarian and Moorish costumes, 
and recited allegorical verses and broke lances after 
the approved fashion of the day. "I cannot tdl 
you," writes the enthusiastic boy, "how gallantly 
Messer Annibale bore himself, but I felt sorry for 
Count Niccolo when his horse stumbled and fell." 
A few months later he wrote to tell his sister that 
a new island had been discovered on the coast of 
Guinea, and sent her drawings of the strange race 
of men who dwelt there and of their horses and 
clothes, as well as of the trees and products of the 
country. 

The choice of new robes and jewels, of lurs and 
canioras naturally took up a laige part of Isabella's 
time and thoughts in these early days. She was in 
constant commtmication with merchants and gold- 
smiths, with embroiderers and engravers of gems. 
Countless were the orders for rings, seals, diamond 
rosettes and arrows, rubies, emeralds, and enamels 
which she sent to her agents at Ferrara and Venice. 



^dbyGooglc 



72 ORDERS FOR JEWELS 

One day she must have a cross of diamonds and pearls 
as a gift for her favomite maid-of-honour Brogna, the 
next she sends to Genoa for a choice selection of 
corals and turquoises. When she hears that her 
father has a rosary of black amber beads and gold 
and enamelled roses, she desires a Ferrara jeweller 
to make her one like it without delay, and when 
her sister Beatrice wears a jewelled belt brought 
from France, made in imitation of a cordone <U S. 
Francesco, she writes to ask for the pattern in order 
that she may copy it. The following letter to her 
father's agent, Ziliolo, who was starting on a journey 
to France in April 1491, is a characteristic specimen 
of the commissions which she gave her servants and 
of her eagerness to see her wishes gratified. 

" I send you a hundred ducats," she says, " and 
wish you to understand that you are not to return 
the money if any of it is left, after buying the things 
which I want, but are to spend it in buying some 
gold chain or anything else that is new and elegant. 
And if more is required, spend that too, for I had 
rather be in your debt so long as you bring me the 
latest novelties. But these are the kind of things 
that I wish to have — engraved amethysts, rosaries 
of black amber and gold, blue cloth for a camora, 
black cloth for a mantle, such as shall be without 
a rival in the world, even if it costs ten ducats a 
yard ; as long as it is of real excellence, never mind 1 
If it is only as good as those which I see other 
people wear, I had rather be without it I " She 
goes on to ask Ziliolo not to forget to bring back 
some of the finest tela di Sensa — the linen made 
at Rheims, which was in great request at Italian 
courts, and ends by begging him to lose no chance 



^dbyGoogle 



GOLD AND SILVER WORK 78 

of hunting out some rare and elegant trifles for 
her use/ 

The commissions with which Zorzo Brognolo, the 
Mantuan envoy at Venice, was charged, were still 
more varied. Silks and velvets of Oriental manu- 
&cture, brocades patterned over with leopards and 
doves and eagles, perfumes, Murano glass, silver and 
mello work, very fine Rheims linen for the Marquis's 
shirts, even finer and more delicate than the pattern 
which she encloses — these are some of the things 
which he must procure without a moment's delay. 
Often, indeed, faithful Zorzo found it no easy task to 
satisfy the demands of his impatient young mistress. 
Skilled goldsmiths and engravers were slow to move 
and apt to put o£f commissions and linger over the 
work in a way that was very trying to Isabella's 
patience. " If the bracelets we ordered months ago 
are not here till the summer is over and we no longer 
wear our arms bare, they will be of no use," she writes 
on one occasion when the Jewish goldsmith, Ercole 
Fedeli of Ferrara, had foiled to execute her order 
punctually. Another time the same artist kept her 
waiting four years for a pair of silver bracelets, and 
would, she declared, never have finished them in 
her lifetime if Duke Alfonso had not thrown him 
into the Castello dungeon ! But the work when it 
came was so exquisitely finished that Isabella had 
to forgive him and own that no other goldsmith 
in the world was his equal. And certainly the 
scabbard which Ercole worked in nieUo for Ctesar 
Borgia, now in South Kensington Museum, and the 
sword of state which he made for the Marquis 

^ // Luuo di Isabella d'Ette, A. Lnzio in Nuova Anlologia, 1696, 
p. 453. 



^dbyGoogle 



74 ENGRAVED GEMS 

Francesco, now in the Louvre, deserve the high 
praise which the Marchioness bestowed upon his 
work. It was the same with Anichino, another 
Ferrarese jeweller, who spent most of his time in 
Venice and engraved gems in the most perfect style. 
"Fortunate are those," sang a contemporary poet, 
" who are endowed with the genius of Anichino, for 
over them Time and Death have no power." " I will 
not fail," wrote Zorzo Brognolo to his mistress in 1492, 
" to urge Anichino to serve Your Highness quickly, 
but he is a very capricious and eccentric man, and it 
is necessary to hold him tight if you mean to get 
work out of him 1 " As usual Isabella had to bide 
the artist's pleasure and wait many weary months 
before her turquoise was returned engraved with a 
Victory. But when it came it was so beautifully 
worked that she forgot her displeasure and sent 
Anichino another gem to be engraved with a figure 
of Oipheus, telling him with many flattering words 
that he might be as slow as he liked, as long as the 
work came so near to antique art. This time, however, 
she owned to Brognolo that she was not altogether 
satisfied, but did not dare tell the artist her opinion 
for fear of exciting his wrath. " I know," she adds, 
"the man is the best master in Italy, but unfor- 
tunately he is not always in the right mood." * 

This fine taste and quickness to recognise true 
excellence naturally attracted the best artists into 
Isabella's service. She might be hasty and im- 
petuous in her orders; she often grumbled at the 
cost of pictiu^s and gems, tried to beat down the 
price, and was undoubtedly difficult to please, but 

^ Gruyer, L'Art Ferrarmt & ttpoqve det Princet tCEste, vol. i. 
pp. 5TS, 714, &c 



^dbyGoogle 



HER NEED OF MONEY 7« 

she was always ready to recognise good woric and 
to give the artist warm pruse. Naturally, how- 
ever, want of money often interfered with the 
gratification of her wishes, and she was compelled 
to return precious stones and finely carved gems 
because, as she told the goldsmiths sorrowfully, 
they were too dear. For the state of Mantua was 
small and its revenues could not compare with those 
of Milan or Ferrara. " Would to God ! " Isabella 
exclaimed when her brother-in-law Lodovico Sfoiza 
displayed his treasures before her dazzled eyes — 
" Would to God that we who spend money so gladly 
had half as much t " As it was, she often spent 
more than she could afford, and owed la^ sums 
to Taddeo and Piero Albano, the Venetian bankers, 
who generally advanced money both to the Mar- 
chesa and her husband. Often too she was forced 
to pledge her jewels and even her costly robes to 
raise money for political objects, to help Francesco 
in his wars or buy a cardinal's hat for his brother. 
The Mantuan agent Antonio Salimbeni wrote to 
her firom Venice in 1494, b^;ging that she would 
send him some money without delay, since he had all 
the merchants in the city on his shoulders, and could 
only give them good words, and hope that Her 
Excellency would soon come to the rescue. But 
Isabella was no spendthrift, and although she mi^t 
occasionally be led into extravagance, showed herself 
to be as practical in the management of her fortune 
as in everything else. When, in 1491, one of 
her husband's estates was seized by the Venetian 
merchant Fagano, Isabella hastened to redeem the 
land, paying down 2000 ducats and begging the Doge 
to be her security for the rest. Fagano began by rais- 



ed byGoogIc 



76 FRENCH ROMANCES 

ing objections, and evidently looked with some distrust 
on the Marchesa's proposals, upon which Isabella lost 
no time in paying down the money, saying proudly 
to Brognolo : " He might have trusted us, for, as you 
know, we would rather die than break our word." 

But the raising of loans, and the purchase of 
rare gems and costly brocades, of elegant trifles and 
ornaments for her camerim were by no means the 
only commissions which Brognolo had to execute for 
his young mistress. From the first, intellectual 
interests played a large part in Isabella's life at 
Mantua. All through the summer of 1491, she 
was engaged in an active controversy with the 
Moro's son-in-law Galeazzo di San Severino, on 
the respective merits of the Paladins Rinaldo and 
Orlando, and entered into the lists with her wonted 
spirit and gaiety. On the one hand, she asked her 
old friend, Matteo Boiardo, to send her the latter part 
of his Orlajhdo Innamorato, as yet in manuscript ; on 
the other, she wrote to Brc^olo on the 17th of 
September: '.' We wish you to ask all the booksellers 
in Venice for a list of all the Italian books in prose or 
verse containing battle stories and fables of heroes in 
modem and ancient times, more especially those 
which relate to the Paladins of France, and send 
them to us as soon as possible."' Zorzo executed 
this commission with the utmost despatch, and on 
the 24th, sent her a list of works, containing, amongst 
others, a Life of Julius Caesar, the romances of 
Boccaccio, Piccinino, Fierabraccio, and several trans- 
lations from the French. Many other French and 
Breton romances, tales of the San Graal, of King 

1 Luzio e Renter in Gtbm. St. d. Lett. It., 1899, p. 8. See also 
"Beatrice d'Eate," p. 68, &c. 



^dbyGooglc 



CLASSICAL AUTHORS 77 

Arthur and his Round Table, of Lancelot, Tristan, 
Amadys, Astolfo, Morgante Maggiore and Rinaldo 
di Montalbano, belonged to Isabella's library, and 
are mentioned in the inventory which was drawn 
up at Mantua in 1542, three years after her 
death. Her Gonzaga cousins at Gazzuolo shared 
this taste for French romances which Isabella had 
brought from the coviit of the Bstes, and many 
years afterwards, when Gian&ancesco's widow, 
Antonia del Salzo, was growing old, she begged 
the Marchesa to lend her the "History of King 
Arthur and the Round Table" and that of Gode- 
froi de Bouillon. " Now that I am often ill and 
unable to go out much, I like to have books read 
aloud to me,*' she writes, " and find that this passes 
the time pleasantly, especially when the story is 
quite new to me.'* Isabdla sent the books without 
delay, and Antonia gratefully acknowledged the 
parcel, saying that the French romances were read 
to her while she was at work every day, and that her 
brother-in-law Monsignore Lodovico was especially 
glad to see them, since a youth in his household was 
writing a book on Orlando, and hoped to find some 
new incident or idea in them.' 

But, dear as medieval romances were to Isabella's 
heart, classical authors were dearer still. The great 
Venetian Aldo Manuzio had not yet printed those 
choice editions which gave her so much delight in 
later years, but even in these early days her library 
contained a laige proportion of Latin authors, includ- 
ing the works of Virgil and Horace, of Livy and 
PUny, and the plays of Seneca, of Flautus and 
Terence. She never mastered the Greek language, 
1 Lnsio t Senier, op. cit., pp. 8, 9i IS. 



^dbyGoogle 



78 LOVE OF^RSLBOQKS 

but read the works of Greek writers in Latin or 
Italian versions, and employed Demetrius Moschus 
to translate the Lives of Plutarch and the Icones 
of PhOostratus, which as a treatise on painting 
was of especial interest to herself and her contem- 
poraries. In 1498, she was seized with a wish to read 
Herodotus, and borrowed an Italian translation from 
her cousin Alberto d'Este, which she kept over a year, 
giving as an excuse £015 her delay in retin-ning the 
voliune, that it was such a big one and that she had 
not yet finished it. With the true spirit of the biblio- 
phile, Isabella loved to add rare works to her Ubrary, 
even when she could not read them, and was especially 
proud of a Greek Eustathius, which Pope Clement 
VII. was glad to borrow, and \^ich she once lent 
as a great favour to her cousin, Csesar of Aragon, 
b^ging him not to allow too many persons to see 
the precious volume, lest its reputation should be 
diminished! Even Hebrew literature occupied her 
attention, and she employed a learned Jew to translate 
the Psalms from the original, in order to satisfy her- 
self that the text was correct. An illustrated Bible 
was one of the first books which she desired Brognolo 
to procure for her whoi she came to Mantua, and 
some years later she paid Taddeo Albano fifty ducats 
for an illuminated copy of the Seven Penitential 
Psalms bound in a richly chased gold and silver 
cover. A copy of St. Jerome's Epistles, which she 
had borrowed from her old tutor Battista Guarino, 
interested her so much that she caused the work 
to be printed at Mantua in 1497.* Even at this 
eariy age the youthful Marchesa was fcMid of reading 
the Fathers and of hearing sermons. Some 6f the 
' Liuio e Reoier, op. eii., pp. S1-S3. 



^dbyGoogle 



SUOR OSANNA 79 

most learned and eloquent friars of the day — the 
Goieral of the Carmelites, Fra Pietro da Novellara ; 
the Mantuan Cannelite Battista Spagnoli, Padre 
Francesco Silvestro of Ferrara, afterwards General of 
the Dominican Order — were numbered among her 
friends and correspondents. 

Her relations with the Dominican nun, Osanna 
dei Andreasi, ware still more intimate. This devout 
lady, a kinswoman of the Gonzagas, was r^^arded 
by Francesco and all his family as the protectress of 
Mantua, whose prayers they sought in time of war 
and plague. She was a wise and noble woman, 
whom the learned Francesco Silvestro held in high 
esteem, and as she was supposed to have received 
the st^;mata and to be oidowed with prophetic 
gifts, her fiune extoided &r and wide. Beatrice 
d'Fste induced her to visit Milan, where she was 
received as an angel of lig^t, and the Queoi of 
France, Anne of Brittany, asked her prayers that she 
might bear a schl Isabella was deeply attached to 
the Beata Osanna, to whom she turned in all her 
troubles, and after her death, in 1505, raised a splendid 
tomb over her ashes and o£Pered a silver head at her 
shrine. On one occasion the Marchesa believed the 
good nun's prayers had saved her from a dangerous 
illness, while on another they brought her instant 
relief from a violent headadie.^ And in an altar-piece 
of the Vision of the Beata Osanna, painted by Bon- 
signori, now in the Academy at Mantua, the portrait 
of Isabella is introduced kneeling with three of her 
ladies at the saint's feet' 

1 Donesmondi, Sloria axUtiattica di Mantova, it 90. 
^ Mr. Berenson first drew my attention to this portrait, vhich 
strongly resembles Leonardo's dr&wing ot IssbellA. 



CKiiiz^dbvCoogle 



80 INTEREST IN SAVONAROLA 

In 1492, Fra Mariano da Genazzano, the cultured 
and popular Augustinlan, whose polished oratory 
at one time made him the rival of Savonarola in 
Florence, preached a coiu^se of Lent sermons at Man- 
tua, which pleased Isabella so much that she insisted 
on keeping him at her court for Easter. On his 
return to Ferrara, the friar told Duchess Leonora 
how deeply he had been impressed with her 
daughter's intelligence and devotion. " Indeed," 
wrote the gratified mother, "he praised you so 
much that he almost made me beUeve you are 
really all that he said, and this would give me 
the greatest pleasure in the world." ^ At the 
same time, like all the Este princes, Isabella never 
ceased to follow the career of Fra Mariano's rival 
with the deepest interest. A volume of Savonarola's 
sermons was in her library, and six months after his 
death, she sent to Ferrara for a copy of the Miserere, 
a commentary on the Fifty -first Psalm, which he 
had written in prison before his execution. " I send 
you the Miserere of Savonarola," wrote her brother 
Alfonso on the SOth of October, "which I have 
had copied by your wish, and which you will find 
a worthy and devout book."' For the great friar 
of San Marco was a citizen of Ferrara, and neither 
Ercole d'Este nor his children ever forgot that his 
grandfather, Michele Savonarola, had held the post of 
physician to the dueal &mily. But wide and varied 
as was Isabella's interest in all forms of literature, 
the study of poetiy remained her favourite pursuit. 
She was as indefatigable in her endeavours to obtain 
the productions of living bards as those of dead 

1 Lurio e Reoier, op. at., p. 6S. 
* BibU>ifilo, i. 26. 



:dbv Google 



ISABELLA'S VERSES 81 

authors, and her correspondence in these early years 
is as much concerned with sonnets and cauzom as 
with jewels and fine clothes. Antonio Tebaldeo, the 
young poet who had already acquired considerable 
reputation at the courts of Ferrara and Bologna, was 
constantly sending her his stramhotti and capitoli, and 
the insatiable Marchesa was always begging for more. 

*' Find out Messer Tebaldeo," she writes in 
December 1491, to Giacomo Trotti, her father's 
envoy at Milan, "and be^ him to send twenty or 
twenty-five of the finest sonnets as well as two or 
three capitoli which would give us the greatest possible 
pleasure." Sometimes she herself tried to express her 
thoughts in verse, and in one of his letters Tebaldeo 
speaks with high praise of a certain strambotto of her 
composition on the autumn trees which have lost their 
leaves, and thanks heaven that one of his disciples 
has attained an excellence to which he could never 
aspire, prophesying that she will go far in this direc- 
tion, and achieve miracles in poetry. Isabella, however, 
took these flattering words for what they were worth, 
and although she occasionally wrote verses in private, 
steadily refused to allow her productions to be 
handed round among her courtiers, saying that such 
attempts were more likely to bring her ridicule than 
fame.* 

But among all courtly poets of her circle the one 
whom she admired the most was her kinsman 
Niccolo da Correggio. From her earliest childhood 
she remembered him as the handsomest and most 
accomplished cavalier at the court of Ferrara, dis- 
tinguished alike by his prowess in war and touma- 

1 S. Davftii, £11 Munca in Manlova, in Rtv. Sl Mont,, L S4 ; and 
A. Luzio, / PnceOori d'ltabella d'EsU, p. 53. 

VOL. i. F 



:d by Google 



82 NICCOLO DA CORREGGIO 

ments, and by his polished courtesy and rare gift 
of poetic invention. His fame was celebrated by 
the most illustrious poets and writers of the age. 
Ariosto and Sabbjt da Castiglione sang his praises in 
the next century. Sperandio struck a noble medal 
in his honour, and Isabella herself spoke of him after 
his death as the most perfect courtier and finished 
poet in all Italy. The son of Duke Ercole's sister, 
that fair Beatrice who was known as the Queen 
of Feasts, and of a prince of the reigning house of 
Correggio, who died before his son's birth in 1450, 
Niceolo grew up at his uncle's coiut at Ferrara, and 
was held in high favour by the Duke and all his 
femily. He had been sent to escort Leonora of 
Aragon to Ferrara cm her wedding journey, and had 
accompanied her when she retinmed to Naples with 
her children in 1477. He served with distinction in 
the wars against Venice, and was taken prisoner and 
kept in captivity for nearly a year, to the great 
distress of the Duchess, who entered warmly into 
the grief of his mother and of his wife, Cassandra, 
a daughter of the famous captain, Bartolommeo 
Colleoni. 

In 1487, Niccolo's pastoral play of " Cefalo " was 
performed at Ferrara, and his eclogues and sonnets 
were in the hands of all lovers of poetry. Isabella 
frequently alludes to the choice copy of his poems, 
in white damask embroidered with diamonds, which 
he had presented to her father, and her own hbrary 
contained several volumes of his works. A copy of 
his romances was bound in red velvet, while his 
eclogues and another book called // Giardino were 
bound in black leather enriched with gold and 
silver clasps. Niceolo had been present at Isa- 



^dbyGoogle 



HIS DEVOTION TO ISABELLA 88 

bella's wedding, and again at that of Beatrice at 
Milan, where, although past forty years of age, he 
was pronounced by general consent to be the most 
splendid figure in all that brilliant company.' After 
this, the influence of his mother, who had married the 
Moro's half-brother Tristan Sforza, and the maiked 
favour shown him by Lodovico, induced him to settle 
at Milan, where he played a leading part in court 
and carnival festivities during Beatrice's Ufetime. 
But, although he rarely visited Mantua, he stiU 
remained deeply attached to Isabella, whose devoted 
slave he professed himself and with whom he kept 
up an animated correspondence. He addresses her 
habitually as Madonna umca mia, his beloved patrona 
and signoria, and speaks of her in his letters to others 
as la mia lUustrissima Isabella. And on one memor- 
able occasion, when a discussion arose at the Moro's 
palace of Vigevano on the illustrious women of the 
day, Niccolo da Correggio ventured to speak of the 
Marchesa as the first lady in the world — la prima 
donna del Toondo} 

In February 1491, Niccolo was present at the 
fites held at Ferrara in honour of Alfonso d'Este and 
Anna Sforza's marriage, and on this occasion showed 
Isabella a complete collection of his works in manu- 
script, with a dedicatoiy epistle to herself, destined to 
be published at some future date. At the same time 
he promised her a new poem of his own composition, 
as well as a translation of one of Virgil's eclogues. 
In the course of that spring he was sent by Lodo- 
vico on a mission to France, and before his departure, 

> T. Chftlcns, Raidua, p. 95. 

■ Lutio, Niccolo da CorregffO, in Gtorn. St. d. Lett. It., vol. xxi. 
pp. SS9-341. 



^dbyGoOgle 



84 HER ADMIRATION FOR HIS POEMS 

wrote to the Marchesa assuriiig her of his devotion 
and offering to execute any commission for her 
in Paris^ On his return, Isabella lost no time in 
reminding him of his promise, and ended her letter 
with these characteristic words: "Since I am of 
an essentially greedy and impatient nature, I hold 
those things the most dear, which I can obtain the 
soonest." But the young princess had to restrain 
her impatience, and it was not until the close of the 
year that she received the fable of Psyche — a short 
poem in ottava rima, with an elaborate dedication 
which is still preserved in a few rare editions. 
Meanwhile rumours of Niccolo's new fable had 
reached Mantua, and a Milanese poet wrote to tell 
one of Isabella's favourite courtiers, Jacopo dAtri, 
Count of FianeUa, that he would soon see the Psyche 
composed for his illustrious Madonna. " It is 
finished," he goes on to say, " and will, I feel sure, 
please you, but on your honour I beg you not to say 
a word to any one, as the author does not wish 
the report to precede the presentation of his poem." ^ 
Isabella was anxious that her accomplished kinsman 
should spend the next carnival at Mantua, but 
he was detained at Milan, to organise the festi- 
vities at the Moro's court, and she did not see 
him until she went to Pavia and Milan that 
summer. Early in 1498, Niccolo sent her a copy of 
the Rime composed by his friend Gasparo Visconti, 
one of the sweetest singers of Beatrice's comt, 
but the Marchesa received the gift coldly, remark- 
ing that she should have much preferred to have 
the poems before they were printed, and begging 
Niccolo to send her anything new of his own, " for 

> Liuio, op. cU., p. 350. 



^dbyGoogle 



A SILVER LYRE 85 

without flattery I may say that your verses please 
me better than any other poems of the present 
day." ' 

But Isabella did not only turn to Niccolo da 
Correggio for verses and eclogues. She consulted 
him on many subjects and asked him to gratify 
many different fEmcies. When they met at Milan 
in the autumn of 1492, he invented a new design 
of cimningly interlaced links with which she pro- 
posed to adorn her next camora. This was the 
fejoous Jantasia dd vinci, which her sister Beatrice 
borrowoi with her permission, and wore, worked 
in massive gold, on a purple robe, at the wedding 
of Bianca Sforza and the Emperor Maximilian.^ 
And when the Duchess of Urbino was spend- 
ing the foUowing summer at Mantua, and the two 
young princesses constantly sang and played t<^- 
gether, Isabella, seized with a wish to learn some 
new instrument, wrote to beg Niccolo for the 
loan of a wonderful silver lyre which had been 
lately made for him by the renowned Florentine, 
Atalante Migliorotti. As usual, this courteous 
gentleman expressed his eagerness to comply with 
her request, and wrote, firam Corre^o, saying that 
his silver lyre should be sent to her as soon as he 
returned to Ferrara. " If you had not asked for 
Atalante's lyre," he remai^, " I would have sent 
you a smaller one, better fitted for a beginner, but 
since you wish for this one, I hope the name of 
Atalante and the memory of the giver will dispose 
you to learn the art with the greater readiness and 
afiection." He goes on to explain the meaning of 

1 Davari, Riv. St. Maul., l p. 54. 
« " Beatrice d'Eate," p. «08, &c 



^dbyGoogle 



86 ATALANTE MIGLIOROTTI 

a new cantata entitled " Mopsa and Daphne," 
which had been performed at Milan last carnival, 
and which he is now sending her, but if she 
does not like it, promises to let her have another 
and a more attractive one, adding that she has only 
to ask, for he will be never weary of doing her 
service.' 

The lute, as we know, was Isabella's favourite 
instrument, on which she accompanied herself with 
rare skill and charm. A few months after her 
marriage her father allowed his favourite musician, 
the Constance organist Giovanni Martini, to pay 
a visit to Mantua and give her singing lessons. 
After his return to ' Ferrara the German priest sent 
his pupil a book of songs, begging her to remember 
his directions and practise them daily. At the 
same time Duke Ercole sent Isabella his own book 
of songs, in order that she might transcribe her 
favourite melodies, begging her not to keep it too 
long, but return it as soon as possible. In 1491, 
another Ferrarese musician, Girolamo da Sestola, 
came to Mantua to give her singing lessons, and 
after his return to Ferrara, remained one of her 
most constant correspondents. Now, however, a 
sudden fancy to learn other instruments seems to 
have seized her, and this same summer she wrote 
to the great musician Atalante himself, b^ging him 
to send her a silver citarra or lute, with as many 
strings as he chooses, but which shall be a "fair 
and gallant thing to see." Atalante, it appears, 
had visited Mantua in 1491, at the pressing en- 
treaty of the Marquis, to take the leading part in 
a performance of Polizianio's " Orfeo," which took 
* Lusio, c^. cU., p. 84^. 



^dbyGoogle 



ISABELLA'S ROOMS 87 

place at Marmirolo. In 1494, the Marchesa gave 
the Florentine musician a special token of favour 
by standing sponsor to his new-bom child, who was 
held at the font by the Ferrarese envoy Manfredi, 
and named after her.' 

The decoration of her rooms in the Castello 
was another subject which occupied much of the 
young Marchesa's thoughts at this time. Since the 
death of the Marchesa Barbara, ten years before, 
there had been no lady to reign over the court 
of Mantua, and Isabella may well have longed to 
bring some of the grace and beauty of her mother's 
camerim to brighten her new home in the grim 
old Castello di Corte. The apartments which she 
occupied during the greater part of her married 
life, were on the Piano Nobile of the Tower, close 
to the Camera Dipinta, as the nuptial chamber 
decorated with Andrea's frescoes was commonly 
called. These rooms looked over the waters of the 
lake and the long bridge of San Giorgio, and a 
staircase in the comer close to the Sala degli 
Sposi, led to her husband's apartments on the 
ground floor. Unfortunately these caTnerini, which 
Isabella occupied for more than thirty years, have 
undei^ne many alterations, and were mostly 
stripped of their decorations imder the Austrian 
rule, when the Castello was inhabited by soldiers 
for a himdred and fifty years. But one little 
room looking towards the lake, in the comer 
of the Castello, near the Palazzina or annexe 
added on by Isabella's son, Federico, at the time of 
his own marriage, still retains traces of the original 

' D'Ancon&, Origim del Tealro Itaiitmo, voL it ; and Davari, 
op. oL 



^dbyGoogle 



88 DECORATION OF HER STUDIO 

decorations planned by the young Marchesa. Here 
we still find remains of gilding and ultramarine on 
the barrel-vaulted ceiling, and recognise the Gonzaga 
devices carved on the frieze of delicately inlaid wood- 
work. Here too, finely wrought in gold on an azure 
ground, are the musical notes and rests which were 
Isabella's favourite emblem, the impresa or device 
which she loved to wear on her embroidered robes, 
and the playing cards tied in packs together with 
the mystic numbers to which Paolo Giovio and other 
contemporaries allude. This charmingly decorated 
little room was, there can be little doubt, the 
studiolo which is so often mentioned in Isabella's 
letters, the peaceful retreat where she and Elisabetta 
Gonzaga spent their happiest days, surroimded by 
the books and pictiures, the cameos and musical 
instruments which they loved. 

At her first coming to Mantua, Isabella brought 
a whole train of artists, but most of these soon 
retiuned to Ferrara, and the court-painter, Ercole 
Roberti, suffered so much from sea-sickness on the 
journey up the Fo, and was so much exhausted 
with his labours before the wedding, that he left 
suddenly, without even bidding the Marchesa fare- 
welL' A Mantuan painter, Luca Liombeni, was 
the artist whom she entrusted with the decoration 
of her studiolo, as we learn from an imperious 
letter which she addressed to him from Ferrara, on 
the 6th November 1491. 

" Since we have leamt, by experience," wrote 
the impatient young princess, "that you are as 
slow in finishing your work as you are in everything 
else, we send this to remind you that for once you 

* Grujrer, op, at., il 154. 



^dbyGoogle 



THE PAINTER LIOMBENI 89 



must change your nature, and that if our t 
is not finished on otu* return, we intend to put you 
into the dungeon of the Caatello. And this, we 
assure you, is no jest on our part." 

Upon this the terrified painter ofibred the 
humblest apologies to his mistress, who replied on 
the 12th of November : — 

" In answer to your letter, we are glad to hear that 
you are doing your utmost to finish our stttdiolo, so 
as not to be sent to prison. We enclose a list of the 
devices which we wish to have painted on the frieze, 
and hope that you will arrange them as you think 
best, and make them appear as beautiful and elegant 
as possible. You can paint whatever you Uke inside 
the cupboards, as long as it is not an3rthiDg ugly, 
because if it is, you will have to paint it all over again 
at your own expense, and be sent to pass the winter 
in the dungeon, where you can, if you like, spend a 
night for your pleasure now, to see if the accom- 
modation there is to your taste ! Perhaps this may 
make you more anxious to please m in future. On 
our part, we will not let you want for money, and 
have told Cusatro to give you all the gold that you 
require." ' 

Meanwhile Mant^na had returned fi'om Rome 
in September 1491, after two years' absence from 
Mantua. He brought with him a letter from 
Isabella's old tutor, Battista Guarino, whom he . 
had formerly known at Verona, begging the Mar- 
chesa to look graciously on this master, whose 
excellent genius was indeed too well known to need 
any recommendation, and assuring her that he was 
as charming by nature as he was gifted in his art, 

I Limo, / PraxUori, Sec, pp. 18, I9. 



^dbyGoOglc 



90 MANTEGNA'S RETURN 

"EgU k tutto gentile."^ This description, it must be 
owned, hardly agrees with all that we hear of Andrea's 
irritable and suspicious temper. But from the first, 
Isabella appreciated his rare talent and proved a kind 
patron and faithful friend to the great master. The 
whole of the next year was devoted to his unfinished 
Triumphs, and by a decree of February 1492, the 
Maiquis bestowed a fresh gift of land upon the 
painter, " as a reward for the admirable works which 
he formerly punted in the Chapel and Camera of our 
Castello, and which in the Triumph of Oesar he is 
now painting for us, in pictures which seem almost to 
live and breathe."* The works in the Chapel here 
mentioned were in all probability the noble Triptych 
now in the Uflizi, containing the Adoration, Circum- 
cision, and Ascension, and the small altar-piece of the 
Death of the Virgin, with the view of the lake and 
bridge of S. Giorgio as seen from the Castello. This 
last-named picture came to England in 1627, with 
the chief treasures of the Gonzaga gallery, and is 
described in Van der Doort's catal(^e of Charles 
the First's pictures as "a little piece of Andrea 
Montania, being the dying of Our Lady, the 
Apostles standing about with white candles lighted 
in their hands ; and in the landskip where the 
town of Mantua is painted is the water-lake, 
where a bridge is over the said water towards 
the town. In a little ebony woodoi £rame." This 
precious little painting, on which Isabella's eyes 
must often have rested and which bore the words 
" Mantua piece *' in the King's own writing, was 

1 W. BraghiroUi, fa Giom. di EnuL Art., i. p. SOS. 
* Archivio Gomaga, Ubro dei Decreti, S4, fol. 56, quoted by 
Kristeller, op. ctL, App. p. 486. 



^dbyGoogle 



THE DEATH OF THE VIRGIN 

By Andrea Mantecna 



DiclzedbyGoOgle 



idb,Googlc 



HIS PORTRAIT OF ISABELLA 91 

bought at the sale of his pictures after his execu- 
tion by the Spanish Ambassador Card^ias, and 
now hangs in the Prado at Madrid. 

By the end of 1492, the Triumphs were finally 
completed, and Andrea was at length able to 
execute a commission for Isabella. This was a 
portrait of herself which she wished to send to 
Isabella del Balzo, Countess of Acerra, the younger 
sister of Gian&ancesco Gonzaga's wife, Antonia 
del Balzo, who was apparently one of her intimate 
Mends. 

In January 1498, Isabella d'Este wrote the 
following letter to Jacopo d'Atri, her lord's envoy 
at Naples : — 

" In order to satisfy the most illustrious Madonna, 
the Countess of Acerra, whom we love t«iderly, we 
have arranged to have our portrait taken by Andrea 
Mantegna, and will ask him to send it to you in 
order that you may present it to her before you 
leave, and we hope that you will bring back the 
portrait of the said Countess, since she has asked for 
ours." 

Jacopo d'Atri returned to Mantua in April with 
a drawing of the Countess, which Isabella acknow- 
ledged gratefully in the following letter : — 

** The sight of your picture gave us the liveliest 
joy, since you are as dear to us as our only sister 
Beatrice. If Our Lord God would only grant that 
we might see you once more and embrace you, it 
would make us happier than an}rthing in the world. 
This feeling prompted our urgent desire to possess 
your portrait and thus in some measure satisfy the 
longing oi our heart. Now that we have your image 
both on paper and in wax, we shall hold it very dear 



^dbyGoogle 



92 GIOVANNI SANTI 

and often look at it, although, team what Jacopo 
says and from our own recollection, neither portrait 
resembles you very much. But we know how 
difficult it is to find painters who take good like- 
nesses from life, and shall try to supply the artist's 
deficiencies with the help of the information given 
us by Maigherita, Jacopo, and others who have lately 
seen you, so that we mxy not be deceived in our idea 
of you. We thank you exceedingly for your kind- 
ness, and beg you to keep the promise made us 
through Jacopo, that you will send us wiother on 
panel, and we will do the same in compliance with 
your request. We do not say that you will see a 
beautiful picture, but at least you will have in your 
house a portrait of one who is your most loving 
sister." 

But when, a fortnight later, Andrea's portrait was 
finished, it failed to satisfy Isabella's critical taste. 

" We are much vexed," she writes on the 20th of 
April, " that we are unable to send you our portrait, 
because the painter has done it so badly that it does 
not resemble us in the very least. But we have 
sent for a foreign artist who has the reputation of 
taking excellent likenesses, and as soon as it is ready 
we will send it to Youjr Highness, who will not forget 
that we are altogether devoted to you." 

The foreign master was Giovanni Santi, the fiither 
of Raphael, who had been evidently recommended to 
Isabella by her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Urbino. 
Elisabetta sent him without delay, and he spent some 
time at Mantua that summer painting a series of &mily 
portraits — probably for the decoration of some hall in 
one of ,the Gonzaga villas — and began a picture of 
Isabella. Unluckily, before it was finished^he fell ill 



^dbyGoogle 



AT MANTUA 98 

of fever, and was compelled to return to the healthier 
climate of Urbino. Some months passed before Isa- 
bella was able to inform her friend that the portrait 
was ready, and would be sent to her straight from 
Urbino. 

" Most illustrious Madonna and dearest sister, in 
order to satisfy Your Highness — not because our 
countenance is so beautiful that it deserves to be 
painted — we send you, by Simone da Canossa, cham- 
berlain to the illustrious Duke of Calabria, a panel 
portrait by the hand of Zohan de Sancte, painter to 
the Duchess of Urbino, who is said to make good 
likenesses, althou^ from what we hear it seems that 
this one might resemble us more."^ 

This Contessa d'Acerra, to whom Isabella was 
so fondly attached, became the second wife of her 
uncle Federico, the last king of the house of Aragon 
who reigned over Naples. After that monarch died 
in France, his widow came back to Italy with her 
daughters and ended her days at the court of his 
nephew, Alfonso, Duke of Fenara. 

1 A. Luzio, / Hilratti iChabella tfEtie in Emporium, 1900, p. 347. 



^dbyGoOgle 



CHAPTER VI 

149S— 1494 

Discoveiy of the New World — The news reaches Mantua — Birth 
of the Moro's son — Isabella's journey to Ferrara and Venice — 
Reception by the Doge and Signory — Her relations with 
Gentile Bellini — Return to Mantua — Francesco Gonzaga at 
Venice — Death of Duchess Leonora — Birth of Leonora 
Gonsaga — Departure of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino 
— Decorations of Mannirolo and Gonzaga. 

While the young Gonzaga princesses were spending 
the spring days together, singing Petrarch and Virgil 
to the lute, or playing their favourite game of scar- 
tino, great events were happening in the outer world. 
On tJie 15th of March Columbus landed at Palos 
on his return firom his first voyage, and told the 
wondering Spaniards of the New World which had 
been discovered beyond the seas. Soon the news 
reached the little blue and gold stutUolo looking 
over the Mantuan lakes, and we can picture to our- 
selves the breathless excitement with which Isabella 
and her sister-in-law read the marvellous traveller's 
tales that came firom Spain. On the 22nd of April, 
Luca Fancelli, the old architect who had spent his 
last forty years in the service of the Gonzagas, wrote 
firom Florence to tell his lord and master, Marquis 
Francesco, these wonderful things. 

" Your Highness," he says, *' may have heard that 
we have had letters here telling us that the King of 
Spain sent some ships over the seas, which, after a 



^dbyGoogle 



VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS 95 

voyage of thirty-six days, discovered certain islands, 
amongst others a very big one lying east, with broad 
rivers and terrible mounttuns, and a very fertile land, 
inhabited by handsome men and women, who go 
naked or only wear a cotton leaf round the waist. 
This country abounds in gold, and the people are 
very courteous and liberal of their property, and 
there are quantities of palms of more than six dif- 
ferent kinds, and some wonderfully tall trees. There 
are other islands, five of which have been given 
names, and one which is nearly as large as Italy. 
And the rivers there run with gold, and there is 
plenty of copper but no iron, and many other won- 
ders, and you can neither see the Arctic nor the 
Antarctic poles." 

Further partictilars came from two of Francesco's 
servants, Giovanni dei Bardi and Giambattista Strozzi, 
who had been sent to buy horses in Spain, and who 
now wrote from Cadiz, saying: "A Savona sailor 
named Columbus has landed here, bringing 80,000 
ducats in gold, as well as pepper and other spices, 
and parrots as big as falcons and as red as pheasants. 
They foimd trees bearing fine wool, and others which 
produce wax and linen fibres, and men like Tartars, 
tall and active, with long hair fJaiUing over their 
shoulders. They eat human flesh, and fatten men as 
we do capons, and are called cannibals. ... It is 
certain that these sailors have brought back a great 
quantity of gold, sandal-wood, and spices, and what 
I myself have seen — sixty parrots of variegated 
colours, eight of them as big as falcons — as well 
as twelve Indians, who have been sent to the King. 
And in that land they foimd great forests in which 
the trees grow so thickly you could hardly see the 



^dbyGoogle 



96 THE INDIANS IN SPAIN ' 

sky, and if some men had not climbed to the top of 
the trees they would never have got out again, and 
many other things of which I have not time to tell." 

A few months later, Isabella herself received the 
following letter from a Cremona scholar at Ferrara 
named Ponzone : " I hear that a man named Colum- 
bus lately discovered an island for the King of Spain, 
on which are men of our height but of copper-coloured 
skin, with noses like apes. The chiefs wear a plate 
of gold in their nostrils which covers the mouth, the 
women have faces as big as wheels, and all go naked, 
men and women alike. Twelve men and four women 
have been brought back to the King of Spain, but they 
are so weakly that two of them fell ill of some sickness 
which the doctors do not understand, and they had no 
pulse and are dead. The others have been clothed, 
and if they see any one who is richly clad they stroke 
him with their hands and kiss his hands to show how 
much they admire him. They seem intelligent, and are 
very tame and gentle. No one can understand their 
language. They eat of everything at table, but are 
not given wine. In their own country they eat the 
roots of trees and some big kind of nut which is like 
pepper but yields good food, and on this they live." ' 

Meanwhile affairs nearer home claimed Isabella's 
attention. Her mother's ladies wrote long letters 
from Milan giving fuU particulars of the birth of 
Beatrice's son, and of the splendid festivities and 
rejoicings with which this event had been hailed. 
Isabella's warm heart glowed with affection when she 
heard of the beUo puttino, and she told her sister how 
she longed to hold the babe in her arms and cover 

' G. Bei^het, Fonfi Ilal. per la Storia della Scoperta del Nwvo 
Monda, pp. l65, 1 69. 



^dbyGoogle 



ISABELLA'S JOURNEY TO VENICE 97 

him with kisses, but she was, not unnaturally, 
inclined to wish for the same blessing herself, and to 
envy Beatrice's prosperity. When Francesco Gon- 
zaga, on his return from Venice in April, brought 
his wife an invitatioo from the Doge to attend the 
Ascension-tide festivities in that city and witness the 
yearly ceremony of the espousals of Venice with the 
sea, IsabeUa accepted the ofFer joyfully. But when, 
a few days later, she heard from her mother that 
Lodovico and his wife were coming to Ferrara in 
May, and that Beatrice was to accompany Duchess 
Leonora to Venice, she told her husband that nothing 
would induce her to visit Venice at the same time. 
And since it was impossible to vie with the splendour 
of her sister's train, she begged to be allowed to 
appear without ceremony before the Doge as his 
humble servant and daughter. Fortunately the 
Moro's journey was delayed, and IsabeUa left Mantua 
early in May and travelled by boat to Ferrara. On 
her arrival she sent an affectionate note to her 
sister-in-law Elisabetta, from whom she had parted 
with much regret. 

" When I found myself alone in the boat, without 
your sweet company, I felt so forlorn I hardly knew 
what I wanted or where I was. To add to my 
comfort, the wind and tide were against us all the 
way, and I often wished myself back in your room 
playing at scartino ! " ' 

On the same day Elisabetta wrote saying that 
the weather had been so bad since the Marchesa's 
departure that she had never left her room, and 
complaining that she only felt half-alive now that 

' CofnaietUra Sltabella, lib. iiL, quoted by Liudo, Manlava 
t Urbino, p. 63. 

VOL. I. G 



^dbyGoogle 



»8 HER RECEPTION 

she was deprived of her sister's channing conver- 
sation.^ After assisting at the wedding of Guide, 
the son of the accomplished poet Tito Strozzi, and at 
a dramatic representation in honour of the occasion, 
which afforded her great delight, Isabella continued 
her journey, accompanied by her brother-in-law, the 
papal protonotary, Sigismondo, and reached Cbiog^a 
on the 18th of May. Here she was lodged in the 
palace of the Fodestk, and sumptuously entertained at 
the Signory's expense. After supper three Venetian 
patriciuis who had been present at her wedding — 
Zorzo Pisano, Zaccaria Contarini, and Francesco 
Capello — waited on her to bid her welcome in 
the Doge's name, and escorted her to the palace 
near San Trovaso occupied by her husband as 
captwi of the Republic's armies. Early the next 
morning Isabella entered the port of Venice, passing 
between the forts of Malamocco so quietly that she 
hardly saw them, and was received at Santa Croce by 
the Doge and Signory, together with the ambassadors 
of Naples, Milan, and Ferrara.* The scene that 
followed is best described in her own words. 

" Here I landed and met the Prince and ambas- 
sadors coming out of the church, and kissed His 
Serene Highness's hMid and exchanged courteous 
greeting, after which he led me to his bucentaur, 
which was loaded with gentlemen and ladies. There 
were ninety-three of these last, all richly attired and 
glittering with jewels, and I am sure that not one 
among them had less than 6000 ducats worth of 
precious stones upon her person. I sat on the 

1 P. Ferrato, Letiere inediU di Donne Mantovane del Secolo, xv. 
p. 56. 

s Luzio e Renier in Arch. Si. Lomb., xvii. 366-372. 



^dbyGoOgle 



ISABELLA VISITS THE DOGE 99 

Prince's right, and so, talking of many things, we 
rowed up the Canal Grande to the soimd of beUs, 
trumpets, and guns, accompanied by such a crowd of 
boats and people that it was impossible to cotmt 
them. I cannot tell you, my dear lord, what lov- 
ing attention and great honour are paid me here. 
The very stones of Venice seem to rejoice and be 
glad of my coming, and all for the love which they 
bear Your Excellency. Not only my own expenses, 
but those of my whole suite, are liberally defrayed, 
and two gentlemen have been deputed to provide for 
us. . . . To-morrow the Doge and Signory are to 
give me an audience, and I will reply as you desired 
to the best of my abiUty. I do not describe the 
beauties of this place as you have been here so often, 
and will only say that it seems to me, as it does to 
you, the finest city which I have ever seen." 

The next day forty gentlemen escorted the Mar- 
chesa to the Sala del Collegio, and the Doge, taking 
her by the hand, placed her on a seat on the tribunal 
on his right hand, while Sigismondo Gonzaga sat on 
his left. Then, rising and bowing with charming 
grace towards the Doge, Isabella expressed her joy at 
being allowed to assure His Serenity of her reverence 
and loyalty for him and this illustrious Signory imder 
whose shadow and protection her lord wished to live 
and die, and begged to commend the Marquis, his 
State, and herself to their protection. The Doge 
replied in gracious words, and invited her to attend 
vespers in San Marco, a function which Isabella, tired 
with the heat and length of these ceremonies, found 
very tedious. " I know," she wrote to Francesco, 
"that to-morrow's ceremony will be no less weari- 
some, but I will bear it cheerfully for the sake of 



lb, Google 



100 THE BELLINI 

seeing so many fine things and doing honour to Your 
Excellency." 

The solemn espousals of Venice with the sea, and 
the state banquet which followed, proved even more 
fatiguing than Isabella expected. "Have pity on 
me," she wrote that evening, *' for I was never more 
tired and bored than I am with all these ceremonies. 
... It seems to me a thousand years until I can get 
back to Mantua 1 For, although Venice is a glorious 
city and has no rival, to have seen it once is quite 
enough for me." ^ The concluding days of her visit, 
however, were spent more pleasantly. She visited 
Queen Caterina Comaro in her beautiful home at 
Murano, assisted at a sitting of the Great Coimcil, 
and went to the Church of S. Zacearia to hear the 
nuns sing. She spent one afternoon with her hus- 
band's uncle, the Duke of Bavaria, who was staying 
in Venice and showed her the most cordial affection ; 
and she visited the ducal palace and saw the noble 
frescoes which Gentile and Giovanni Bellini were 
painting in the Council-halL On this occasion she 
probably made the acquwntance of the painters 
themselves, whose sister Niccolosia was the wife of 
Andrea Mantegna, and saw the wonderful portrait of 
Sultan Mahomet II. which Gentile had lately brought 
back from Constantinople. At the same time she 
expressed a great wish to have a portrait of the Doge 
Agostino Barbarigo upon which Gentile was engaged, 
and, after her return to Mantua, she desired Antonio 
Salimbeni to remind the painter of her request, and 
to beg that he would send the Marquis plans of Cairo 
and Venice. On the 1st of October the Mantuan 
agent informed his lord that Gentile would gladly 

1 Laxio e Renier, op. cU., p. S71, 



^dbyGoogle 



ISABELLA RETURNS TO MANTUA 101 

oblige him and his illtistrious lady, but three weeks 
later he excused himself on the plea of pressing 
engagements and begged the Marehesa to write to 
the Doge herself on the subject. Accordingly Isa- 
bella addressed a letter to the Doge, which was duly 
delivered by her envoy Battista Scalona, begging him 
to gratify her earnest desire to possess his portrait. 
"The Most Serene Prince," wrote Scalona, "called 
one of his secretaries and bade him give the Marehesa 
the most gracious answer, explaining that Gentile's 
portrait was already promised to his nephew, but that 
he would desire the painter to have it copied for her 
without delay." Since, however, we find no mention 
of a picture by Gentile Bellini in Isabella's collection, 
it is doubtful if the work was ever executed. But 
the phai of Cairo which Gentile had promised '* on 
the faith of a cavalier " to let the Marquis have was 
really brought to Mantua by Scalona on the 22nd of 
December, together with an old plan of the Piazza di 
San Marco and the ducal palace, by the hand of his 
father, Jacopo Bellini.* 

On the 20th of May, Isabella left Venice, and 
spent the night at Padua. After paying her vows 
at the fiunous Basilica of II Santo, she went on to 
Vicenza and Verona, where she was received with 
great honour, and entertained at the expense of the 
Signory. Meanwhile her return was impatiently 
awaited by Elisabetta, who wrote charming letters 
to her absent sister, saying how much she missed 
her sweet companionship, greatly as she rejoiced to 
hear of the honours which had been paid her in 
Venice, and begging her to return quickly, lest the 

■ Yriarte, IsabeUe tfEtle et le* Artitles de toit Untp*; GwseOe da 
Beatue Art*, xv. p. Sl6. 



^dbyGoogle 



102 THE VILLA OF PORTO 

excessive heat should injute her health.' The Mar- 
quis was superintending the works at his favourite 
villa of Marmirolo, and only paid his sister flying 
visits, so that the Duchess gladly obeyed Isabella's 
invitation to meet her at Porto, outside Mantua, 
" where," she wrote, " we may together enjoy the 
pure country air and tell each other all that has 
happened since we parted." ' 

The two princesses spent the next six weeks in 
this villa, which Francesco had lately bestowed on 
his wife, and which she was to improve and beautiiy 
so much in future years. Here they read and sang 
together, in the terraced gardens on the Mincio, 
and Jacopo di San Secondo, the accomplished viol- 
player, who had been sent from Milan as a special 
act of courtesy on Lodovieo Moro's part, serenaded 
them with exquisite music through the long summer 
evenings. Isabella was blissful, and not even the 
accounts which the Marquis sent from Venice 
of the splendid f^tes In honour of her mother and 
sister could make her wish to be there. *' To say 
the truth," she wrote to Duchess Leonora, " all 
these fgtes and ceremonies are very much alike." 
She was better pleased to hear from her husband of 
the excellent impression which she herself had made 
on the Doge and Senators. Wherever he went, the 
praises of her charms rang in his ears. Everywhere 
he heard how honourably she had been entertained, 
and with what infinite tact and skill she had behaved. 
He himself could not commend her wisdom and 
discretion too highly, and all he now begged was that 
his wife would take great care of her health and 

' Fcrrato, op. cit., p. 85. 

1 Luxio e Renier, MaiUmia e Urbuio, p. 6?. 



^dbyGoOgle 



DEATH OF LEONORA 108 

be of good courage for his sake. The warmth of 
Francesco's affection for Isabella was evidently in- 
creased, not only by gratitude for her good offices 
with the Venetian Signory, but by the hopes of an 
heir which she had begun to entertain. 

In July, the Marchesa tore herself reluctantly 
away from her sister-in-law to visit her mother, 
whose health was ^ving her family anxiety, and 
spent a month at Ferrara. It was the last time 
that she ever saw the good Duchess, who died on 
the 11th of October of a gastric fever which carried 
her ofi^ in a few days. Francesco Gonzaga hastened 
to Ferrara, but gave orders that the sad news should 
be kept from the Marchesa until his return. But 
when no letters came from the Duchess for a whole 
week, Isabella's fears were aroused, and she heard 
frvm a Milanese correspondent, " who," as Capilupi 
wrote to the Marquis, " must have been either very 
imprudent or still more wicked," that her beloved 
mother had been dead three days. Happily no harm 
was done, and after the first outburst of grief Isabella 
showed her usual good sense and self-control. The 
highest honouis were paid to the dead Duchess both 
at Ferrara and at Mantua. The saintly friar, Bernar- 
dino da Feltre, preached the funeral sermon, young 
Ariosto wrote an elegy on her death, and Latin 
orations were pronounced by some of the most dis- 
tinguished humanists of the day. But more touch- 
ing than any of these pompous tributes was a letter 
in which Battista Guarino poured out the grief of 
his soul to his old pupil. 

" If I had a hundred tongues, dearest lady," he 
wrote, " I could not express the grief which I feel at 
the death of our Madonna. I long to fly to you and 



^dbyGoogle 



104 BIRTH OF ISABELLAS DAUGHTER 

comfort you, but am myself in sore need of consola- 
tion. The whole city is weeping for our dead lady, 
and I, who received so much kindness from her, am 
more unhappy than any one, and can only take 
comfort in feeling that this is the will of God. 
I am sure that none of those saints whom the 
Church has canonised, ever made a better or more 
devout end than she did, as you will learn firom 
a few words which I spoke over her grave, which 
I will send you, in memory of this virtuous and 
excellent lady. And I will see that Your Excel- 
lency is not the last to receive a copy, for I have 
always looked upon you as my mistress, but how 
much more now that I have lost her who was my 
sole hope and refuge I Forgive me if I cannot say 
more, but tears will not allow me to write. — Your 
faithful servant, Battista." ' 

Fortunately for the Marchesa's happiness, she was 
able to forget her grief in her new hopes, and on the 
last day of the year 1492, she gave birth to her first 
child — a daughter, in whom, as she wrote to her aunt 
Beatrice, the wife of Matthias Corvinus, King of 
Hungary, "the name and blessed memory of my 
mother shall live again.*' Congratulations poured 
in from all sides. Fra Mmano and the holy nun 
Osanna sent the mother and child their blessing, and 
the poor fool Mattello wrote in his maddest and 
merriest mood, telling his dear Madonna not to have a 
thought or care in the world, now that she had given 
birth to a lovely daughter. He proceeded to address 
the new-bom princess as LeoTwra zentile — Leonora 
mia beUa — Leonora mia cava, informed her that he 
was coming from Marmirolo to her christening, and 
1 Luzio e Renter in Gion. St. d. Lett., vol. xxxv. 



^dbyGoOgle 



GIOVANNI DEI MEDICI 106 

ended by begging her fether the Marquis for a dole 
on this happy occasion, Isabella herself however did 
not conceal her disappointment at the sex of the 
child, as we learn from the letter which she wrote 
to her sister on New Year's Day. " You will have 
heard that I have a daughter and that both she and 
I are doing well, although I am sorry not to have 
a son. But since this is the will of God, she will be 
dear to me.'" The child received the names of 
Leonora Violante Maria, and Lodovico Sforza, his 
wife Beatrice, the Doge of Venice, and Lorenzo di 
Pierfrancesco dei Medici were among the sponsors. 
None of tJiese illustrious personages, however, were 
able to be present at the christening, but Lorenzo 
dei Medici wrote a courteous letter to the Marquis, 
thanking him for the honour which he had paid him 
and congratulating him and the Marchesa on the 
happy event. *' I hope," he adds, " that this new- 
bom daughter may grow up to be a great joy to 
you, and that God will give you sons in future." 
Since he was tmfortunately too xmwell to attend the 
christening, he promised to send his brother, Giovanni 
dei Medici, to take his place. This prince, who 
soon afterwards became the third husband of Cate- 
rina Sforza, the famous Madonna of Forli, visited 
Mantua on the 2nd of March, and was entertained 
by Isabella, as we learn from the following note to 
her absent lord ; — 

" The Magnificent Giovanni dei Medici arrived 
this morning in time for dinner. I have given him 
rooms in the Corte and sent Giovanni Fietro Gonzaga 
and Lodovico Uberti to wait on him. Aft^ dinner 
he paid me a visit, and I entertained him and showed 
1 Luzio e Renier, Maniova e Vrbino, p. 69. 



^dbyGoogle 



106 ELISABETTA LEAVES MANTUA 

him tJie Cunera and the Triumphs and afterwards 
took him to see cm- little girl." ' 

The Camera was the Sala degli Sposi, decorated 
with Mantegna's fiescoes, while his newly completed 
Triumphs hung in a hall in that portion of the 
Castello known as the Corte Vecchia, and were not 
removed to Francesco's new palace of San Sebastiano 
until the year 1506. 

Elisabetta Gonzaga had been induced to remmn 
with Isabella for her confinement, and only returned 
to Urbino on the 20th of January, with her husband 
Duke Guidobaldo, who came to spend Christmas at 
Mantua. Her departure was greatly lamented by 
the Marchesa, who sent her a tender little note on 
the same day, saying how sadly she missed her sweet 
and loving conversation. " It seems strange enough," 
she adds, " to be without you as long as I am in bed, 
but it will be much worse when I leave the house — 
for there is no one whom I love like you, excepting 
my only sister, the Duchess of Bari." Her recovery, 
however, proved rapid. A week later she rode out 
through the town, to the joy of all the people, and 
the next day went to pay her vows at S. Maria della 
Grazie, a favourite sanctuary of the Gonzaga princes, 
on the other side of the lakes, five niiles from 
Mantua. 

Early in February, we find her enjoying hunting 
parties and theatricals, at Marmirolo, that superb 
country-house which Francesco Gonzaga delighted 
to adorn. For the last three years architects and 
artists had been busy here. Mantegna's son Fran- 
cesco had painted a series of Triumphs on canvas, in 

• Archivio Gonsaga, quoted by P. Kristeller, Andrea Mantegna, 
App. 



^dbyGoOgle 



DECORATIONS OF MARMIROLO 107 

imitation of his father's great works, and both this 
artist and the Veronese master Bonsignori, who had 
entered the Marquis's service in 1488, were now 
engaged in decorating certain halls with views 
of Greek and Turkish cities. Constantinople, 
Adrianople, Gallipoli and Rhodes were all repre- 
sented in the Camera greca, and groups of Turkish 
women bathing and going to mosque, as well as a 
portrait of the Sultan's ambassador, were painted on 
one of the walls. The plans provided by Gentile 
Bellini were evidently destined to hang in three 
rooms, and one hall, we are told, contained a Mappa- 
mondo drawn in charcoal. In 1496, the Marquis 
applied to Giovanni Bellini for a map of Paris, and 
the painter promised to do his best to satisfy His 
Excellency, but said he could not vouch for its 
correctness, since he had never been in France. 
Francesco addressed the same request to Lorenzo dei 
Medici when he asked him to stand godfather to his 
infant daughter, but such a thing, it appeared, was 
not to be found in the whole of Florence. Isabella, 
as mi^t be expected, shiu^d her husband's taste for 
topographical plans and maps. Many years after- 
wards, she ordered copies to be made of a celestial 
and terrestrial globe in the Vatican Library, and sent 
to Venice for the latest plans of Constantinople and 
Cairo. 



^dbyGoogle 



CHAPTER VII 

1494—1495 

Journey of Isabella to Loreto and Urbino — Letters from Gubbto 
and Urbino-Cbarles VIII. enters Italj—The Marquis of 
Mantua refuses his offers — Visit of Isabella to Milan — Con- 
quest of Naples by the French — League against France — 
Francesco Gonzaga, captain of the armies of the League — 
Isabella goTems Mantua — Battle of the Taro— Heroism of 
Francesco Gonzaga — Rejoicings at Venice and Mantua — The 
Jew Daniele Norsa and Mantegna's Madonna della Vittoria. 

As soon as the carnival i^tes at Mannirolo were 
ended and her infiuit daughter had been christened, 
Isabella set out on a pilgrimage to Loreto, to fulfil 
a vow which she had made to Our Lady before the 
birth of her child. She started on the 10th of March, 
taking with her an offering of chased gold ornaments, 
worked by the skilful Mantuan goldsmith, Barto- 
lommeo Meliolo, who had lately been appointed 
Master of the Mint, and whose medals of the 
Gonzaga princes are well known. Her original 
intention had been to spend Holy Week at Urbino 
with her sister-in-law, but the Duchess be^ed her 
to put off her visit till after Blaster, since it was 
diiHcult to obtain suificient supplies of fish at 
Urbino to feed a large number of guests. So 
after spending a few days at Ferrara and a night 
at Ravenna, where she visited the ancient churches 
and admired the mosaics, the Marchesa travelled 
by Pesaro and Ancona to Loreto. Here she 



^dbyGoogle 



ISABELLA AT GUBBIO 109 

arrived on Wednesday in Holy Week, and con- 
fessed and communicated at the altar of the Santa 
Casa on Maundy Thursday, In a letter to her 
husband from Ravenna she informed him that she 
intended to spend Easter at Gubbio, and then 
devote one day to Assisi, and another to Perugia, 
" both in order to see that noble city, and because, 
if I am to hear mass and dine at Assisi, there 
would not be time to return to Gubbio the same 
day. From Assisi to Perugia, I hear, it is only 
ten miles, through a most beautiiM valley, and 
twelve more from Perugia to Gubbio."^ 

But when the Marchesa reached Gubbio she 
found the Duke and Duchess of Urbino awaiting 
her, and was induced to spend ten days with them 
at Gubbio, and another fortnight at Urbino. From 
Gubbio she visited Assisi, where she saw Giotto's 
frescoes and paid her vows at the tomb of St. Francis, 
and Camerino, where her cousins, the Varani, gave 
her a warm welcome, and would gladly have de- 
tained her longer. But she was eager to return to 
Gubbio, and was as much sbuck with the beauty 
of the spot as the splendour of the ducal palace, 
which had been the favourite abode of the last 
Duchess, Battista Sforza, where her son Guidobaldo 
was bora, and where she herself died. " This 
palace," she wrote on the 30th of March to her 
husband, " is magnificently furni^ed, besides being 
a noble building, and is so finely situated that I 
do not think I have ever seen a place which pleased 
me better. It stands on a height overlooking the 
town and plain, and has a delightful garden, with 
a foimtain in the centre." To-day the fair gardens 
' Lu2io e Renier, Montava e Urbino, pp. 7S, &c. 



^dbyGoogle 



110 PALACE OF URBINO 

are desolate, and the sumptuous fittings of the palace 
are gone, but a considerable portion of Duke 
Federico's building still remains. We can look 
down from the beautiful loggia on the view which 
Isabella admired, and breathe the health-giving 
breezes which Elisabetta praised in her letters. 

But the famous palace of Urbino inspired the 
young Marchesa with still greater enthusiasm. 
" This palace," she writes to her husband, " is far 
finer than I ever expected. Besides the natural 
beauty of the place, it is very richly fiimished with 
tapestries, hangings, and silver plate ; and I must 
tell you that in all the different rooms which I 
have occupied in this Duke's different homes, the 
hangings have never been moved from one place to 
another, and from the first moment when I arrived 
at Gubbio until now, I have been entertained more 
and more sumptuously every day: indeed I could 
not have been more highly honoured if I had been 
a bride I I have repeatedly begged my hosts to 
reduce these expenses and treat me in a more 
familiar way, but they will not listen to this. This 
is, no doubt, the doing of the Duke, who is the 
most generous of men. He holds a fine court 
now, uid lives in royal splendour, and governs the 
State with great wisdom and humanity, to the 
satisfaction of all his subjects." 

It was not till the 25th of April that Isabella 
finally took leave of the Duke and Duchess, who was 
inconsolable at parting from her dearly-loved friend, 
and wrote the following note within the next 
twenty-four hours: — 

" Your departure made me feel not only that 
I had lost a dear sister, but that life itself had 



^dbyGoogle 



DEATH OF GIOVANNI SANTI 111 

gone from me. 1 know not how else to soften 
my grief, except by writing every hour to you, and 
telling you on paper all that my lips desire to say. 
If I could express the sorrow 1 feel, I believe that 
you would come back out of compassion for me. 
And if I did not fear to vex you, I would follow 
you myself. But since both these things are im- 
possible, from the respect which I owe Your High- 
ness, all I can do is to beg you earnestly to 
remember me sometimes, and to know that I bear 
you always in my heart." 

The tender-hearted Duchess experienced a fr%sh 
sorrow that summer in the death of her favourite 
painter, Giovanni Santi. He had never recovered 
from the fever which he caught at Mantua in the 
previous autumn, and died on the 1st of August. 
" About twenty days ago," wrote Elisabetta to her 
sister-in-law on the 19th, "our painter, Giovanni 
dei Sancti, passed out of this Ufe, being in full 
possession of his senses, and in the most excellent 
disposition of mind. May God pardon his soul t " 
On hearing of Santi's death, the Marquis Francesco 
wrote at once to ask his sister to send him the 
portraits on tondi which he b^an at Mantua, and, on 
the 13th of October, Elisabetta replied : " In answer 
to your letter, I must tell you that Giovanni dei 
Sancti was unable, owing to his illness at Mantua, 
to finish the portrait of Monsignore (Sigismondo 
C^nzaga) ; and after his return here, his illness in- 
creased so rapidly that he could not go on with 
mine, but if Your Excellency will send me a 
round of the same size as the others, I will have 
my portrait painted by a good artist here, and 
send it you as soon as possible. I am well, and 



^dbyGoogle 



112 THE MARQUIS AND HIS DAUGHTER 

have good news of my illustrious consort, from 
whom I hear constantly." And in a postscript she 
adds: "I have made Giovanni's assistant search 
everywhere, but he says that he can find nothing." ' 
Meanwhile Isabella travelled northward through 
Romagna to Bologna, where she was hospitably 
entertained by Annibale BentivogUo and her sister 
Lucrezia; and after paying a short visit to her 
father and brother at Ferrara, reached Mantua 
towards the middle of May. During her absence 
from home she received daily accoimts of her 
little daughter's well-being from Violante de' Preti, 
and the Marquis himself gave her constant news 
of the child, to whom he was tenderly attached. 
" Yesterday we went into our little daughter's 
room," he writes in one letter to Urbino, "and 
were glad to see her so well and lively. We had 
her dressed before us, as you desired, in her white 
damask robe, which suits her charmingly, and of 
which she was very proud. This morning we ^ave 
been to see her again, but finding her asleep, would 
not wake her." ' Neither did Francesco fail to give 
his wife private information of the important political 
events which had been happening at Milan and 
Mantua in the last few weeks. In a long letter 
to Bologna, intended for her eyes alone, he told 
her that Monseigneur de Migni, as he called 
D'Aubigny, and three other French ambassadors 
had arrived at Mantua on the 22nd of April, with 
eighty-five horsemen, to ask a free passage through 
his dominion for the Most Christian King's troops 
on the way to Naples. More than this, they had 

1 Campori, Wotizie di Giovanni Saati, Modena, 1870. 
1 Luzio e Reoier, Maniooa e Urbino, pp. 75-77. 



^dbyGoogle 



CHARLES VIII. IN ITALY 118 

secretly invited him to enter Charles the Eighth's 
service, offering him the title of Captain-General 
and Grand Chamberlain. These proposals, how- 
ever, Francesco felt compelled to refiise, since he 
was already pledged to the Signoiy of Venice. In 
the same letter he informed Isabella that he had 
sent an envoy to visit the Grand Turk's ambassador 
at Venice, and had heard from him that the Sultan 
would gladly give him the relic of the Holy Shirt, 
worn by Our Lord Christ, as well as forty good 
horses, for which he was about to send to Con- 
stantinople.* 

In September, the French king entered Italy, 
and was met at Asti by Lodovico Sforza and Duke 
Ercole of Ferrara, and sumptuously entertained at 
Vigevano by Duchess Beatrice. Isabella herself, 
whose sympathies, like those of all her £unily, were 
strongly on the side of France, went to Parma at 
her brother-in-law's request to see the first French 
cavalry pass through the town, and afterwards wrote 
to her Invther Ferrante, congratulating him on his 
triumphal entry into Florence with the king, and 
expressing her regret that she had not witnessed 
this splendid sight. The presence of her sister-in- 
law, Chiara Gflnzaga, who came to Mantua in 
December, while her husbuid, Gilbert, Duke of 
Montpensier, was leading the French armies against 
Naples, helped to enlist Isabella's sympathies on 
the same side. But before long her feeUngs, in 
common with those of all true Italians, underwent 
a complete revulsion. 

The stirring events which succeeded each other 
that autumn at Milan and Pavia — the death of the 

I Luxio e Renier in Arch. iS3. Lomb., xviL p. S91. 
VOL. I. H 



^dbyGoogle 



lU ISABELLA AT MILAN 

unhappy Duke Giangaleazzo, and the election and 
proclamation of Lodovico in his stead — were fuUy 
reported to Isabella by the Mantuan agent, Donato 
de' Preti. There had of late been some coohiess 
between Francesco Gonzaga and Lodovico, who, 
not altogether without reason, suspected his brother- 
in-law of being in secret correspondence with his 
enemy, King Alfonso of Naples. But cordial 
congratulations were addressed by the Marquis to 
the new Duke and Duchess, and in January 1495, 
he allowed his wife to accept her sister's pressing 
invitation to visit Milan. Here Isabella was 
present at the birth of Beatrice's second son, 
Francesco Sforza, on the 4th of February, and held 
the child at the baptismal font. A succession of 
splendid i^es were given in her honour by Niceolo 
da Correggio and other Milanese courtiers, and her 
letters to Francesco and Giovanni Gonzaga dwell 
with enthusiasm on the magnificent banquets and 
pageants, and the wonders of painting and archi- 
tecture that were displayed before her eyes in the 
Castello and city of Milan. On the other hand, 
her secretary, CapUupi, told his master how the 
Marchesa herself had won golden opinions on all 
sides. " I wish," he writes on the 28th of January, 
" that Your Excellency could have been in a comer 
of the room when my lady received the Venetian 
Ambassador, which she did with so much grace and 
gidlantry, and with such alacrity in responding to 
his salutation, that he confessed himself her willing 
slave. In the same way she charms all who come to 
visit her, but above all, the Lord Duke, who calls 
her his dear daughter, and always makes her dine at 
his table. In short, she does the greatest honour 



^dbyGoogle 



CONQUEST OF NAPLES 115 

both to Your Excellency and herself" And Isabella 
herself wrote to her sister-in-law, Chiara Gonzaga, 
that she was enjoying herself immensely, and was 
more honoured and f§ted by every one than she 
deserved. At Lodovico's urgent entreaty, her 
husband allowed her to spend the carnival at Milan, 
although, as he wrote, "all Mantua complains of 
your prolonged absence." ' 

But the news of the conquest of Naples by the 
French threw a gloom over these gay f^tes. Car- 
nival amusements lost their brilliancy for Isabella 
when she thought of the desolation at Naples, and 
heard how her cousin, the young King Ferrante, and 
her mother's kinsfolk were driven into exile; and 
she was heartily glad when the time came to set 
out on her journey home. Lodovico loaded her 
with parting gifts, and two fat oxen, together with 
several lengths of gold brocade, exquisitely em- 
broidered with doves, were among the presents 
which the Marehesa took back to Mantua. Beatrice 
was strangely moved at parting from her sister, 
but neither of the two dreamt they would never 
meet again, and Isabella little knew the altered 
circumstances under which she was to see the 
Moro's splendid home when she next came to 
Milan. 

On the 14th of March, she reached Mantua, and 
before a month was over the new League was pro- 
claimed between the Pope, the King of the Romans, 
the King and Queen of Spain, Henry VII. of 
England, the Signory of Venice, and the Duke of 
Milan. Francesco Gonzaga was appointed captain 
of the armies of the League, and, with twenty-five 

' Luzio e Renier in Arck. St, Lomb., xvii. 6S0. 



^dbyGoogle 



116 SIGISMONDO'S CARDINALATE 

thousand men under his command, prepared to cut 
off the retreat of the French king, who, on hearing 
of the coalition against him, left Naples hastily and 
marched northwards. On the Feast of St. George, 
Isabella paid a visit to her father at Ferrara, and 
while she was there, received an urgent summons 
from her lord to lend him some of her finest jewels, 
with which to adorn his person at the f§tes about to 
be held at Milan, to celebrate the arrival of the 
Imperial Ambassador and the investiture of Lodo- 
vico Sforaa with the ducal crown. Already, a year 
before, when the Marchesa was at Urbino, she had, 
at Francesco's desire, pledged many of her jewels in 
order to raise a sum of money with which to obtain 
his brother Sigismondo's advancement to the dignity 
of Cardinal " One of the greatest wishes that I 
have in the world," she wrote, " is to see Monsignore 
a Cardinal, so I am much pleased to hear that this 
affair is about to be arranged. I send Alberto da 
Bologna with the keys of my jewel boxes, that he 
may give you whatever you wish, since I would not 
only give my treasure, but my blood, for your 
honour and that of your house." Now, like a good 
wife, she sent her most precious ornaments — her big 
diamonds and large rubies, and her collar of a 
hundred links — all but her golden girdle, which had 
been lately seen on her person at Milan, and which 
she had now lent one of her father's courtiers to 
wear at a masque. AH her other jewels, as she 
gently reminded the Marquis, were in pawn at 
Venice.* 

On her return to Mantua she took up the 
reins of government in her lord's absence, and ad- 
1 Lutio, iMtm d'ltabella, in N. AnUtU^ia, 1896. 



^dbyGoogle 



ISABELLA GOVERNS MANTUA 117 

ministered aflFmrs with a prudence and sagacity 
which excited the wonder of grey-headed councillors. 
On the vigil of the Ascension, while a procession 
was passing the house of Saniele Norsa, a Jewish 
banker who had lately settled in the Via San 
Simone, the attention of the crowd was attracted 
by a group of images, inscribed with profane verses, 
which some evil-disposed person had placed on a wall 
formerly decorated with a fresco of the Madonna. 
The cry of blasphemy was raised, stones were thrown 
by the mob, and the house was only saved from 
destruction by the prompt interference of a city 
magistrate. The poor Jew, who had previously 
obtained the Bishop's leave to remove the painting of 
the Madonna and had paid all the fees required, now 
wrote to implore the protection of the Marquis, and 
Frwicesco sent peremptory orders that he was not 
to be molested. But this small disturbance was so 
grossly exaggerated that Isabella felt it necessary to 
write to her lord on the subject, and assure him that 
no serious tiunult had taken place in his absence. 
" The inventors of these malicious tales," she wrote 
on the 80th of June, "who have not scrupled to 
disturb your peace of mind when you are occupied 
with the defence of Italy, showed little regard for 
my honoiu-, or for those of my councillors. Let 
Your Highness, I beg of you, keep a tranquil mind, 
and attend wholly to military affairs, for I intend to 
govern the State, with the help of these magnificent 
gentlemen and officials, in such a manner that you 
will suffer no wrong, and all that is possible wUl be 
done for the good of your subjects. And if any one 
should write or tell you of disorders of which you 
have not heard &om me, you may be certain that it 



lb, Google 



118 BATTLE OF FORNOVO 

is a lie, because, since I not only give audience to 
officials, but allow all your subjects to speak to me 
whenever they choose, no disturbance can arise 
without my knowledge." Three days afterwards 
the news of the first skirmish between the two 
armies reached Mantua, and Isabella hastened to 
congratulate her husband on his success : — 

" Most illustrious Lord, — I did not write before 
to-day, because I had nothing to say, but now that 
I hear of your success against the enemy, I will not 
delay one moment to congratulate Your Highness on 
this good news, which has given me the greatest 
pleasure, and I hope in G>od that you wiU gain 
iVirther victories. I thank you more than I can say 
for your letter, and I beg of you to take care of 
yourself, because I am always very anxious when I 
remember you are in the camp, even although this 
is where you have always wished to be. I com- 
mend myself to Your Highness a thousand, thousand 
times. — From her who loves and longs to see Your 
Highness, Isabella, with her own hand." ^ Mantua, 
July 2. 

With this letter Isabella sent her husband a Uttle 
gold cross and Agnus Dei contdning a fragment of 
the wood of the Cross, b^ging him to wear it round 
his neck in order that the virtue of this rehc and his 
own devotions to the Vii^n might keep him safe in 
the hour of danger. " All the clergy in Mantua," 
she adds, " are praying for Your Excellency, moved 
thereto by my anxious affection." On the 6th of July, 
the eve of the battle, the Marquis sent a short note 
thanking his dearest wife for her letter and the little 
cross, which he wiU cherish with singular devotion, 

1 Luzio ia ArcMvio Storico ItalioMO, 1890. 



.XJoogIc 



FRANCESCO'S ACCOUNT 119 

but saying that he is so busy he has time neither to 
eat nor sleep. 

On the 7th, he wrote again from the victorious 
camp of the League in the valley of the Taro, telling 
his wife of the battle which had been fought the day 
before, and of the heavy loss he had sustained in the 
death of his uncle Hodolfi), and his cousin Giovanni 
Maria, whom he loved as his own self.^ 

" Yesterday's battle, as you will have heard from 
the herald, was very fiercely contested, and we lost 
many of our men, amongst others, Signor Rodolfo 
and Messer Giovanni Maria; but certainly many 
more of the enemy were slain. And what we our- 
selves did is known to all, so that I need not speak 
of it here, and will only tell you that we found 
ourselves in a position of such peril that only God 
could deliver us. The chief cause of the disorder 
was the disobedience of the Stradiots, who gave 
themselves up to plunder, and in the hour of danger 
not one of them appeared. By the grace of God we 
and this army have been saved, but many fled with- 
out being pursued by any one, and most of the foot- 
soldiers, so that few of these remain. These things 
have caused me the greatest sorrow which I have 
ever known, and if by ill chance our enemies had 
turned upon us, we must have been utterly destroyed. 
Some French nobles were made prisoners by our 
company, amongst others the Comte de Figliano 
and Monsieur le B&tard de Bourbon. The enemies 
departed this morning, and are gone over the hill 
towards Borgo San Domino and Piacenza. We will 
watch their course and see what we have to do. If 
others had fought as we did, the victory would have 
' Liuio, op. cU. 



^dbyGoogle 



120 GALLANTRY OF FRANCESCO 

been complete, and not a single Frenchman would 
have escaped. Farewell" 

A sense of bitter disappointment breathes in every 
line of this letter which the Marquis addressed to his 
wife. In spite of their heavy losses the French army 
had succeeded in crossing the Taro that night, and 
early the next morning continued their retreat across 
the Lombard plains. But, as the royal camp and 
baggage were abandoned, the advantage remained 
with the allies, and, before long, Francesco persuaded 
himself that he had won a glorious victory. Of his 
personal prowess on this occasion there could be no 
doubt After three horses had been killed under him, 
he fought on foot in the thick of the m^Ue till his 
sword broke in his hands. '* Since the days of 
Hector of Troy," wrote the Marchesa's faithful 
seneschal, Alessandro da Baesso, who himself risked 
his life to save his master, " no one ever fought 
as he did. I believe he killed ten men with his 
own hand. And I think you must have said some 
psalm for him, for indeed it is a miracle that 
he is alive and unhurt" The French king nar- 
rowly escaped being made prisoner, and was only 
rescued by his chamberlain, the Bastard of Bourbon, 
who rushed to his help. This prince, a son of Jean, 
Due de Bourbon, was himself taken prisoner, and 
sent to Mantua, where Isabella gave him lodgings 
in the Castello, and treated him with the greatest 
courtesy until he was exchanged two months later. 
" Madama lets the French Count want for nothing," 
wrote Capilupi to the Marquis, and when he was 
released, he told the Marchesa that he could not 
su£ficiently thank her for all the kindness which he 
had received. This very kindness, Marino Sanuto 



^dbyGoogle 



REJOICINGS AT VENICE 121 

tells us, was afterwards reckoned by the jealous 
Signoiy of Venice as a sign of Francesco's dangerous 
leanings towards France.^ 

Among the spoils found in the king's tent were 
his own sword and helmet, a silver casket containing 
the seals of state, and a precious reliquary with the 
wood of the true Cross and a limb of St. Denis, on 
which he set especial store. Many of these were 
courteously returned to Charles by the Marquis, but 
he sent one magnificent set of huigings to Mantua, 
together with a book containing the portraits of 
Italian beauties which had been specially executed 
for the king, and the shattered sword with which he 
himself had fought on the battle-field, Isabella re- 
ceived these trophies joyfully, and gave her husband's 
sword to Monsignore Sigismondo, who told his brother 
that it was as sacred in his eyes as the spear of 
Longinus, since the blood with irtiich it was stained 
had been shed for the deliverance of Italy.* 

Great were the rejoicings at Venice, where Fran- 
cesco was compared to Hannibal and Scipio, and the 
Signory not only gave him the high-sounding title of 
Captain-general of the armies of the Republic, but 
increased his yearly salary by 2000 ducats and be- 
stowed a pension of another 1000 ducats on his wife. 
The money was very acceptable to Isabella, whose 
iunds were at a low ebb, and on the 29th of July she 
wrote to Zorao Brognolo, begging him to pay her 
debts to the jeweller Pagano and spend the rest in 
buying foxu" pieces of the finest t(M which he could 
find in Venice. This precious Oriental fiibric, which 
the Italian ladies of the Renaissance valued so highly, 

> Spedisume di Carlo, viii. p. 463. 

> Luzio in Emporium, vol. x. 366. 



^dbyGoOgle 



122 TABl SILK 

was a species of watered silk, manufactured in a 
quarter of Damascus, which, Mr. Guy le Strange tells 
us, originally took its name from a Governor of Mecca 
called Attabiyeh. The word in its different forms of 
attafh and taf^ passed into the English, French, and 
Spanish languages. Taby silks are often mentioned 
in English records of the sixteenth and seven- 
teenth centuries. Queen Elizabeth appeared on state 
occasions in a dress of silver and white taby, Pepys 
wore a false taby waistcoat, and Fanny Bumey 
affected a gown of Klac taby. Probably few of us 
are aware that the word tabby cat is derived firom the 
name of a man who was a companion of Mahommed, 
and Governor of Mecca in the seventh century.' 

But while poets and sonnet-writers were extolling 
Francesco as the deliverer of Italy, Isabella herself 
could not conceal her anxiety for her husband's 
safety, and she wrote to him in the camp before 
Novara, where he was besieging the Duke of Orleans, 
begging him to be less reckless of his life. " It does 
not please me that you should always run such 
terrible risks, and I pray and entreat you to be very 
careful and not to expose yourself to these dangers, 
as I am sure you discharge your office best and most 
efficiently by giving orders to others rather than by 
fighting yourself." In the same letter she enclosed 
the following little note, supposed to be written by 
her two-year-old daughter Leonora to the Marquis, 
and signed with the words, FiUa obsequentiss : adhuc 
lactans: "To my dearest and victorious father. 
Most illustrious and excellent Prince, in my cradle 
where I am now lying, and when I am sucking in 
the arms of my most illustrious and sweetest mother, 

1 "Baghdad during the Abassieh Caliphate," p. 138, 



^dbyGoogle 



FRANCESCO AND CHARLES VIII. 128 

or wherever I may be, I hear continually songs and 
praises of the great deeds and splendid victory of 
Your Highness, in defeating and driving out the 
French, and delivering all Italy from their barbarous 
hands. I also hear of the great glory and honours 
which are justly paid you by all the powers of 
Italy."' 

Francesco himself had little time to spare, and in a 
short letter of the 28th of August he tells his wife 
that he is continually on horseback day and night, 
and wonders that his strength holds out, but asks 
her to send him some playing-cards, that he may 
occasionally distract his thoughts with a game of 
scartino. Besides the task of directing militaiy 
operations, he had great difficulty in keeping peace 
between the Italians and Germans, who were con- 
tinually quarrelling, and in a sudden brawl which 
he describes to Isabella, as many as one hundred and 
twenty men were slain. 

When at length Novara surrendered and a treaty 
of peace was concluded between the Duke of Milan 
and the French king, Francesco Gonzaga pmd a visit 
to Charles VIII. at Vereelli, and came away much 
pleased with the courtesy shown him and the splendid 
horses with which the king presented him. The 
Mantuan singers who were sent to serenade His 
Majesty told the Marchesa how eagerly the king 
had questioned them about her appearance and the 
gems she wore, and how anxious he was to make the 
acquaintance of this brilliant and &scuiating lady of 
whom he had heard so much. This exchange of 
courtesies between the French monarch and the 
Marquis did not altogether please the Venetian 
1 Luzio in Arch. St. It., 1890. 



^dbyGoogle 



124 MANTEGNA PAINTS 

Signory, who were indignant with the Dtike of Milan 
for concluding a separate peace with France, and who 
already looked with suspicion on his brother-in-law. 
But once the French army had crossed the Alps 
they were not sorry to disband their army, and on the 
1st of November the Marquis made his triumphal 
entry into Mantua, where he was joyftiUy welcomed 
by his wife and both his sisters, Chiara of Mont- 
pensier and Ehsabetta of Urbino, who came to spend 
Christmas with her family. Great were the rejoicings 
in honour of the victor's return. Sperandio, that 
aged artist who, after a long residence at the court of 
the Estes, had lately returned to spend his last days 
in his native city, designed a fine medal representing 
Francesco on horseback at Fomovo, with the proud 
inscription : Ob. Restitutam. ItaUce LiberttUem.} But 
a grander and more imposing memorial of Francesco 
Gonzaga's victory had already been planned by his 
wife and brother. In the thick of the mM^ at 
Fomovo, the Marquis had implored the Blessed 
Virgin's help, and, after the battle, he resolved to com- 
memorate his deliverance by some noble monument. 
Then he remembered the poor Jew, Daniele Norsa, 
whose house in the Via San Simone had been nearly 
wrecked by the fanaticism of the mob at Ascension- 
tide, and in a letter addressed to his brother Sigis- 
mondo on the last day of July, he proposed that the 
Jew should be made to restore the figure of Our 
Lady which he had removed from the wall, in a 
finer and more splendid form, as an act of reparation 
to the glorious Mother. The idea was quickly taken 
up by the Protonotary, who suggested that an altar- 
piece of the Madonna should be painted by Andrea 

1 Amumd, Let MidaiUeurt ilaUent. 



^dbyGoogle 



THE MADONNA DELLA VITTORIA 125 

Mant^na, and that the Marquis should be repre- 
sented kneeling in armour, with his brothers and his 
illustrious lady at the Virgin's feet. The Marquis 
highly approved of this proposal, and fixed the price 
of Mantegna's painting at 110 ducats, which the Jew 
was required to pay down, within three days. Isa- 
bella's own portrait, however, was not eventually in- 
troduced in the picture. Perhaps she had no wish to 
sit to Mantegna again, and preferred that her patron, 
St. Elizabeth, should appear in her stead. But if, 
as seems most probable, in the venerable saint who 
kneels opposite the figure of the Marquis, we see the 
Beata Osanna, that revered mm whose prayers were 
offered day and night for the success of Francesco's 
arms, the suggestion may well have come fi^m the Mar- 
chesa.^ In the same way, the figures of the heavenly 
warriors St. George and St. Michael, and of the patron 
saints of Mantua, Andrew and Longinus, were 
substituted for the Gionzaga brothers. A certain 
Fra Girolamo Redioi, a friar of the Eremitani order 
who was fond of meddling in pohtical affairs, now 
proposed that the Jew's house should be pulled down, 
and that a church, dedicated to the Madonna della 
Vittoria, should be erected in its place. This scheme 
was finally adopted. The sum of 110 ducats was 
paid by the Jew on the 2Sth of August, and part of 
the money was handed over by the Protonotary to 
Mantegna, who was promised the remainder when 
the work was partly executed.* 

The architect Bernardo Ghisolfo, whose name 
appears frequently in the Gonzaga archives, set to 
work at once, and by the following June the new 

1 Cf. •' U£e of Mantegna," by Miss Cruttwel), p. 98. 
* Liuio in Empmium, voL x. 360. 



^dbyGoogle 



126 PROCESSION IN HONOUR 

chapel was ready to receive Messer Andrea's altar- 
piece. The painter on this part worked more rapidly 
than usual, taking pleasure in his subject and incited 
by the prospect of the large reward that was await- 
ing him, and on the anniversary of the battle of 
the Taro, the great Madonna was borne in triumph 
from Mantegna's house near San Sebastiano to the 
new shrine on the site of the Jew's house, at the 
other end of the town. Francesco himself was 
absent in the kingdom of Naples at the time, but 
the Marchesa and Sigismondo resolved to make the 
ceremony as imposing as possible, and their letters 
to the Marquis show that their efforts were attended 
with complete success. On the lOth of July, 
Isabella wrote: "The figure of Our Lady, which 
Andrea Mantegna has painted, was carried &om 
his house in procession last Wednesday, being the 
6th of this month, to the new chapel of S. Maria 
della Vittoria, in commemoration of last year's 
battle and of your gallant deeds, and greats crowds 
assembled than I have ever seen at any procession 
in this town. My confessor, Fra Pietro, made 
a fine oration at high mass, and spoke in a 
manner appropriate to the occasion, begging the 
glorious Virgin Mary to keep Your Excellency safe 
and bring you home victorious. Owing to my 
present condition, I could not walk on foot in the 
procession, but I went to the Borgo to see it pass, 
and returned to the Castello by the new chapel, 
which is well adorned, uid the road was thronged 
with people." ' 

Sigismondo adds a few particulars of interest. 

^ Archivio Gomaga, quoted by Poitioli, La ChUta e la Madonna 
della Vittoria in Maaiova, p. SI. 



^dbyGoogle 



I 



.■/'/,r . ■//„,/,.„„„ ,/,«, 7,//,„,i 



D,t„db,G00glC 



idb,Googlc 



OF THE MADONNA 127 

He describes the youths dressed up as angels and 
apostles who sang lauds on the tribunal erected for 
the altar-piece outside Mantegna's house, where the 
altar-piece was first placed, and dilates on the love 
and enthusiasm which the preacher's references to the 
Muxjuis evoked, as well as on the number of wax 
lights, torches and other votive offerings which had 
been already brought to the new shrine. Another 
correspondent, the chancellor Antimaco, describes the 
painting as a most excellent work, and says that it was 
truly amazing to see the eagerness of the crowds 
which pressed round to see this noble picture, and 
that, next to the Madonna's image, the portrait of 
their absent lord excited the greatest interest.^ 

The little shrine of Our Lady of Victory is 
standing still in a deserted byway of Mantua, but 
Messer Andrea's Madonna, as we all know, was 
carried off a hundred years ago, by the French 
conquerors, and hangs to-day in the Louvre among 
the {Hx>udest possessions of the nation whose supposed 
d^eat it was intended to commemorate. 

1 BragbiroUi, Giont. <&' Enid. Art, i. S06. 



^dbyGoogle 



CHAPTER VIII 

1496—1497 

Campaign of Naples — Ferrante recovers bis kingdom — Francesco 
Gonsaga commands the Venetian army — Isabella governs 
Mantua — Her correspondence and friendship with Lorenzo 
da Pavia — Birth of her second daughter — Illness of the 
Marquis — His return to Mantua, and visit to Venice — Death 
of Ferrante of Naples, of Gilbert de Montpensier, and Beabice 
d'Este — Francesco Gonzaga deprived of the ofHce of captain- 
general of the Venetian armies — Death of Anna Sforza. 

Early in January, the Marquis of Mantua left home 
again to take the command of a new Venetian army 
which the Signory sent to assist Ferrante, the young 
king of Naples, in recovering his dominions. After 
the retreat of Charles VIII. this gal^t [niuce had 
crossed over from Ischia, and entered Naples on the 
day after the battle of Fomovo. The people wel- 
comed him with shouts of joy and the nobles flocked 
to his banner, and soon Montpensier, who had been 
left at the head of the French troops, was compelled 
to retire into the mountains of Calabria. There he 
carried on a war of petty skirmishes and depredations 
against the Venetian forces under the command of 
his brother-in-law, Francesco Gonzaga. While their 
husbands were fighting on opposite sides, Chiara 
Gonzaga renuuned at Mantua with her sister-in-law, 
to whom she was fondly attached, and whose com- 
pany consoled Isabella in some measure for the 
departure of Elisabetta, who returned to Urbino in 



^dbyGoogle 



LORENZO DA PAVIA 129 

February. It was a dull year for the Marchesa, and, 
■with the exception of a short visit to Ferrara in 
January, she was too much occupied with public 
affairs to leave home. But, as usual, she made good 
use of her time. She returned to her classical 
studies, applied herself to master the rules of Latin 
grammar, and consulted the great Ferrara humanist, 
Ercole Strozzi, as to the choice of a new tutor. 
Much of her leisure time was devoted to music 
She took lessons on the lute from a new master, 
Angelo Testagrossa, a Milanese youth who sang like 
a seraph, and played the lyre and clavichord. On 
her last visit to Milan she had seen and greatly 
admired an instrument which Lorenzo Gusnasco of 
Pavia, the &mous master of organs, had made for 
her sister Beatrice. Now she was seized with an 
ardent desire to possess a similar one, and on the 
12th of March 1496, she addressed the following 
letter to Lorenzo da Pavia, whom she had often 
met at the court of Milan, but who had lately 
moved to Venice for the greater convenience of his 
trade: — 

" M. Lorenzo da Pavia, most excellent master, — 
We remember that you made a most beautiful 
and perfect clavichord for that illustrious Madonna, 
the Duchess of Milan, our sister, when we were last 
at Pavia, and since we oxuselves now wish to have an 
instrument of the same kind, which cannot be sur- 
passed, we are sure that there is no one in all Italy 
who can satisfy our wish better than you can. We 
therefore pray you to make us a clavichord of such 
beauty and excellence as shall be worthy of your 
high reputation and of liie trust that we repose in 
you. The only difference that we wish to see in this 

VOL. I. I 



130 ISABELLA'S ORDERS 

instrument is that it should be easier to play, because 
our hand is so light that we cannot play well if we 
have to press heavily on the notes. But you, I have 
no doubt, will understand our wishes and require- 
ments. For the rest, make the instrument exactly as 
you choose. And the more quickly you can serve us 
the better shall we be pleased, and we will t^e care 
that you shall be well rewarded, and place ourselves 
at your service." ^ 

Lorenzo hastened to reply that he would gladly 
serve the Marchesa, but that he feared some time 
must elapse before he was able to execute her 
commands, since he had unfortunately promised to 
make a viol for the Duchess of Milan and a clavi- 
chord for one of her courtiers, Messer Antonio 
Visconti. Isabella, however, was not to be so easily 
put off, and on the 19th, she wrote to the Milanese 
nobleman, b€^;ging him to allow Lorenzo to make 
her instrument firet. 

" Most honoured friend, and dear to us as a 
brother, — We have desired M. Lorenzo da Pavia, in 
Venice, to make us a clavichord, but hear from him 
that he cannot undertake this until he has finished 
a viol for our honoured sister, the Duchess of Milan, 
and a clavichord for Your Magnificence. But as 
we are very anxious to have our new instrument, 
we beg you to be as good as to yield us the next 
place after the Duchess, which would give us the 
greatest pleasure, and if you are willing, will 
you kindly write to Messer Lorenzo, giving him 
leave to make our clavichord first? And we shall 
be ever ready to consult the pleasure of Your Mag- 
nificence." 

' Lorenzo Gusnasco, DoU. Carlo deWAcqua, p. 20. 



ib,Cooglc 



A PERFECT INSTRUMENT 181 

On the same day she wrote to Zoizo Brognolo as 
follows : — 

" You may tell M. Lorenzo da Pavia that we 
have written to M. Antonio Visconti in terras that 
leave us no doubt but that he will allow us to have 
our clavichord made first, and that he can set to 
work at once, and if he can finish it in less than the 
three months which he named, we shall be the better 
pleased. But if this is impossible, we are content 
to wait, as long as he makes a most excellent 
instrument." ' 

But Lorenzo was too fine an artist to allow 
himself to be hurried, and he sent back word by 
Zorzo, a month later, that he had b^un tiie instru- 
ment, but could not possibly finish it before three 
months. Once more Isabella returned to the charge, 
and at the end of May desired Brognolo to go and 
see how Lorenzo was getting on, and find out if her 
instrument seemed to be a fine one, and how soon it 
would be ready. In reply, Zorzo wrote that the clavi- 
chord would be most beautiful, and would be finished 
by August. But, as usual, the finishing touches took 
longer than the master had expected, and it was not 
till Christmas Day that Messer Lorenzo arrived at 
Mantua, bringing with him the Marchesa's clavichord, 
which, she wrote to Zorzo, was so perfe5t and beauti- 
ful a thing, it could not please her better 1 Lorenzo 
was not allowed to return to Venice without promis- 
ing to undertake anotJier commission for the insatiable 
Marchesa. This was a lute, which he proposed to 
make of inlaid ebony and ivory, " because," he writes, 
" these two material go well together and are beau- 
tiful companions." On the 3rd of February 1497, he 
1 Lnzio in Jtvk. Si. Lomb , xvii. 637. 



^dbyGooglc 



188 LORENZO'S FRIENDS 

wrote that the lute would soon be finished, and 
entered readily into Isabella's suggestion that a star 
should be let into the woodworic of the instrument, 
since this was a favourite device of the Marchesa, 
and appears on the reverse of her medaL A few 
months later the Marchesa wrote to ask about a 
certain lute which the singer Serafino had seen in 
Lorenzo's shop at Venice, and begged that the in- 
strument which he was making should be strung in 
such a manner as to suit her voice. 

Lorenzo had, it appears, met with unexpected 
difficulties in completing his task, but, as before, he 
entered warmly into the Marchesa's idea, and took 
infinite pains to meet her wishes. " I cannot," he 
wrote, " find any ebony that is black enough and fine 
enough to suit me, and am much disappointed, 
because I hoped to make this lute the most beauti^ 
thing in Italy and the best, both from my great desire 
to give you pleasure, and &om my natural wish to 
make an instrument of the highest excellence." 
Accordingly he sent to Munich for the strings of 
the lute, as he had heard of a G«inan master who 
supplied the best quality, and promised to pay 
especial attention to the shape of the instrument, 
" because beauty of form is everything," a sentiment 
which must have found an echo in Isabella's heart 
Perche neUa forma sta el tuto? 

This, then, was the beginning of Isabella's corre- 
spondence with this remarkable man, who was closely 
connected with the most cultured members of the 
Milanese court, and belonged to a small circle of 
highly gifted men, which included the painter, 
]l<eonardo da Vinci ; the sculptor, Cristoforo Romano ; 

> Aldo Manuxio, Lettrtt tt doatmenits A. Buchet 



^dbyGoOgle 



CORRESPONDENCE WITH ISABELLA 188 

the writer and collector, Sabba da Castigliooe ; and 
the great printer, Aldo Manuzio. Lorenzo da Pavia 
was intimate with all these distinguished men. He 
shared their love of music and of ptdnting, their enthu- 
siasm for the antique, their passion for all that w«s 
beautiful in art and letters. His fine taste and 
critical eye commended him in an especial manner to 
Isabella d'Este, who found in him a kindred spirit, 
not easily satisfied either with his own work or with 
that of others, and aiming at nothing short of 
perfection. During the next twenty years she 
corresponded with him constantly, and employed i 
him not only to manufacture those wonderful oi^;ans, 
lutes, and viols, of ebony and ivory, which were as | 
perfect in shape as in sound, but to buy pictures and 
antiques, amber rosaries and ivory crucifixes, enamels, | 
cameos and Murano glass, and Eastern stufis, costal \ 
mirrors and inlmd cabinets, and all the rare and ' 
lovely things with which she adorned her studio. 
And in all the deUcate and difficult negotiations 
, which he conducted on her behalf with Venetian 
merchants and artists, with the painter, Giovanni 
Bellini, or the printer, Aldo, she found Lorenzo's 
knowledge and advice, his tact and patience, of the 
greatest value. 

Books and music, as usual, were the chief occu- 
pations which filled Isabella's spare time. But she 
had more fiivolous amusements as welL Her letters 
abound with allusions to the tricks and jests of the 
favourite dwarfs and clowns with whom she loved 
to be surrounded. A whole suite of apartments, 
with low rooms and passages suited to their size, was 
built for the court dwarfs at Mantua during her life- 
time, and may still be seen in a wing of the Castello. 



iu,CjOOglc 



184 ISABELLA'S PET DWARFS 

In March 1406, just when Isabella was corresponding 
with Lorenzo da Pavia about the clavichord, she 
wrote to beg her father to allow the French clown, 
Galasso, and Fritello, the wondraful dwarf who 
danced and sang, and turned somersaults in the air, 
to the delight of all the Este family, to come and 
amuse her, saying that she was as cold as ice and 
as dull as ditch water in her husband's absence! 
Her only pleasure, she declared in another letter, was 
to make Mattello dictate letters to the Marquis. 
One day she nearly died of laughing at the sight 
of Mattello imitating a tipsy man ; another time he 
appeared in a Mar's habit, and was announced as 
the venerable Padre Bernardino Mattello.^ When 
Alfonso d'Este was ill and sad, in 1498, after his 
wife's death, the Marchesa sent Mattello to amuse 
him, and her brother wrote in return that he could 
not express the delight which the buffoon had 
afforded him, and that he esteemed his presence a 
greater boon than the gift of a fine castle. Great 
was Isabella's dismay when soon after his return to 
Mantua, this pet dwarf fell ill and died, to the grief 
of the whole court. She visited him repeatedly 
during his last illness, and told her husband the jokes 
which the poor fool made on his death-bed. " Most 
people," wrote Francesco in reply, " can be easily 
replaced, but Nature will never produce another 
Mattello." // primo matto nel mondo, " the foremost 
fool in the world," as Isabella called him, was interred 
in S. Francesco, the favourite burial-place of the 
Gonzaga princes. Tebaldeo wrote his epitaph, and 
Bonsignori painted his portrait, while the bard 
Pistoia composed an elegy, in which he says: "If 

1 Luzlo, Buffimi, &c., in Nuova Anialopa, 1691. 



lu^CoO^IC 



DOGS AND CATS 135 

Mattello is in Paradise, he is making all the saints 
and angels laugh ; if he is in hell, Cerberus will 
forget to baik." 

The same wits and poets were called upon to write 
Latin epigrams and sonnets on Isabella's pet animals, 
on the Persian eat Martino or the CoffnoUno Aura. 
The novelist Bandello tells us how the Marchesa's 
presence was heralded by the barking of her little 
dogs, and on one occasion she desired Brognolo to 
send to all the convents in Venice for Syrian and 
Thibet cats,* in order that she might choose the 
finest for herself. These pet animals were buried 
with great solenmity in the terraced gardens of the 
Castetlo opposite the Corte Vecchia, and cypresses 
and tombstones inscribed with their names marked 
their graves. All the ladies and gentlemen of Isa- 
bella's household were present on these occasions, 
and her finvourite dogs and cats joined in the funeral 
procession. And it was characteristic of the age that 
every incident, from the birth of a prince or the fall 
of an empire, to the death of a fool or pet dog, be- 1 
came an occasion for producing Latin epitaphs and 
sonnets and elegies in the vulgar tongue. 

But more serious subjects now claimed Isabella's 
attention. On the 6th of July, when Mantegna's 
Madonna was borne through the streets of Mantua, 
we have seen that the Marchesa's state of health did 
not allow her to walk in the procession, and that she 
witnessed the ceremony firom Giovanni Gonzaga's 
house in the Borgo. A week later she gave birth to 
a second daughter. The babe was named Margherita 
after Francesco's mother, but her sex was a cause of 
bitter disappointment to Isabella, who looked with 
1 Luzio in Girnn. St. d. LeO. It., vol uudii. 45. 



^dbyGoOgle 



186 BIRTH OF A DAUGHTER 

envy on her sister Beatrice's two fine boys. The Mar- 
quis was more philosophical in this instance, especially 
when he heard that the child was much prettier than 
little Leonora and strongly resembled him. He told 
his wife not to look so coldly oa the poor babe, since 
no doubt God would send them sons all in good 
time, and if ever a father had reason to be satisfied 
with his daughters, it was he. His affection for 
Leonora never changed, and nothing pleased him 
better than to hear that his little daughter asked 
after her father and sent him messages. " Madonna 
Leonora," wrote a secretary to him in Calabria, 
" commends herself to Your Highness, and would 
like to have a fine new doll in a silk frock to play 
with in bed, as her old one is quite worn out." And 
often, on his hunting expeditions nearer home, he 
would send her a hare which his dogs had caught, and 
tell her to eat it for dinner I ' But Francesco never 
saw the babe whose birth he had been the first to 
welcome, and poor little Margherita died before her 
father's return on the 28rd of September. 

The war in Calabria, as Isabella had foreseen, 
proved a tedious and difficult enterprise, and by the 
end of the summer both parties were heartily sick 
of the struggle. On the 29th of July, Montpensier 
was forced to surrender the strong city of Atella 
after a long blockade and fell dangerously ill of fever. 
Francesco Gonzaga, ever courteous towMds his foes, 
sent his doctor to the French camp with presents 
of fruit and game for his brother-in-law, but the 
Venetian Signory, Marino Sanuto tells us, did not 
approve of their general's action, and were dissatisfied 
with his conduct on other grounds. However, they 

1 Luzio e Renter, MaiHom e Urbino, pp. 75, S7. 



^dbyGooglc 



THE CARDINAL'S HAT 187 

declined to allow him to come home on leave, and 
supported his application when he asked the Pope to 
make his brother a Cardinal. On his way to Naples, 
Francesco had spent a few days in Rome, to pay his 
respects to Alexander VI., who received him with 
marked favour and presented him with the golden 
rose. This had encowviged him to renew his old 
suit on behalf of Sigismondo, and the better to press 
his claim, he wrote in August to ask his wife to 
raise seven thousand ducats on the spot, and if 
necessary to pledge her jewels for this purpose. 
Isabella, who had already pawned the greater part 
of her jewels for the same object two years before, 
and had lately been seeking her father's help to 
enable her to redeem them, replied in the following 
letter :— 

" I am of course always ready to obey Your 
Excellency's commands, but perhaps you have for- 
gotten that most of my jewels are at present in pawn 
at Venice, not only those which you have given me, 
but those which I brought when I came as a bride to 
Mantua or have bought ms^self since my marriage. 
I say this, not because I wish to make any difference 
between yours and mine, but to show you that I 
have parted from everything and have only four 
jewels left in the house — the large balass ruby which 
you gave me when my first child was bom, my 
favourite big diamond, and the last ones which you 
gave me. If I pledge these, I shall be left entirely 
without jewels and shall be obliged to wear black, 
because to appear in coloured silks and brocades 
without jewfels would be ridiculous. Your Excellency 
will understand that I only say this out of regard for 
your honour and mine, and for this cause I pray and 



^dbyGoogle 



188 FRANCESCO'S ILLNESS 

entreat you not to rob me of these few things, since 
I would rather ^ve you my caitiora embroidered 
with gems than be left without jewels. On this 
account I will not send away my jewels until I have 
received Your Excellency's reply." ' Mantua, August 
27, 1496. 

As before, however, the negotiations regarding 
the Cardinal's hat proved fruitless, and Isabella was 
allowed to keep her jewels. When she wrote this 
letter her husband was seriously ill of fever at Fondi. 
He had been carried there on a litter, fearing to 
remain at Naples on account of an old prophecy that 
he should die in that city. Here he became so 
dangerously ill that he sent for the Venetian senator 
Paolo Capello and begged him in case of his death 
to commend his wife and little daughter to the pro- 
tection of the Signory — "a sure sign," remarks 
Sanuto, "that he puts greater trust in Venice than 
in his brother-in-law of Milan, or his fether-in-law of 
Ferrara.*'' Meanwhile Montpensier was still lying ill 
at Fozzuoli, and an armistice had been signed between 
France and Venice, so that there was nothing to 
keep the Marquis in the South, and as soon as he 
was fit to move, he started on the journey home. 
A few days after her infant daughter's death, Isabella 
set out to meet her husband, accompanied by the 
Protonotary Sigismondo. Early in October, the 
Duchess of Urbino came to meet her at Fano, and 
on the following day Isabella joined Francesco at 
Ancona, and brought him home by slow stages to 
Ravenna, and thence up the Po by water to Ferrara 
and afterwards to Mantua. 

' Luzio, II Ltuto tCIteAelia <rEtU, io Nuova Anlologia, 1696. 
< Diarii, L S94. 



^dbyGooglc 



DEATH OF KING FERRANTE 139 

The Marquis's first duty was to report himself 
to the Doge and Signory, and as soon as his health 
was sufficiently restored, he went to Venice on the 
21st of November. Here a grand reception awaited 
him. At Ghioggia he was welcomed by the Senate 
and representatives ; at Malamocco the Signory and 
foreign Ambassadors came out to meet him in state. 
The great doors of St. Mark were thrown open in 
his honour, and after mass he was conducted up the 
Canal Grande on the bucentaur to his own house at 
San Trovaso. On the following day he appeared 
before the Signory, to give an account of his pro- 
ceedings, and in the evening he attended the wedding 
of Zuan Soranzo's dau^ter to Giorgio Comaro, 
brother of the Queen of Cyprus. Marino Sanuto, 
who saw the Marquis on this occasion, describes him 
as wearing a Spanish suit and short black beard, as 
he appears in Mantegna's altar-piece, and remarks 
that his face bore evident traces of his recent sickness. 

But the sad news from Naples threw a gloom 
over these festivities both at Venice and Mantua. On 
their journey home the travellers heard that the yoimg 
King Ferrante had died after a short illness, brought 
on by the hardships and fatigue which he had under- 
gone in his victorious campaign against the French. 
Both Francesco and Isabella were much attached to 
their brave young cousin, who had fought so gallantly 
to recover his father's dominions. Solemn funeral 
services were held in his house at Mantua, and 
the Carmelite Vicar-General, Fra Pietro da Novellara, 
preached a Latin oration in his honour. When, a 
year afterwards, the dead king's sister, the widowed 
Duchess Isabella of Milan, wrote to ask Francesco 
Gonzaga for a portrait of her brother which she 



iu,C00gIC 



140 OF BEATRICE D*ESTE 

heard was m his possession, the Marchesa sent her 
word that her lord could not part witii the picture, 
which was dear to him for the love which he bore 
to Ferrante's memory, but would have it copied for 
her by Francesco BonsignorL 

This sad event was soon followed by the death of 
Gilbert de Montpensier, who breathed his last at 
Pozzuoli on the 11th of November, and Isabella was 
called upon to console his widow, Chiara Gonzaga, 
while at the same time she had to condole with 
Antonia del Balzo, on the loss of her husband Gian- 
firancesco of Bozzolo. A still more tragic event 
darkened the Christmas festival. This was the 
sudden death of the Marchesa's own ^ster, Beatrice 
d'Este, Duchess of Milan, and wife of Lodovico 
Sforza. The poor young princess, who was only 
twenty-one, gave birth to a still-bom son on the night 
of the 2nd of January in the Castello of Milan, and 
died herself an hour afterwards. The sad news, which 
Francesco had to break to his wife, came as a terrible 
shock to Isabella, who had lately seen her sister in 
the bloom of youth and fulness of prosperity. At 
first she was overwhelmed with grief, and her hus- 
band said that he had never seen his wife so utterly 
broken down. '* I know not," she wrote to her 
fether, " how I can ever find comfort" Fortunat^ 
Elisabetta of Urbino had arrived at Mantua a week 
before, and the companionship of this beloved sister- 
in-law was Isabella's best consolation. When the 
Duchess returned to Urbino at the end of April, 
both Isabella and her husband accompanied her to 
Ferrara and spent some weeks with her &ther and 
brothers. That year the Feast of St. Geoige was 
shorn of its usual splendour. There were no races 



^dbyGoogle 



DISMISSAL OF FRANCESCO 141 

and Qo banquets or comedies. The people shared 
in then prince's sorrow, and Duke Ercole presetted 
the pallium which would have been the prize of the 
races to the church of S. Francesco.^ 

On the 24th of June, the Marquis went to Venice, 
having received orders from the Signory to prepare 
tot -wax. But when he reached his house in San 
Trovaso, Zorzo Brc^nolo met him with the unex- 
pected announcement of his dismissal from the post 
of captain-generaL For some time past the Signory 
had entertained grave susjEHcions of Francesco's fidelity, 
and on the day before his arrival in Venice the 
Council of Ten finally issued a decree by which he 
was removed from office. At first the Marquis could 
hardly believe in the truth of Brognolo's announce- 
ment. He rode along the Canal Grande, Marino 
Sanuto tells us, " with great arrogance," and meeting 
the Procurator of the Republic in the church of San 
Giorgio Maggiore, haughtily demanded an audience 
from the Signory. " Every one," adds the chronicler, 
"murmured at his audacity; but although he was 
dismissed from his post, he was suffered to remain in 
the city, because he was a zentUuomo of Venice, and 
had inherited the privil^e of citizenship from his 
ancestors. And from the age of twenty-eight he had 
been captun-general, and being also related to the 
King of Naples and the Dukes of Mil&n, Ferrara, 
and Urbino, he enjoyed the best time of any lord in 
Italy. He had bdd this office for the space of eight 
years, one month, and twenty-four days, and now he 
says that from being the fifst man in Italy he has 
ruined himself, and this is no doubt true. But the 
Signory will save his salary." * 

> Uantori, zziv. HO. * JXaru, L 667. 



^dbyGoogle 



142 FROM THE POST OF CAPTAIN 

Meanwhile Isabella, unconscious of her husband's 
disgrace, was spending Midsummer's day at Verona, 
where, by Francesco's wish, she had accepted an 
invitation from the Podesta to witness the jousts 
in honour of San Giovanni's day. The Venetian 
Signory were aware of her presence, and had sent 
orders that the Marchesa was to be honourably 
entertained, and was to receive 25 ducats a day for 
her expenses as long as she remained in Verona. 
After her prolonged period of mourning and seclusion, 
the young princess appeared once more in public 
with fresh brightness and charm, and rode along the 
lists and greeted all her friends in the most gracious 
manner. Not a word was breathed in her presence 
as to the Marquis's disgrace, and it was only when 
she reached Mantua and met her husband that she 
heard the story from his own lips. AJready the bad 
news had reached Ferrara.' Alfonso d'Este galloped 
to Mantua to see his sister, and Isabella went back 
with him to take counsel with her father, while the 
disconsolate Marquis remained at his villa of Gon- 
zaga, declaring loudly that his disgrace was due to 
the Duke of Milan's intrigues and Galeazzo Sanse- 
verino's jealousy. " I hear,' wrote Sanuto, "that he 
is very gloomy and goes clad in black, and wears an 
iron ring on his collar, which he has vowed not to 
lay aside until he has been on a pilgrimage to Loreto. 
And there is sorrow throughout the Mantovano, and 
the people, who had been happy and smiling before, 
are now sad and out of heart." ' It was then, in token 
of his grief and remorse, that Francesco adopted the 
device of gold faggots in a fiery crucible, with the 
motto, Hoifiine probasti me et cognovisti, which figures 

1 Muratori, Diario Ferrarete, xsiv. 345. ^ tHani, L 697. 



^dbyGoOgle 



OF THE VENETIAN ARMY 148 

in the pavement of Isabella's Grotta and in the frieze 
of her caTnerim, and still adorns one of the vaulted 
ceilings in his favourite palace of San Sebastiano.^ 

All through the summer the Marquis made re- 
peated efforts to recover the Signory's good graces. 
He offered to place his wife and child as hostages in 
their hands, and even to surrender some of his for- 
tresses. And when he reviewed his troops on the 
Feast of the Assumption, he told them that they 
were kept for the use of the Signory, and threw 
them gold when they shouted Marco f But the 
Signory refused to see him or even accept a pre- 
sent from him, and were persuaded that he was 
secretly in league with the French king. There 
seems no doubt that Francesco had lately held 
secret communications with the French court, and 
in November Lodovico Sforza addressed an indignant 
remonstrance on the subject to Isabella, telling her 
that he held proofs of her husband's dealings with the 
French and the Florentines in his hands, and only 
re&ained from sending them to Venice out of love 
and regard for her. Isabella was deeply distressed at 
this breach between her husband and brother-in-law, 
and did her best to effect a reconciliation between 
them, but her position was a difficult one and her 
path was by no means strewn with roses. To add to 
her family sorrows in this year of misfortunes, her 
brother Alfonso's wife, Anna Sforza, died on the 
80th of November, aA^r giving birth to a dead child, 
who was buried with her in the same grave. Alfonso 
was left a childless widower, and the sudden death ot 
this gentle young princess was a fresh cause of grief 
to Duke Ercole and his people. A fortnight later 
another Este princess, the once brilliant and beautiful 

' Pm>1o Glorio, Imprete, p. 88. 



iu,CjOOgIC 



144 FRANCESCO'S MISTRESS 

Beatrice, died in a fit of apoplexy at Milan, and 
Isabella addressed heart-felt condolences to her aunt's 
son, Niccolo da Corre^o, remarking sadly that at 
least his mother had died in the natural order, and 
that her life had not been cut short by a cruel and 
untimely end. 

Certainly Isabella had her fiill share of anxieties 
at this time. For, as she and all the world knew, 
h^ husband was consoling himself for his reverses in 
the company of a mistress named Teodora, who bore 
him two daughters, and shocked public feeling by~ 
appearing in splendid attire at a tournament held at 
Brescia in honour of the Queen of Cyprus. The 
Marquis himself was present on this occasion with 
his brother-in-law, the young Cardinal Ippolito, while 
his rival, the Moro's son-in-law, Galeazzo Sanseverino, 
appeared in the lists and was not sorry to cross swords 
with him.* 

But Isabella held her peace like a wise woman, 
and won general admiration by her patient and 
dignified bearing. " You aie blessed beyond most 
men," wrote the Bologna humanist Floriano Dolfo 
to the Marquis Francesco soon after his victory at 
Fomovo, " in having a fair, wise, and noble wife, who 
is altogether discreet and virtuous, and has shown 
lUrself a true mother of concord, ever anxious to 
gratify your wishes, while she prudently feigns neither 
to see nor hear those actions of yours which must be 
hatefulandinjurioustoher."' This was plain speaking, 
but the writer had been long intimately acquainted 
with the Marquis and his wife, and the tribute of 
praise which he paid Isabella was well deserved. 

^ Marino Sanuto, Diam, i. 697. 

* Liuio e Renier in AtcK St. Lomb., xrii. 646. 



^dbyGoogle 



CHAPTER IX 

1498—1*99 

Intrigues of Francesco Gonzaga with Venice jand Milan — Isabella 
seeks to reconcile him with Lodovico Sfom — ^The Marquis 
goes to Milan and is appointed captain-general of the League 
— Visit of the Duke of Milan to Mantua — Correspondence of 
Isabella with Lodovico — Conquest of Milan by the French, 
and flight of the Duke — Louis XII. enters Milan — Isabella 
pays court to the French — Receives the Milanese exiles — The 
Moro's retom and his final surrender at Novara. 

It is a difficult task to unravel the tangled web of 
Italian polities at the close of the fifteenth century 
and to follow the Marquis Francesco's course of 
action dtiring the two years that elapsed between 
his dismissal by the Signory of Venice and the fall 
of his brother-in-law, Lodovico Sforza. His tortuous 
policy and frequent changes of front are fully dis- 
cussed in a learned treatise by M. Louis FeUssier,' 
while Dr. Luzio has recently brou^t several fresh 
documents on the subject to light.* But one thing 
seems clear. While Francesco and his broth * 
Giovanni were inclined to join with Venice, Isabella 
d'Este's sympathies were wholly on the side of 
Lodovico, imtil it became plain that his cause was 
irrevocably ruined. Then, like the true "cinque- 
centist" that she was — to borrow M. Pelissier's 

^ L, Pelisaier, Louii XII. el L. Sforza; Documentt pour ThitUAre 
de la domination fran^aue dan* le MUanait. 
* Luzio, Arch. Si. Lomb., 1901. 
VOL. I. " '" K 



^dbyGooglc 



146 LODOVICO SFORZA 

phrase — ^the Marchesa applied all her energies to win 
the French king's favour and make Louis XII. her 
friend.' 

Diuing the winter and spring of 1498, her con- 
fidential agent, Capilupi, was repeatedly sent to Milan 
to negotiate with the Duke, and when in April a 
new league was fonned between him and the 
Emperor Maximilian, the command of the allied 
forces was offered to Francesco, with a yearly salary 
of 80,000 ducats. The Marquis went to Milan, 
where he was splendidly entertained, and agreed to all 
Lodovico's proposals, but he was secretly disf||j|fied 
because the Duke would not give him the flU of 
captain-generd of the Milanese army, which was 
borne by his son-in-law Galeazzo, uid sent word by 
his brother Giovanni to the Signory that he would 
greatly prefer to return to his old all^iance.' 
Isabella, however, strongly advised him to accept the 
post, saying that the salary was the important thing, 
although the refusal of the title might be vexatious. 
Lodovico now annoimced his intention of coming to 
Mantua himself, both to show the world the con- 
fidence which he placed in the Marquis, and to 
thank Isabella personally for her good offices. Great 
preparations were made for his reception, and the 
Marchesa borrowed plate and tapestries from Niccolo 
da Correggio, consulted Capilupi as to the Duke's 
favourite dishes and wines, and was greatly exercised 
in mind as to whether she ought to wear black and 
drape her rooms with sable hangings, since Lodovico 
had never laid aside his mourning since the death of 
Beatrice. And we learn, from the following letter to 

> Let Awiet de Ladoaie Sforga (Rewe hutoriqut, 1891). 
* Marino Sanuto, Diarii, L 1112. 



^dbyGoogle 



VISITS MANTUA 147 

Capilupi, that she gave up her own rooms in the 
Castello for the use of her guest 

" Benedetto : We intend to lodge the Duke here, 
in oui rooms in the Castello, giving him the CaTiiera 
dipinta, with the ante-chamber, the Cuuerino of the 
Sun" — LodoTico Gronzaga's device — "the Camera 
of the Cassone, our own Cunerino and dining-room. 
And we mean His Excell^icy to occupy the Camera 
of the Cassone himself, which we will drape with 
black and violet hangings, as, although we hear that 
he still wears mourning, we think this will look 
rather less melancholy, and show that here at least we 
have good reason for r^oicing on this occasion. But 
I hope you will consult M. Antonio di Costabili " — 
the Ferrarese envoy — " and Messer Visconti as to the 
hangings of the oliier rooms, if you do not think it 
well to mention this to the Duke himself, and let me 
know their opinion, as it does not seem to me con- 
venient that our rooms should be bare even if His 
Excell^icy brings his own hangings. Please also let 
me know what wines the Duke usually drinks, and 
what kind of clothes I had better wear, as I said 
before." ' Mantua, June 8, 1498. 

The Duke however be^^ed the Marchesa to please 
herself, and expressed himself highly gratified with 
her thoughtfiilness, and when he heard that Isabella 
had a slight attack of fever, he sent his jester Barone 
on beforehand to amuse her with his merry tricks. 
On the 27th of June he arrived himself, bringing 
Isabella's brother. Cardinal Ippolito, and several 
foreign ambassadors in his train, and accompanied 
by a suite of a thousand persons. He spent three 
days at Mantua, visited the principal churches and 

' Luxio e Renier in Arch. St. Lomb., xvii. 656. 



^dbyGoOglc 



148 INTRIGUES WITH VENICE 

palaces, and admired Mantegna's glorious frescoes, 
and the treasures of art which Isabella had collected 
in her studio. The Marquis gave a series of tourna- 
ments and comedies in honour of his illustrious guest, 
but the Venetians watched these proceedings jealously 
and Sanuto remarked that the Marchesana was evi- 
dently anxious to draw her husband to the Duke of 
Milan's side, and, like her father Ercole of Ferrara, was 
all against Venice. 

Still Francesco wavered, and sent messages to the 
Signory throu^ his brother Giovanni, who was 
known to be attached to Venice, and whose wife, 
Laura Bentivoglio, paid frequent visits to the con- 
vent of S. Giorgia On the 20th of October, he 
came to Venice and threw himself at the Doge's feet, 
placing his services and those of his family at his 
disposal But, althou^ the Signory was ready to 
pay him the same salary as before, they would not 
agree to give,him the title of captiun-general, and he 
left Venice in disgust The next day news came fit>m 
Milan that the Marchesa had concluded an agree- 
ment with Lodovico, and that her little daughter 
Leonora was to be affianced to her cousin, Maxi- 
milian, the young Count of Pavia. "Every one 
agreed," wrote Sanuto, " that the Marquis had treated 
our Signory veiy scurvily, and the Pope is said to 
have remarked that we are well rid of a great fooL" 

On this occasion Isabella certainly seems to have 
urged her husband to come to terms with Lodovico, 
and herself took an active part in the negotiations. 
When, early in November, the Marchesino Stanga 
and Gaspare San Severino came to Mantua and the 
agreement with Francesco was finally concluded, they 
visited Isabella in the Castello^ and told the Duke 



^dbyGooglc 



ISABELLA AND LODOVICO 149 

that she could hardly contain her joy at seemg them. 
Lodovico himself wrote to express his thanks for her 
assistance, saying that the Marchesino had told him 
how diligently she had laboured to bring about this 
happy result. On the 1st of January 1499, the 
imperial envoy, Erasmo Brasca, solemnly deliva«d 
the bftton and standard of the King of the Romans 
to the Marquis, in front of the church of S. Fietro. 
Isabella witnessed the investiture from a platform 
erected on the Piazza, and afterwards entertained 
the ambassador at a banquet in the Castello. The 
banner was solemnly blessed in the Cathedral and 
borne through the city in procession, after which the 
Marquis rode out with the ambassador to sup at his 
villa of Goito. But it was reported at Venice that 
the children in the street cried Marco ! Marco ! at 
the sight of the lion on the banner, upon which the 
German envoy looked puzzled, and the Marquis only 
smiled and kept silence.^ 

All through this last year of his reign, when 
Lodovico's enemies were busy plotting his de- 
struction, Isabella was in constant communication 
with her lnx)ther-in-law. He wrote r^;ularly, giv- 
ing her the latest political and court news, such, 
for instance, as that of King Charles the Ei^th's 
sudden death in April 1498, and sent her baskets of 
peaches and barrels of sweet wine, with charming 
little notes calling her his dearest sister and signing 
himself " your most affectionate brother." And she in 
return sent him the finest trout from Garda and swans 
from the Mantuan lakes to sail in the moat of the 
Castello, and thanked him cordially for his gracious 
remembrance, while Evangelista, Francesco's famous 
1 Swuto, Diom, iL ih6. 



^dbyGoogle 



150 ISABELLA'S PORTRAIT 

stud groom, tamed the Duke's horses and sent them 
back in three days' time, fit for His Excellency to 
ride. 

One c^ the last letters which Isabella addressed to 
Lodovico was a request for his permission to present 
Giangaleamo's widow, her cousin Isabella of Aragon, 
with her portrait in colours. The Marehesa had 
always shown the greatest kindness to this unfortunate 
princess in the days of her rivalry with Beatrice, and 
still corresponded with her frequently. In 1498, she 
sent her a fine marble bust from Mantegna's collection, 
which the Duchess was anxious to possess, as it was 
supposed to resemble her, and allowed Leonardo's 
pupil Beltraffio to copy a portrait of her late brother 
King Ferrante II., that bdonged to the Marquis. 
Now Isabella of Aragon expressed a great wish for 
her cousin's own portrait, and the Marehesa had it 
painted by a Parma master, Gianfrancesco Maineri, 
and sent to Milan by her master of the horse, N^;ro, 
but prudently asked the Duke's leave before she pre- 
sented the picture to his nephew's widow.' " I am 
afraid," she wrote pleasantly, " I shall weary, not only 
Your Hi^mess, but all Italy with the sight of my por- 
traits, but I could not refuse Duchess Isabella's urgent 
entreaties. I send this one, which is not really very 
good and makes me look fatter than I am, and have 
desired Negro to show it to Your Highness, and if 
you approve, give it to the Duchess frt>m me." The 
Duke replied courteously that he admired the portrait 

* Liufo, Emporium, 1900, p. 85S. This portrait may possibly 
be the same as that in Mrs. Alfred Morrison's collection, which 
was exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club In 1894. ' Whether 
it is the work of the Parma artist or of Beltraffio, who was at 
Mantua at the time, the portrait bears a marked likeness to 
Leonardo'a dnwing of Isabella. 



^dbyGoogle 



INTRIGUES WITH FBANCE 161 

and thought it very good, even if it made his sister- 
in-law fatter than she was when he saw her last 
Isabella, we know, was inclined to embonpoint^ and 
lived in constant terror of growing stout,' as she did 
in her, later years. When she was at Pavia with 
Beatrice in 1492, she informed her husband with 
great satisfaction that her sister the Duchess had not 
grown any taller than herself, but was distinctly stouter 
and seemed indined to resemble her mother in this 
respect. And in after years we find frequent allu- 
sions to this tendency in her letters. The portrait 
was sent to Milan in March 1499, when Lodovico's 
affairs were ah-eady in a critical state. A few weeks 
earlier, in FebruMy 1499, the treaty between Venice 
and France was signed, and the destruction of 
Lodovico and piotition of his State was finally deter- 
mined. Isabella was spending carnival at Ferrara, 
where her father was giving a series of Latin 
comedies in her honour. She wrote off without a 
moment's delay to her husband, telling him that 
news of a t3«aty between the Signory and King 
Louis of France had just reached Ferrara, and was 
of such great importance that she must send to him 
at once. 

This seems to have decided Francesco's course of 
action. His saluy was in arrears ; the old grievance 
against the Moro and Galeazzo rankled in his heart, 
although he nominally retained his command, and 
in May he made secret ovatures to Louis XII., 
placing his sword at his service. The King repUed 
graciously, and soon afterwards sent him the Order 
of St. Michael, at the same time recommending hun 
cordially to his Venetian aUies. The prospect of an 
alliance between the Pope and Louis XII. was still 



^dbyGooglc 



152 FRANCESCO MEETS LOUIS XII 

more alarming. The Pope's son Csesar Boigia had 
been received with great favour at the French court 
and created Duke of Valentinois, and his marriage to 
Charlotte d'Albret took place at Blois on the 16th of 
May. Both Francesco Gonzaga and Duke Ercole 
began to tremble for their own safety, and instead of 
taking up arms for the Moro, felt that the time had 
come to defend their own States. 

Meanwhile Isabella watched the course of affairs 
with growing anxiety. She was sincerely grieved at 
the downfall of Lodovico, who had been her true and 
loyal friend, and thou^t with concern of her sister's 
helpless children, whom she saw driven into exile. 
But she was none the less eager to conciliate the 
victor and save her husband and his State from' ruin. 
She sent gifts of falcons and trout to Louis XII. 
when he was at Milan, a couple of dogs to Count 
Egmont, and a horse to the Mar^chal de Giers, and 
invited Monseigneur de Ligny, who was a connec- 
tion of her family, to visit Mantua. And when, in 
November 1499, she heard that Cardinal d'Amboise 
expressed a great wish to have a devotional picture by 
Mantegna, whom he held to be the first painter in 
the world, she promptly ordered Messer Andrea to 
paint a St. John the Baptist with the portrait and 
arms of the French prelate, and sent the picture to 
the Cardinal, who declared that he valued it more 
than a ^ft of 2000 ducats.^ Both Duke Ercole and 
the Marquis of Mantua hastened to meet the French 
king when he reached Favia, and accompanied him 
on his triumphal entry into Milan. Young Baldassarre 
Castiglione, the future writer of the Coritgiatio, who 

1 PeliBsier, Let Ames de Ludomc Sforza {Revue kutorique, 
1891). 



^dbyGoOgle 



AT MILAN 158 

was in attendance on his master Francesco Gonzaga, 
wrote home to tell his friends at Mantua how the 
Marquis and the king had attended mass at San Am- 
brogio, and had afterwards been out hunting together, 
and laid stress on the great friendliness and evident 
conformity of tastes between His Most Christian 
Majesty and the Marquis. " So I hope," he adds, not 
without significance, " that all will go weU now." ' 

Yet Isabella's heart must have ached wh»t she 
heard of the haroe which the French invaders had 
wrought in the &ir halls of the Castello ; of the 
foulness and dirt, the confusion and disorder which 
reigned in that once beautiful palace. She must have 
thought with a pang of the gorgeous tapestries and 
priceless gems, antique marbles and cameos, the 
pictures by Leonardo and the instruments by Lorenzo 
da Favia, of the rare manuscripts which Lodovico 
had collected at infinite pains and cost, and of poor 
Beatrice's rich embroideries and jewelled cameras, 
which were now the spoil of the treacherous subjects 
who had betrayed their prince. But she hid her grief 
from other ^es, and showed a smiling £ace to the 
world. And, with characteristic alacrity, she wrote 
on the 18th of December 1499 to Antonio Falla- 
vicino, who had been one of the chief traitors, begging 
him to let her have the wonderful clavichord which 
Lorenzo da Favia had made for Beatrice four years 
before. Antonio wrote back from Lodi, that he 
would gladly execute her errand on his return to Milan, 
and inquire what had become of the precious instru- 
ment More than a year elapsed before he was able 
to gratify the Marchesa's desire, but Isabella's perse- 
verance eventually triumphed over all difficulties, and 
' Serassi, Letigrt di B. Cattig&me. 



^dbyGoogle 



154 MILANESE BEFUGEES 

on the 81st of July 1501, she wrote joyfully to tell her 
fiiend Messer Lorenzo that the beautiful clavichord 
which he had made for her sister, the Duchess of 
blessed memory, had been given her by Messer 
Galeazzo Fallavicino, ^e husband of her cousin, 
Elisabetta Sforza. "And I felt," she adds, "that 
I must let you know this, feeUng sure you will be 
glad to hear it was in my hands, being as it is your 
work, and so excellent an instrument that it must 
always be very dear to me." ' 

At the same time, she showed the real warmth 
of her heart by the tenderness with which she treated 
the unfortunate Milanese exiles who came to seek 
refuge at Mantua. Many of these were kinsfolk of 
the Sforzas, or high-bom ladies whom she had known 
intimately at the Moro's court. Among them, strange 
to say, were Lodovieo's two mistresses, the accom- 
plished Cecilia Gallerani and Lucrezia Crivelli. Isa- 
bella entertained Cecilia courteously, and afterwards 
recommended her to the favour of the French king, 
as a lady of rare gifts and charm, while Lucrezia and 
her two little sons found an asylum in the Kocca of 
Canneto, and lived there many years under the pro- 
tection of the Gonzagas.* Another distinguished 
visitor who spent some weeks at Mantua that 
winter was the Marchesa's unfortunate cousin, Isa- 
bella of Aragon, whose only son had been carried off 
to France by Louis XII., and who, with her two 
young daughters, was now on her way to Bari. 

The two Sanseverino brothers, Antonio Maria, 
with his wife Margherita Pia — an intimate friend 
of Isabella— and the brave Captain Fracassa, also 

' Lorenzo Gusnaaco, Carlo dtlTAcqua, p. SO. 
> Luzio in Arch. Si. Lomb., 1901, p. 154. 



^dbyGoogle 



AT MANTUA 155 

sou^t shelter at the Gonzagas' court ; and through 
these refugees, who were in constant correspondence 
with the exiled Duke at Innsbrttck, Isabella heard 
of the plots that were secretly made for his restora- 
tion. And she heard from her friends Leonardo da 
Vinci and J^uca Facioli, the great mathematician, 
who visited Mantua on their way to Venice, how 
cordially the people of Milan hated the French 
invaders, and how confidently they looked for 
Jjodovico's return. When, in the first days of 
B'ebniaiy, the Moro crossed the Valtelline Alps 
and entered Milan, amidst the acclamations of his 
subjects, it was to Isabella that his first letter from 
his old capital was addressed. He felt confident 
of her sympathy in his triumph, as he had been on 
his reverses, and he fondly imagined that he could 
depend on the support of his brother-in-law. We 
can imagine the breathless excitement, mingled with 
anxious fears for those she loved best, with which 
Isabella watched tlie course of events during those 
thrilling days. Her own impulse was to throw 
herself heart and soul into the Moro's cause, and 
she wrote not only to her brother-in-law, but to 
Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, saying that she longed to 
fly to Milan, and fight against the French herself. 
The Cardinal replied, not without meaning, that her 
husband's presence would be more usefiiL But 
Francesco was too aautious a man to conmiit him- 
self to so desperate a venture. He returned evasive 
answers to his brother-in-law's passionate entreaties 
for help, and all he did was to send his brother 
Giovanni with a troop of horse to join Lodovico 
bdbre Novara.' By this time the Moro's doom was 

1 Pnito, Cronaca Milantte,- Arch. SL It, ili. S44. 



DK],lz.dbyG00gle 



156 FINAL RUIN OF LODOVICO 

already sealed, and when, on the 10th of April, he 
was given up to the French general Trivulzio, it was 
Giovanni Gonzaga who rode alone, as fast as his 
horse could bear him, to bring the news to Mantua.^ 
Then Isabella knew that Lodovico's ruin was com- 
plete and irrevocable. All her efforts were now 
directed to conciliate the French victors, and to 
recover the favour of King Louis, who complained 
of Francesco's disloyalty to his ally in sending his 
brother to fight against him, and in receiving the 
Sforza partisans at Mantua. She herself was openly 
denounced by the French circles at Milan as an 
inveterate Sforzesca, and it needed all the influence 
of her father and brothers to prevent an open 
breach. By the exercise of her wonted tact and 
diplomacy the Marchesa, however, succeeded in 
averting the threatened rupture, and both she and 
her husband eventually r^ained the good graces of 
the French monarch. 



^dbyGoogle 



CHAPTER X 

• 1497—1500 

lubella's literary uid artistic interests — Foundation of the Studio 
of the Grotta in the Corte Vecchia — H antegna's paintings for 
the Grotta — Cristoforo Romano comes to Mantua — V/orka for 
the studio — His medal of Isabella — Correspondence with 
Niccolo da Correggio^Leonardo da Vind visits Mantua — 
Draws Isahella's portrait — Shows it to Lorenso da Pavia at 
Venice — Isabella intends to raise a monument to Virgil — Her 
letter to Jacopo d'Atri. 

DuBiNo these troubled years at the close of the 
fifteenth century, when political affairs occupied so 
large a share of Isabella's time and thoughts, and 
private sorrows and public calamities both fell heavily 
upon her, she lost none of her interest in art and 
letters. On the contrary, it was just in these luixious 
days that she was most actively engaged in corre- 
sponding with painters and sculptors, and in securing 
works of art for her camerim. From the first day 
that she came to Mantua the decoration of her rooms, 
as we have already seen, had been one of her favourite 
amusements, and she had employed her agents in 
Venice and Milan and Ferrara to collect those rare 
and precious objects with which she loved to surround 
herself. Before long she found the little studio of the 
Castello was unable to contain all her treasures, and 
about the year 1496 she obtained her husband's leave 
to remove some of her most valued possessions to 
another suite of rooms on the ground floor of the 



iu,CjOOgIC 



158 THE STUDIO OF THE GROTTA 

Corte Vecchia. Since the erection of the Castello 
the halls in this part of, the old p^ace, which had 
fonnerly belonged to the Bonacolsi, had been partly 
used as public offices, while others contained Fran- 
cesco's fine collection of armour. But the ground 
floor remained unoccupied and afforded Isabella an 
excellent opportunity for carrying out her plans. 
Here then, in a hall looking out on the Piazza del 
Fallone, she now founded her famous Studio of the 
Grotta, An inventory, taken three years after her 
death, gives a fiill list of the paintings, statues, 
bronzes, and medals which it contained,^ while a 
poem, written by Raffaelle Toscana in 1586, supplies 
some interesting details regarding the place itself. 
Que/ loco ch^l mondo la Grotta appeUa. " Here," 
sings the poet, "are hidden the ruest treasures of 
Italy. Here is the suite of fine rooms which the mag- 
nanimous Isabella d'Este built and richly adorned. 
Two of these contain works of art which fill mortals 
with joy and wonder. They are decorated with rich 
gilding, with exquisite designs and intricate carving. 
Here Mantegna and other masters display their 
genius in sublime painting." The five pictures by 
Mantegna, Costa, and Ferugino were still in the 
Grotta in 1627, and Duke Vincenzo refused to sell 
them to Charles I. with the rest of the Mantuan 
collection ; but they were bought \ty Cardinal Riche- 
Ueu immediately after the sack of the town in 1680, 
and are now in the Louvre. The beautiful fittings of 
the rooms, the richly carved and gilded wood-work, 
the delicate intarsiatura, and the majolica pavement 
were destroyed by the Austrian soldiers, who occupied 
the palace during 150 years, and only the outer court 
1 D'Areo, ArU e Artffid. ii. 134. 



^dbyGoogle 



idb,Googlc 



idb,Googlc 



ITS DECORATIONS 159 

and the room known as the Sc^cheria or Cancelleria 
retun any of the original decorations. But frag- 
ments of the pavement, of coloured Pesaro tiles, 
bearing the Gonzaga devices, the crucible and faggots, 
which Francesco adopted, the sun which decorated 
his father's Camera del Sole, the dove bearing the 
motto, Semper, the black eagles and golden lion 
granted to his ancestors by the Emperor Sigismondo, 
and many other fevourite emblems, may still be seen 
in public and private galleries, at South Kensington 
Museum, and Berlin, in the Andr^ Rothschild collec- 
tion.' 

According to Abbot Bettiaelli, who described the 
palace of the Gonzagas in the ei^teenth century, 
the studio took its name frt>m the outer court leading 
to the gardens, which was decorated in the grottesca 
style, with stuccoed vaults and niches, and marble 
coltunns, and adorned with statues and bas-rehefs. 
The inscription on the waUs of the Cortile bears the 
date of 1522, and shows that it was enlarged and im- 
proved when, at her son's request, Isabella gave up her 
old rooms in the Castello to inhabit the Corte Vecchia. 
But the new studio already went by the name of the 
Grotta at the dose of the fifteenth century, and con- 
tained the Marchesa's finest pictures and choicest 
books, as well as an infinite number of other beautiful 
objects wtiich she had collected from all parts of 
Italy. In May 1498, she dates a letter to her hus- 
band from the Grotta,' and from that time we find 
frequent allusions to this favourite spot in her 
correspondence. 

It was Isabella's dream to make this Grotta a 
1 Yriarte, GoBette d. B. Artt, 1895. 
^ Luzio e Renler io Arch. St. Lomb., xvU. €54. 



^dbyGoogle 



160 ISABELLA'S ART TREASURES 

place of retreat from the world, where she could 
enjoy the pleasures of solitude or the company of a 
few chosen friends, surrounded by beautiful paintings 
and exquisite works of art. Here she would read 
her favourite authors or sing Virgil and Petrarch's 
verses to her lute. Here she would play the clavi- 
chord with the Greek and Latin mottoes which had 
once adorned Beatrice's camerino in the stately 
Castello of Milan, and listen to the strains of Jacopo 
de San Secondo's viol or the recitations of the won- 
derfrd improvisatore Serafino. Here she would spend 
delicious hours with Duchess EUsabetta and her 
sister-in-law, Emilia Pia, and give herself up to the 
joys of intimate converse with the best and closest of 
friends. In this sanctuary, tcova which the cares and 
noise of the outer world were banished, it was Isa- 
bella's dream that the walls should be adorned with 
piuntings giving expression to her ideals of culture 
and disposing the mind to pure and noble thoughts. 
The subjects of these pictures were to be classic 
myths with allegorical meanings, chosen by herself 
with the help of some favourite humanist of her 
circle, and painted by the foremost masters of the 
day. 

During the next seven or eight years Isabella 
applied herself to attain this object with all the 
perseverance and tenacity of her character. No 
stone was left unturned, no chance of enriching her 
collection was ever thrown away. Agam and again 
in her letters she begged her chosen agents, Zorzo 
Brognolo in Venice, Ziliolo or Capilupi at Ferrara, 
to send her "some beautiful thing for the studio." 
Greek and Roman antiques, marble heads and relie& 
newly discovered in ruins of the Eternal City or 



^dbyGoogle 



MANTEGNA'S PARNASSUS 161 

among the temples of the Ionian Isles, reached Mantua 
in response to her urgent request. She did not scruple 
to ask Cffisar Borgia, who drove out Duke Guidobaldo, 
or the PMlavicini, who betrayed her brother-in-law, 
to give her the spoils of Milan and Urbino. The 
greatest painters, the most distinguished sculptors 
and goldsmiths of the day, Mantegna, Bellini, 
Ferugino, Costa, Michel Angelo, Cristoforo Romano, 
Raphael himself, were all in turn desired to contrib- 
ute some picture or statue to the decoration of the 
Grotta. Often she met with refusals, oftener still 
with delays and disappointments, but still she perse- 
vered with the unwearied ardour, the indomitable 
passion of the true collector. First of all she b^gan 
with Mant^na. Of all living masters, none shared 
Isabella's enthusiasm for antiquity or was more truly 
inspired with classic feeling than this old servant of 
the Gonzagas. Since his return from Rome he had 
been too busily engaged on the Triumphs, and the 
decoration of Francesco's villas at Marmirolo and 
Gonzaga, to work for the Marchesa, and the one 
portrait which he had painted, had &iled to satisfy 
her critical taste. But the task which she gave him 
now appealed in a peculiar manner to his imagination, 
and in the two magnificent tempera paintings which 
he executed for the Marehesa's new studio, the aged 
master rose to new heights of creative power and 
romantic invention. In the one, Venus the Queen 
of Love is throned on the green slopes of Parnassus 
by the side of Mars, the God of War, and at the 
foot of the sacred mount, Apollo and the Muses 
celebrate her triumph in joyous songs and dances. 
A drawing of the central figure in the lower group 
by Mantegna's pen has been preserved at Munich, 



ib,Cj00gIc 



162 THE DANCING MUSE 

and in this Muse, who leads the dance, we recognise 
the &ir face and radiant smile of the young Marchesa 
herself, whom the painter has here introduced as the 
presiding genius of the studio.^ In the other pictiure, 
Minerva is seen armed with ^pear and helmet rushing 
out of a thicket and chasing the Vices of Ignorance, 
Ingratitude, Sloth, and Lust from the green bowers 
and cypress arbours of a sheltered garden. There 
can be little doubt that the idea of this new series 
of Triumphs, in which the victory of moral force and 
of that supreme excellence which under the name of 
virtii was so often on the lips of Isabella and her 
contemporaries, ori^nated with Mantegna, and that 
the Marchesa afterwards adapted it with the help of 
the humanist Faride Ceresara to the other pictures 
of the cycle.* 

The Parnassus or Triumph of Love, which is by 
far the finest of the two paintings, was completed 1^ 
Andrea in the sunamer of 1497. The Marchesa, 
in a letter written that spring, thanked her friend 
Lorenzo da Pavia for some new varnish which he 
had sent from Venice, and which was so excellent 
that Messer Andrea would like to have twice as 
much, and on the 8rd of July Alberto da Bologna 
wrote to Isabella, who was absent at Ferrara: 
" Nothing is now wanting to the studio of Your 
Highness, and you will find Messer Andrea's picture 
has been hung and its pedestal and frune gilded." ' 
The companion pictxure of the Triumph of Virtue 
was probably finished by the end of the century, but 
even before this Isabella was doing her utmost to 

^ B. Berenson, "The Drawings of Mantegna," p. 4. 

» Cf. Dr. Paul Kristeller, "A. Mantegna," pp. 348, 5*9. 

■ Yriarte, GaaeUe d. B. ArU, 1895. 



^dbyGoogle 



PERUGINO 168 

obtain works from other masters. When the Mar- 
quis visited Venice on his return from Naples, Isabella 
de^red him to tell Giovanni Bellini how anxious she 
was that he should paint a picture for her studio, 
and on the 26th of November 1496, Alberto da 
Bologna, who was in attendance on his master, wrote 
to say that the painter had promised to satisfy her as 
soon as possible. In the same letter, the faithful 
servant, who may have felt it necessary to assure his 
mistress of her husband's loyalty, adds : " Not a day 
passes but His Excellency speaks of Your Highness 
in the most affectionate terms. Your image is 
graven on his heut, and he always speaks of you as of 
a dear and sweet daughter." OntheSrdof April 1497. 
Isabella asked Lorenzo da Pavia, with whom she was 
in constant correspondence, if his friend the painter 
Perugino were ahve or dead. A report of the 
Austrian master's death had, it appears, reached her 
ears, but if he were aUve and in Venice she begged 
Lorenzo to ask him to paint a pictiu% for her studio.^ 
Perugino was aUve, but had left Venice some months 
before, and Lorenzo no doubt told Isabella how 
full of woric the painter was, and how long the Duke 
of Milan and the Prior of the Certosa had waited 
in vain for their altar-piece. But many more 
years were to pass before either Giovanni Bellini 
or Perugino could be prevailed upon to satisfy the 
Marchesa's wishes. As she wrote to her friend 
Ceresara : " We only wish that we could be as well 
served by painters as we are by men of letters. But 
we know that the wish is vain. We must be content 
to take what they choose or are able to give us." * 

1 YrUrte, op. at. 
• Ibid., 1896. 



^dbyGoOglc 



164 CRISTOFORO ROMANO 

Meanwhile, the Marchesa had been fortunate in 
securing the services of a master whose rare excel- 
lence she had long admired — the sculptor Giovanni 
Cristoforo Romano. This accomplished artist, who 
was bom in Rome about 1465, and sent to Milan by 
Cardinal Ascania Sforza, was employed on the worics 
of the Certosa of Favia, and became one of Beatrice 
d'Este's favourite singers. In this capacity he ac- 
companied her on all her journeys, "and was with 
her," as Marchesino Stanga wrote, "now in one 
place, now in another." From his boyhood Cristoforo 
had devoted himself to the study of antique art in 
Rome, and did his utmost to prevent the Eternal 
City from being stripped of its precious marbles. 
Sabhk da Castighone tells us that he was as fine a 
connoisseur as Mant^na, and in the Cortigiano he is 
ranked with Michel Angelo among the foremost 
sculptors of the age, and would have rivalled him in 
greatness if he had not suffered from constant ill* 
health. Since Isabella had seen his charming 
bust of Beatrice, on her first visit to Milan, she 
had been very anxious to obtain a similar efiigy of 
herself, and had begged Lodovico to allow the 
sculptor to come to Mantua. But although the 
Duke and Duchess had readily granted her re- 
quest, Cristoforo had excused himself from accept- 
ing the Marchesa's invitation until he had finished 
his work at the Certosa, and it was not till after 
Beatrice's death that he consented to leave Milan. 
In April 1497, Isabella again begged Lodovico to 
allow Messer Zoan Cristoforo to come to Mantua, 
as she wished for his advice on certain works, and 
in September she wrote to Benedetto Tosabezzi, 
her agent at Venice, endosing a letter from "our 



^dbyGoogle 



DOOR IN THE GROTTA 165 

sculptor and servant, M. Zoan Cristoforo Romano," 
desiring the Venetian engineer, Antonio Riccio, to 
send him certain Carrara marbles, with which she 
wished him to adorn her studio.' From this letter it 
is plain that Cristoforo was already in her service, and 
that he was about to design the beautiful doorway 
which may still be seen in her apartment of the 
Paradiso, on the upper floor of the Corte Vecchia. 
Since these rooms were only built in 1520, when the 
Marchesa gave up her old apfotments in the Castello, 
there can be little doubt that this white marble 
portal, richly encrusted with porphyry and other 
coloured stones, and adorned with classical bas-reliefe, 
was originally destined for the Studio of the Grotta. 
The subjects of these medallions agree exactly with 
Mantegna's pictures and with the general scheme of 
decoration. Minerva appears in one tondo, armed 
with spear and olive; in another, Apollo hangs up 
his lyre on the trunk of a tree ; and on a third we 
see the Muse of Poetry and Eloquence represented 
with a book and cornucopia; while the whole is 
framed in a frieze of Greek vases, griffins, and doves, 
and carved with exquisite delicacy. 

We recognise this gifted sculptor's hand in two 
sepulchral monuments, bearing the date of 1498, in 
the Gonzagas' &vourite sanctuary of S. Maria della 
Grazie, near Mantua, and Dr. Luzio has lately 
discovered two sketches of the Marquis Francesco's 
device of the crogioh or crucible, which he designed 
in the same year. We learn from a letter, which 
Isabella sent to the sculptor in Rome in March 1506, 
that soon after his arrival at Mantua he had carved 
her bust in marble for her faithful servant, Ales- 
' Lusio e Senier, AtcK St. Lomb., xvii. 51. 



^dbyGoogle 



16fl PORTRAIT-MEDAL 

sandro da Baesso, and afterwards repeated the work 
cm a smaller scale, for her friend, the Marchesa di 
Cotrone. Unfortunately both these busts have per- 
ished. But one memorable work which Cristoforo 
executed at this period has fortunately survived. 
This is the famous portrait-medal of Isabella, with 
a winged figure driving away a serpent on the re- 
verse, and the sign of the Archer and her favourite 
device of a star above. The letter group was prob- 
ably intended as a symbolic representation of the 
Marchesa's virtues and wisdom ; while the motto, 
Benemerentium ergo, is an evident allusion to her 
protection of art and letters. But the great value of 
Cristoforo's medal consists in the authentic portrait 
which it gives us of Isabella, as she was at the age 
of twenty-four. The beautiful fece with its regular 
features is seen in profile, the waving locks are 
loosely caught up in a knot at the back of the head, 
and a single string of pearls adorns the bare throat. 
And, in order to leave no room for doubt, the words 
" Isabella Esten, March, Man.," are inscribed round 
the head. Fortunately we possess documents which 
fix the date of this medal with absolute certainty. 
The one is a letter of September 1498, in which a 
Ferrara poet, Giacomo Faella, tells the Marchesa 
that his fnend Tebaldeo, vrith whom he has been 
spending the sunmier in the hiUs near Brescia, has 
shown him the medal of Her Excellency, and that 
the sight of her feir face has inspired him with a 
sonnet.' The other is a letter from Niccolo da 
Coneggio, regarding the Latin motto which the 
Marchesa had desired him to choose for her medal.* 

> D'Arco, Arch. St. It., App. ii. 

< Liudo e Benier, Giom. St. d. LeU., v., xxl., S4S. 



^dbyGoogle 



NICCOLO'S MOTTO 167 

After the death of the Duchess Beatrice this 
brilliant cavalier left Milan to visit his old home at 
Correggio, but feared to accept a pressing invitation 
from Isabella to bring his daughter, Leonora, to see 
her, lest he should bring the plague to Mantua. On 
the 8th of June he wrote &om the heart of Petrarch's 
country : — 

" To-morrow, my dear lady, I am going to dine at 
Selvapiena, two miles from Rosena, where the most 
celebrated Messer Francesco Petrarca composed 
so many worics. It is a pleasant spot, fit for such 
exercises, and if you read the life which is printed 
with his sonnets and tritunphs, you will see it 
mentioned. So 1 go there joyfully, in spite of the 
long journey to Rosena, which is twenty-five miles 
from Correggio and a very remote place. I shall 
remain there some days and await the conunands of 
Your Excellency, whose slave I am for ev&c." 

In July he came to Mantua, and falling ill soon 
after his departure, wrote gallantly to his lady : " I 
parted with Your Excellency and with my own 
health at the same moment." The following May 
found him again at Correggio, from which place he 
wrote to tell Isabella that he hoped soon to be 
allowed to visit the "retreat of the Grotta," to 
which his secretary, the accomplished soldier and 
poet who went by the name of " II prete di 
Correggio," had been lately admitted. "If I am 
allowed this &vour I shall count myself honoin^d 
indeed, and if you do not let me in, I must reluctantly 
confess my inferiority and seek to learn of my 
more fortunate servant." A few days afterwards, 
Isabdla wrote beting him to send her a suitable 
motto for Cristoforo's medal. In reply, Niccolo 



^dbyGooglc 



168 NICCOLO'S LETTERS 

suggested the Latin wonk, Benemerenthtm. causa, 
which, however, did not please her, as she had seen 
this motto before and desired something entirely 
new and original, upon which Niccolo replied, on the 
18th of May :— 

" It certainly would not do for a lady of so rare 
a merit to adopt a motto which had ever been used 
by another, although I must own that I had never 
seen it before. Nevertheless to please my sovereign 
lady I Moll say Benemerentium ergo, which has the 
same meaning as Benemerentium causa. This will 
show you how blindly I obey Your Excellency 1 I 
send back your cavalier as quickly as possible, only 
grieving that I cannot be with you myself for 
another week, as I must go to Milan. — Your servant, 
Niccolo da Coreeggio. 

" P.S. — I have thought of two more lines which 
I will add, although they are of little worth. 

Naturae offidum 
GraUtudlnis studio." 

Niccolo met the Marchesa again in the following 
spring at Ferrara, where she entertained her father's 
guests and presided at the carnival balls and fdtes. 
After the Moro's fall he fixed his residence once 
more at Duke Ercole's court, where he was much 
beloved by all the princes of Este and became a 
devoted admirer of Alfonso's second wife, Lucrezia 
Borgia. But he still owned allegiance to Isabella, 
and sent her canzoni and capitoU on the pattern of 
his favourite Petrarch's compositions. One sonnet of 
his which especially pleased her was composed in 
memory of a beautiful youth in Rome, who had 
lately died in the arms of his mistress. Isabella on 
her part sent him presents of fish from Garda, and 



^dbyGoogle 



TO ISABELLA 169 

when, in 1506, his son Galeazzo married the fiiir and 
accomplished Ginevra Rangoni she presented the 
bride with a splendid clavichord. "Your Excel- 
lency,"* wrote Niccolo from Correg^o, " has sent a 
most beautiful clavichord to my daughter-in-law, and 
has very kindly ordered Domino Philippi to put it in 
order. Besides the thanks which my daughter her- 
self is sending you, I felt that I must thank you 
personally for these favours, for which we cannot be 
too grateful. As for the song which you ask me to 
select from Petrarch, I have chosen one of those 
which I like best, banning : Si e debole iljile a cm 
s'atiene, which seems to me well suited for your 
purpose, containing verses which must be sung by 
turn crescendo and dimnuendo. With it I send 
one of my own songs, composed in a similar metre, 
which you can sing to the same tune as the Petrarca 
canzone, and also a poem in imitation of Petrarch's 
CMare, dolce et Jresche deque. Once more I com- 
mend myself to your good graces, and am keeping 
Domino Philippi till to-morrow." ' 

But Isabella was never satisfied, and a few months 
later wrote in great distress because her favourite 
maid of honour had lately died, and no one could 
find the last capitoU and sonnets which Niccolo had 
sent her. Fortunately Niccolo, who, as a rule, never 
transcribed his verses, was able to supply another copy 
of the poem banning with the words : Non si i 
ardito il cor, which the Marchesa especi^y wished 
to read, and with his old gallantly wrote that, old as 
he was growing, he was still young enough to dance 
with her, and to ride at the ring, and break a lance, 
for her sake, in the coming jousts. 

1 Ludo e Renier, op. at., p. S44. 



^dbyGoogle 



170 SERAFINO'S POEMS 

Many other poets and utists there were who, like 
Cristoforo Romano and Niccolo da Corre^io, found 
their way to Mantua or Ferrara, when Beatrice's tragic 
death had, in Cahneta's words, turned that brilliant 
court " from a joyous'paradise into the blackest hell." 
Calmeta himself, " tdeganiissmo Calmeta," as he was 
called by his contemporwies, who had been her 
sister's secretaiy, spent some time that summer at 
Mantua and dedicated his commentary on Petrarch's 
camame, Mai non vo cantar, to the Marchesa, and 
Serafino, the famous singer and actor, who was so great 
a favourite with all the Este and Gkinzaga princes, also 
accepted Isabella's invitation. During the year which 
he spent at Mantua, after Beatrice's death, the Duke 
and Duchess of Urbino begged him in vain to come 
and amuse them for a little while, and both Cardinal 
d'Este and his brother Farante a^ed Isabella for 
copies of his strambotti aiid capitoU. The Mut:hesa, 
however, was very jealous of these poems which 
Serafino composed for her benefit, and when Bishop 
Louis Gonzaga of Gazzuolo asked her for a certain 
capitolo *' On Sleep," which the poet had lately written, 
be^ed him to keep it under lock and k^ and not 
allow any one to see it, as she particularly wished 
these charming verses not to become public property. 
" This, however," she adds, " you will, I fear, find to 
be a very difficult thing." ^ 

But the greatest of all the Milanese artists who 
came to Mantua after Lodovico Sforza's exile was 
the Florentine master, Leonardo da Vinci. Isabella 
had often met the distinguished artist who stood 
so high in the Moro's favour, and had seen and 
admired his masterpieces in painting and sculpture. 
> Lusio e Beoier, Miatiova e Urhino, p. 9S. 



^dbyGoogle 






^dbyGoogle 



idb,Googlc 



LEONARDO'S PORTRAIT 171 

A year after Beatrice's death, on the 26th of April 
1498, she sent to beg Cecilia Gallerani, Lodo- 
vico's former mistress, to lend her the portrait 
which Leonardo had painted some years before, in 
order that she might compare it with some fine 
portraits by Giovanni Bellini which she had just 
seen. Cecilia hastened to gratify the Marchesa's 
wish, and sent back Leonardo's picture by Isabella's 
messenger, saying that she only wished it were a 
better likeness ; not that this was the master's fault, 
for there was no painter in the world who could equal 
him, but because, when he painted it, she was of 
" youthful and imperfect age." ' Leonardo himself 
seems to have paid a flying visit to Mantua in the 
following December, for in a letter from his villa 
<rf Goito, the Marquis desires his treasurer to pay 
Leonardo the Florentine eleven ducats for certain 
strings of lute and viol which he had brought 
from Milan, and begs him to do this at once, in 
order that the master may be able to continue his 
journey.' But we know that he and his friend 
Luca Pacioli, who dedicated his " Book of Games " 
to the Marchesa, visited Mantua on their way to 
Venice at the close of 1499. It was on this occa- 
sion that Leonardo drew the beautiful portrait of 
Isabella, in red chalk, which is now in the Louvre. 
The late M. Yriarte was the first to recognise 
Isabella's features in this drawing of the Vallsrdi 
collection, and although Dr. Luzio has lately ex- 
pressed doubt on the subject, there seems little 
reason to question the fact. Leonardo has drawn 
the brilliant Marchesa's portrait in his own fashion — 

» " Beatrice d'Este," pp. 58, 54. 
■ Luzio, Etnponum, I900, p. S5S. 



^dbyGoOglc 



172 LORENZO DA PAVIA 

wearing a simple striped bodice, with the waves of 
rippling hair falling low on her bare neck, without 
ornament or jewel of any description. But the fine 
and delicate features are the same as those in the 
medal which Cristoforo designed two years before; 
the eyes have the same bright and keen expression, 
and the whole £ice is radiant with life and intellect. 
Time has dealt hardly with Isabella's portraits, and 
of all those countless picttires which were scattered 
over Italy, this of Leonardo's is the only one which 
brings her before us in the bloom of youth and 
beauty. As it happens, we have a testimony to 
the truth of Leonardo's portr^t from no less an 
authority than the great connoisseur Lorenzo da 
Pavia. For the Florentine master went on from 
Mantua to Venice, there to await the issue of Duke 
Lodovieo's descent on Milan, and to watch with 
anxious eyes the result of that forlorn hope, on 
which his whole friture was staked. There he met 
his old friend, the wise man of Pavia, and as they 
talked together of their great patron and the old 
life at Milan, the painter brought out his drawing 
of the Marehesa and showed it to her loyal servant. 
And on the 18th of March 1500, while they were 
rejoicing over the wonderful news from Milan, 
Messer Loren20 wrote to the Marehesa about a 
lute which he was sending to Mantua. 

" Most illustrioiis Lady, — I send you by this 
courier an excellent lute of walnut wood, made in 
the Spanish fashion, which seems to me to have the 
finest tone that I ever heard. I have been ill, 
and as yet unable to finish the black and white 
lute, which I will do, like this one, in the Spanish 
style. Leonardo Vinci is in Venice, and has shown 



^dbyGoogle 



ADMIRES LEONARDO'S DRAWING 178 

me a portrait of Your Highness, which is exactly 
like you, and is so well done that it is not pos- 
sible for it to be better," ^ 

Leonardo, it appears, took a copy of his car- 
toon to Venice, and left the otiier at Mantua, for, 
a year afterwards, the Marchesa sent a message 
to him in Florence, b^ging him to send her a 
replica of his drawing, since the Marquis had given 
away the copy which she had kept. But he never 
piunted her portrait in colours, as he had promised 
on that brief and memorable visit, and not aH 
Isabella's efforts and entreaties were able to ob- 
tain a picture by his hand for her studio. 

In this . same year, when Leonardo came to 
Mantua, Isabella was intent on a new scheme, the 
erection of a statue to Virgil in the square in front 
of the Gastello. Early in the century. Carlo Mala- 
testa, acting as r^ent for his nephew, the young 
Gianfrancesco Gonzaga, had, in a fit of misguided 
piety, thrown a statue of Virgil which adorned the 
Piazza di S. Pietro into the Mincio, saying that the 
people of Mantua paid the Roman poet a homage 
only due to a saint. The Marquis Lodovico, who 
had leumt fix>m his great teacher, Vittorino da Feltre, 
how to reverence Virgil, had been very anxious to 
restore this statue, but had never been able to cany 
out his pious intention. Now the discovery of an 
antique bust which Battista Fiera, a lefumed Mantuan 
physician, pronounced to be the true effigy of Virgil, 
fired Isabella with ambition to ruse a monument to 
the Mantuan poet. She naturally proposed to entrust 
the work to the artist of all others best fitted for the 
task, Andrea Mantegna. A letter which her hus- 
> A. Buchet, Aide Mmuce. 



^dbyGoOgle 

"I 



174 MONUMENT TO VIRGIL 

band's secretary, Jacopo d'Atxi, wrote to her from 
Naples, shows the enthusiasm which her intention 
excited among classical scholars. 

" Most illustrioiis and excellent Madonna, — Your 
Excellency has doubtless heard of the great merits 
and talents of Pontanus,' of whom we may truly say 
that not only in our own time, but since the days of 
Virgil, there has never been a man of greater learning 
or more real merit. Yesterday, after having a long 
conversation with him in the name of your illustrious 
lord, I remembered Your Highness's desire to raise 
a statue to Virgil, and thought I would consult him 
on the subject and hear his advice. I told him 
I did this by your order, and explained the object 
which animated Your Highness and inspired your 
magnanimous soul with the wish to cany out this 
idea. As soon as Pontanus heard this, he called two 
learned gentlemen and said to them : * If Paolo 
Vergerio, who wrote De Educando Uberis, were 
present, the pleasure that he would have in recog- 
nising the generous soul of this illustrious Madonna 
would exceed the sadness which he felt on hearing 
that Carlo Malatesta had thrown the statue of Virgil 
into the river.' Then, laying stress on these words, he 
added : ' Only consider, gentlemen, the magnanimity 
of this lady of tender years and without classical 
learning, who determines to revive the fame of this 
great man, and to render honour and glory to 
Mantua, where the sffioae lord. Carlo, a man <k ex- 

1 Pontanui, to irhoni he here alludee, was not onl^ an elegant 
Latin poet, whose verBCB were afterwards published I^ Aldus, 
but held high office under King Alfonso] of Naples and his son 
Ferrante, and enjoyed 'the confidence of the reigning monarch, 
Federico. 



^dbyGoogle 



ADVICE OF PONTANUS 175 

perience and leaming, outraged the poet's memory 
and the fame of that noble city. Here, indeed, is a 
royal lady, worthy of all praise and commendation, 
and had I heard of this before, I would certainly have 
given her a place in my bodt De Magnammtate.' 
We then proceeded to discuss the question whether 
the poet's statue should be made of bronze or marble, 
and agreed that although bronze is certainly the 
nobler material, yet, since there is always a risk that 
it may be melted down to make guns or bells, we 
should prefer a fine marble statue, placed on a noble 
pedestal in some honourable place. The work should 
be given to some good sculptor, who would take the 
poet's portrait &om nature, for I had just told Fon- 
tanus of the effigy lately discovered by Messer 
Battista della Fiera, And in order not to depart 
from the antique style, the statue should stand by 
itself, with a laurel crown on the head, and the 
drapery, either an uitique toga caught upon the 
shoulder or a senator's robe, such as Messer Andrea 
Mantegna may think best. The hands should hold 
nothing, and the statue should be perfectly plain, with- 
out a book or anything else, but with antique sandals 
on the feet, and the attitude would be such as Messer 
Andrea shall decide. At the base there should only 
be a few words, such as — PubUus VirgiUus Mantuanus, 
and also — Isabella Marchiomssa Manhus restitvit — as 
may please Your Excdlenc^. These gentlemen 
agreed that Fontanus must consider what would be 
the best words to be engraved on the base, and he 
agreed to do this willingly. What I did will, I 
hope, be agreeable to Your Excellency, since it was 
prompted by true affection, and by one who desires 
your gloiy and feels that this will bring you immortal 



iu,C00gIC 



176 DESIGN ASCRIBEB TO MANTEGNA ' 

fame. — Your slave and servuit, Jacopo d'Atri."' 
Naples, 17th March 1499. ' 

A drawing, now in the His de la Salle collection 
in the Louvre, of a statue of Virgil, covered with 
laurel and holding the iEneid, in the style, although 
not by the hand, of Mantegna, was probably executed 
by Isabella's order, but her project was never carried 
out, and Mantua was left without a monument of her 
greatest son. The only memorial erected in Isabella's 
Ufetime was the fine terra-cotta bust of Virgil, which, 
in 1511, the doctor Battista Fiera placed on an arch 
in front of the church of S. Francesco, together with 
a bust of the Marquis, and of the Carmelite poet 
Battista SpagnuoU. The arch was destroyed by the 
Austrians in 1852, but the three busts are still 
preserved in the Museiun of Mantua. 

1 A. Baschet, GaetOe d. B. ArU, 1866. 



^dbyGooglc 



CHAPTER XI 

1500— 150a 

Birth of Isabella's sod Federico — Csesar Borgia his godfather — 
Relations of the Gonzagas with htm — Ehsabetta of Urbino 
goes to Rome — Letters of Sigiamondo Cantehno — Comedies at 
Ferrani and Mantua — Treitt]^ of Granada and partition of 
Naples — Ciesar Borgia conquers Romagna — Abdication and 
exile of Federico, King of Naples — Betrothal of Alfonso d'Este 
to Lucrezia Borgia — Preparations for the marrif^e in Rome — 
II Prete'i letters to Isabella — Wedding of Lucrezia and her 
journey to Ferrara. 

The year 1500, which- saw the final ruin of Lodovico 
Sforza and the rise of Csesar Borgia, was a memor- 
able one for Isabella d'Este, both in her public 
and private life. On the 17th of May, within a 
month of the catastrophe of Novara, she gave birth, 
in the Castello of Mantiia, to the long-wished- 
for son and heir. Some time before, Suor Osanna 
foretold this event, and bade the Marchesa be of 
good cheer, since her prayers were heard and she 
would soon bear a son.' Now the joyfiil news 
was hailed with acclamation, not only throughout 
Mantuan territory, but at Ferrara and Urbino. The 
sumptuous cradle which Duke Ercole had sent for 
his first grandchild's birth, and which Isabella had 
refused to let her daughters use, was at length 
brought out; and the happy mother borrowed Spanish 
leather hangings and t^»estries from Ferrara for the 

^ Donesmondi, Sioria Ecclet. di Manlova. 
VOL. L '" M 



I u, Google 



178 BIRTH OF FEDERICO 

decoration of her infant son's nurseries at his chris- 
tening. This ceremony took place on the 16th of 
July, but was not marked by any public rejoicings. 
As Isabella wrote to her sister-in-law, " the troubled 
state of Italy has deprived him of a more honourable 
baptism." ^ The choice of the godfathers was signifi- 
cant. The first was the Emperor Maximilian, whose 
friendship the Marquis was anxious to secure without 
breaking with Louis XII., and who was himself 
rejoicing over the birth of his grandson, the future 
Emperor Charles V. Little did Isabella know how 
great an influence the babe, who first saw the 
light at Ghent, on that auspicious Feast of St. 
Matthias, was destined to wield over the fate 
of Italy and the fortunes of her new-bom son. 
The second of Federico's sponsors was Cardinal 
Sanseverino, the warlike prelate, who, like all his 
brothers, had been a devoted partisan of the Sforzas, 
and had entered Milan at the head of the Moro's 
followers. None the less, he had, a few months 
before, succeeded in making his peace with France, 
through the ^endship of Cardinal d'Amboise, and 
soon afterwards returned to Milan. The third august 
personage whom the Marquis chose to hold his son 
at the font was Caesar Borgia. The Pope's son, as 
yoimg Castiglione wrote home, was the tallest and most 
splendid-looking man among all the princes and nobles 
who escorted Louis XII. on his entry into Milan. 
Now he was rapidly becoming the most prominent 
figure in Italian poUtics. His energy of will and 
powers of mind were as great as his strength of 
body ; his ambition was as boundless as his courage. 
His influence over the Pope was absolute. He was 
1 Luxio e Renier, Mmiova e VrbtHO, p. 106. 



^dbyGoogle 



C^SAR BORGIA HIS SPONSOR 179 

already master of Rome and aspired to reign over all 
Italy. The Pope's son, wrote the Ferrarese envoy, 
Pandolfo Collenuccio, " has a great soul and seeks 
&me and grandeur, but cares more to conquer States 
than to govern and defend them. He is fierce in his 
revenge and never for^ves a wrong, so I hear on all 
sides." The truth of this report was confirmed by the 
Pope himself, who remarked, in conversation with 
another Ferrara agent, Costabili : " The Buke is a 
good-natured man, but he cannot forgive an insult. 
The other day I told him that Rome was a free city, 
where every one had a right to say what he pleased. 
' That may be all very well for Rome,' repUed 
Cfesar, ' but I will teach people to be sorry for what 
they say.' " ' 

From the first, Francesco Gonzaga and his wife 
realised the growing power of I>uke Valentino, as he 
was popularly called in Italy, and lost no opportunity 
of conciliating this dangerous personage. A few days 
after his son's birth, the Marquis wrote to a^ him to 
stand sponsor to the little Federico, an honour which 
Caesar accepted with alacrity, as we learn frt>m a note 
written on the 24!th of May : — 

" I heard of the fortunate and much-desired birth 
of Your Excellency's little son with exultation as 
great as if it had been my own, and gladly accept 
the honour you propose to do me, bulging that you 
will depute one of your councillors to represent me 
at the font and will give my congratulations to your 
most illustrioiis consort, hoping this babe may be the 
first of a numerous race of sons destined to perpetuate 
the name of two such noble and glorious parents." * 

> Pastor, "Hirtory of the Popes," vi. 113, 
* F.GTegonmiu, "LucrezU Borgiit," p. 66. 



^dbyGoOgle 



180 ELISABETTA GONZAGA 

But enough was known of Cffisar Borgia's designs 
at Mantua to excite the worst fears, and the 
suspicion which the Marquis Francesco entertained 
of his new ally is evident from a letter which he 
addressed to Elisabetta of Urbino, in March 1500, 
be^ng his sister to abandon h^ intended visit to 
Rome. 

Already in the summer of 1499, the Duchess had 
invited Isabella to accompany her on a pilgrimage 
to Rome in this yeiff of Jubilee, but the critical 
state of public affairs in Lomburdy and the approach- 
ing birth of her child compelled the Marchesa re- 
luctantly to decline the proposal. As the time of 
Ellisabetta's journey drew near, the Marquis became 
seriously alarmed for his sister's safety, and ui^ed 
her by their mutual love to consider the present 
state of things and the risks to which she would be 
exposed. If she is in need of change, let her come 
to Mantua and give his wife the pleasure of Iier 
company. " The year is long," he adds, " and later 
on we will aU three go to Rome and visit the holy 
places together in a more convenient season." But 
when this letter reached the Duchess, she was already 
on her way to the Colonnas at Marino, and wrote 
to the Marquis from Assisi, full of concern at the 
objections which he raised to her plans. 

" Most illustrious Prince and dearest Brother, — 
A few days ago I left Urbino on my way to Rome 
to keep the JubUee, as I told you some time ago, 
and this morning reached Assisi, where I received 
your letter begging me to give up my journey. 
This has caused me the greatest possible grief and 
vexation. On the one hand, my sole desire is now, 
as it has ever been, to comply with your wishes, and 



^dbyGoogle 



VISITS ROME 181 

pay you the obedience due to a father. On the other, 
as you see, I have already started and am beyond 
the borders of the State, and Signor Fabrizio Colonna 
and Madonna Agnesina, my honoured sister-in-hiw, 
have engaged a house and made all the necessary 
arrangements for me. And smce I have promised to 
be at Maiino in four days, and Signor Fabrizio is on 
his way to meet me, I do not see how I can give up 
the journey with honour to my lord and myself, more 
especially since everjrthing has been considered and 
arranged beforehand by my good lord. Neither will 
Your Excellency have any fear for my safety when 
you hear that I go to Marino first, and on with 
Madonna Agnesina incogmto to Rome, there to visit 
the churches chosen for this Holy Jubilee, without 
making myself known or speaking to any one. In 
Rome, we shall be lodged in the house of Cardinal 
Savelli, which is conveniently situated in the midst 
of the Colonna quarter, but I intend to return to 
Marino as soon as possible and spend most of my 
time there. So Your Highness need have no 
doubts or fears for my safety, although I confess 
that, if I had not already started, I would have 
given up my intention, not from any fear of danger 
or distiirbance, but in order to satisfy Your Excel- 
lency. But since I have already got as £ur as this 
on my journey, I am sure this letter wUl satisfy 
you, and I beg and pray you to write to me in Rome 
so that I may know that you are satisfied and may 
keep the Jubilee with greater content and peace of 
mind. Otherwise I shall be in continual distress and 
anxiety. I commend myself heartily to your good 
graces, and remain your younger sister, Elisabetta." ' 
^ F. Gnigoroviiu, op. at., p. 1S4. 



^dbyGoogle 



182 DEATH OF EMILIA PIA'S HUSBAND 

The next day Elisabetta continued her journey, 
and after spending Holy Week in Rome and visiting 
St. Peter's and the Tombs of the Apostles, in strictest 
iTuxtgmto, she returned with her sister-in-law to the 
Colonnas' castle of Marino in the Alban hills, uid 
enjoyed the company of Madonna Agnesina and her 
seven-yew-old daughter, the little Vittoria, who was 
already betrothed to the young Marquis of Pescara. 
A fresh sorrow awaited her at Urbino in the death of 
her husband's half-brother, Antonio, a valiant soldier 
who had fought at Fomovo with Francesco, and 
whose wife, Emilia Pia, was her devoted friend and 
companion. The Duchess's tender heart was full of 
sympathy for the heart-broken widow, and she wrote 
to Isabella saying that both she and the Duke were 
doing their best to comfort poor Madonna Emilia, 
whose grief was enough to move the stones to pity. 
Isabella herself wrote in the most affectionate terms 
to Emilia Pia, begging her to take comfort, '* since 
this is a journey on which we all must go," and telling 
her that, as she had proved herself the best of wives 
in the past, it was now her duty to try and confonn 
herself to the divine will, in order that her prayers for 
her husband's soul might be the more acceptable in 
the sight of God.* Before long Emilia dried her tears 
and recovered her old gaiety, but in spite of her 
charms and popularity, she never consented to marry 
again, and remained faithful to the memoiy of her 
lamented husband. 

Early in the following year Isabella visited Fer- 
rara and spent some time at her father's court, where 
several Latin comedies were acted, including the 
"Mercadanti," the "Asinaria," and tlie "Eunucho." 

1 Ltuk) e Benler, Manlova e Vriitw, p. 107. 



^dbyGoOgle 



COMEDIES AT FERRARA 188 

" These plays," she remariis in a letter to Mantua, "are 
certainly full of vain words, and ore not without doubt- 
ful passages to which some persons might take ob- 
jection. All the same, they are very amusing, and 
excite much laughter, chiefly owing to the frequent . 
changes of voice and excellent performance of these 
actors." At her urgent entreaty the Duke agreed to 
return with her to Mantua, where the Marquis made 
great preparations for some dramatic representations 
to be given in his honour. But, at the last moment, 
the arrival of papal envoys with important proposals 
from the Borgias detained Ercole at Ferrara, and the 
carnival fites at Mantua took place without him. 
One of his favourite courtiers, however, Sigismondo 
Cantelmo, the husband of Isabella's intimate friend, 
Maigherita Maroscello, accompanied the Marchesa 
home, and sent the Duke full accounts of the per- 
fonnances in the magnificent theatre prepared for the 
occasion in the Castello. His elaborate descriptions 
of this building and allusions to the Triumphs of 
Mante^fna, with which the stage was decorated, lend 
especial interest to the following letter : — 

"Most excellent Prince, my dear Lord, — The 
arrangements made by this illustrious Lord Marquis 
have been most splendid, and deserve to be studied 
by all who wish to erect appropriate theatres for the 
performance of ancient and modern plays. I do not 
doubt that Yoiu" Excellency has already heard of the 
representations which have been given. None the 
less, I should fiiil in my duty if I did not write to tell 
you what, indeed, requires a better scribe than I am — 
all the magnificence, grandeur, and excellence of the 
said representations, the beauty of which I will try 
to describe as briefly as possible. The stage itself 



^dbyGooglc 



184 THEATRE AT MANTUA 

is quadrangular in form, but somewhat extended in 
length. Each side has eight arcades, with columns 
well proportioned to the size and height of the arches. 
The base and capitals of each pillar are richly painted 
with the finest colours and adorned with foliage, and 
the arches, with their reliefs of flowers, offer an admir- 
able perspective, each being about four bracda wide 
and proportionately high, the whole representing 
an ancient and eternal temple of rare beauty. The 
back of the stage was hung with cloth of gold 
and foliage, as required for the recitations, and the 
sides were adorned by six paintings of the Triumphs 
of Cffisar by the famous Mantegna. On the two 
other and smaller sides of the stage there were 
similar arcades, but only six in number. Two sides 
of the stage were given up to the actors and reciters ; 
on the two others were steps occupied on the one 
hand by women, on the other by strangers, trumpeters, 
and musicians. At one angle were four very lofty 
columns with rounded bases, and between them a 
grotto designed with great art, but in the most 
natural manner. The roof overhead blazed with 
hundreds of lights like shining stars, with an artificial 
circle, showing the signs of the zodiac, and in the 
centre, the sun and moon moving in their accus- 
tomed orbits. Within the recess was a Wheel of 
Fortune inscribed with the words, Regno, regnam, 
regnabo, and in the midst, the golden goddess, 
seated on her throne, bearing a sceptre adorned with 
a dolphin. The lowest tier of the stage was hung 
with the Triumphs of Petrarch, also painted by 
Mantegna, and large golden candelabra hung from 
the centre of the roof, each holding three double 
rows of torches and a sliield with the arms of His 



^dbyGoogle 



DESCRIBED BY CANTELMO 185 

Cesarean Majesty, the black eagle with the royal and 
imperial diadem. At the sides of the stage were two 
large bamiers with the arms of His Holiness the Pope 
and the Emperor, and smaller ensigns with those 
of the Most Christian King and illustrious Signory 
of Venice. Between the arches were banners with 
the arms of Yom* Excellency and of the German 
prince Duke Albert of Bavaria, and the devices of 
this Signor Marchese and the Signora Marchesana. 
Higher up on the walls were busts and statues of 
gold, silver, and other metals, which added greatly 
to the decorative effect of the whole. Last of all 
the roof was hung with sky-blue cloth to imitate 
the blue vault of heaven, studded over with the 
constellations of our hemisphere. 

"The recitations were exceedingly fine and en- 
joyable. On Friday ' Fhilonico ' was given, on 
Saturday ' II Penulo ' of Plautus, on Sunday the 
* Ippohta ' of Seneca, on Monday the ' Adelphi ' 
of Terence. All of these were admirably recited by 
skilled actors, and received the greatest applause 
from the spectators. As Monsignore Louis d'Ars, 
the son of the illustrious M. de Ligny, is now here, 
uid had not seen the first play, I hear the ' Philonico ' 
will probably be given again. If I have forgotten 
anjTthing, I hope soon to supply the omission by 
word of mouth, when I see Your Excellency, to 
whose good graces I commend myself. — Your 
Excellency's servant and slave, Sigismondo Can- 
TELMO." * From Mantua, Feb. 18, 1501. 

This minute description, obscure as it is in some 
places, at least enables us to form some idea of the 

1 Campori, LetUrt artMche, 1866, and D'Ancona, Oripm del 
Ttatro, vol U. 



^dbyGoogle 



186 BIRTH OF LIVIA 

construction of the new theatre and of its splendid 
and elaborate decorations, while the presence of the 
French visitors, whom the Gonzagas were especially 
anxious to conciliate, showed that the event was not 
without political significance. 

That autumn Isabella gave birth to a third 
daughter, who received the name of Livia, but 
died at the age of six. Neither this child nor 
Leonora, who was already seven years old, appears 
to have interested her mother much, and she seldom 
mentions their names in her letters. She was, how- 
ever, careful to give them an exceUent education, 
and first Sigismondo Golfo, then Francesco Vigilio, 
taught Leonora Latin and grammar. The Marchesa 
chose these teachers herself, and would allow no 
carelessness or irregularity. On one occasion, when 
Golfo absented himself for some weeks, she sent 
him an order to return at once, if he did not wish 
to lose his situation. But all her fondest hopes 
centred round her little son, Federico. She watched 
the growth of this {nrecious infant with the ten- 
derest affection, and when the Marquis was absent 
from Mantua sent him daily reports of his little 
son. "I am quite well," she writes on the 8rd of 
July 1501, "and so is our beautiful boy, who is 
always asking for his PA." Again, on the 7th of 
August, the proud mother writes : " To-day our 
little boy began to walk, and took four steps 
without any help ; although, of course, he was care- 
fully watched, much to our delight and his own. 
His steps were a little uncertain, and he looked 
rather like a tipsy man I When I asked him after- 
wards if he had any message to send his &ther, he 



^dbyGoogle 



CONQUEST OF ROMAGNA 187 

said, * Ti Pal' so I must commend him to you as 
well as myself."^ 

Meanwhile political events of grave importance 
were taking place in other parts of Italy. The 
Pope's daughter, Lucrezia Boi^ia, after the dis- 
solution of her first marriage with Giovanni Sforza, 
the widower of Maddalena Gonzaga, became the 
wife of Alfonso, Duke of Bisceglia, an illegitimate 
son of Isabella's uncle, the late King Alfonso of 
Naples, and nephew of the reigning king, Federico. 
The union proved a happy one, but the unfortunate 
prince was so foolish as to quarrel with Ciesar 
Borgia, and in July IdOO he was attacked by five 
masked assassins as he left the Pope's rooms, and 
seriously wounded. "Every one here," wrote Cal- 
meta from Rome to Elisabetta Gonzaga, "knows 
that this is Duke Valentino's doing." A few weeks 
later the wounded man was strangled in his bed in 
the Vatican by Caesar's guards before the eyes of his 
wife. "The Pope," wrote the Mantuan envoy, 
Cattaneo, "is very much displeased at this event, 
both on account of the King of Naples, and for 
the sake of his daughter, who is in dequur." • 

Inmiediately after this deed, which excited 
general horror, Caesar Borgia set out to conquer 
Romagna at the head of an army of 7000 men. 
First Fesaro, then Rimini, siurendered without a 
blow, and Giovanni Sforza fled to Mantua, and 
sought refuge in his first wife's home. Francesco 
received his brother-in-law kindly, but told him 
plainly that he could do nothing against Borgia. In 
spite, however, of Isabella's professions of friendship 

^ Luzlo, PreceUori, &c., p. 87. 

• Pastor, " History of the Popes," vl 6lS. 



^dbyGoogle 



188 BY CESAR BORGIA 

for her son's sponsor, she could not conceal her 
admiration for the gallant little town of Faoiza, 
which remuned loyal to its prince, Astorre Manfredi, 
and alone among the cities of Romagna offered a 
determined resistance to the conqueror. On the 
20th of April 1501 she wrote to her husband: "I 
rejoice to hear that the citizens of Faenza are so 
loyal and constant in their lord's defence, aad feel 
that they have redeemed the honour of Italy. 
May God give them grace to persevere ; not that 
I wish Duke Valentino any ill, but because neither 
this poor Signor nor his faithful subjects deserve 
such ruin. I thank Your Excellency for giving me 
news of the first battle, of which Messer Carlo da 
Sesso also informs you in the enclosed letter, which 
I opened in your absence.'" But five days after 
this Faenza was forced to surrender, and the brave 
young Manfredi was t^en captive to Rome, and 
strangled in Castell' Sant' Angelo by Cfesar's orders. 
At the same time Isabella had to lament the ruin 
of her mother's family and the downfall of the last 
king of the house of Aragon. Federico's doom was 
already sealed. In November 1500 a secret treaty 
was concluded between Louis XII. of France and 
Ferdinand the Catholic, who agreed to divide the 
kingdom of Naples between them. In June a large 
French army crossed the Alps and marched against 
Naples, and a month later Gonsalvo di Cordova 
landed in Calabria with a Spanish force. The Pope 
ratified the treaty pubhcly, and Casar Boi^ left his 
army in Romagna to join the French before Naples. 
After a fiercely contested battle, Gaeta and Naples 
opened their gates to the victors, and on the 4th 
1 D'Arco, Arch. SL It., App. ii. 



^dbyGoogle 



MARRIAGE OF ALFONSO D'ESTE 189 

Federico fled to Ischia, and abdicated his throne in 
fevoxir of the French king. He retired to France, 
where a pension and the Duchy of Anjou were 
granted him, and where he spent the remaining three 
years of his life. 

Everywhere Ctesar Borgia and his French allies 
were triumphant, and no one knew in which direction 
their arms would next be timied. The situation was 
ftn anxious one, and Isabella was greatly alarmed to 
hear from her father's envoy at Milan that her 
husband had incurred the suspicion of the French 
Viceroy, Cardinal d'Amboise, by his supposed in- 
trigues with the Emperor. One day, when the 
Fenarese ambassador was dining with the Viceroy, 
his host suddenly asked him what he thought of 
the Marquis of Mantua's plot to drive the French 
out of Italy. Then, turning to Trivulzio, the 
Cardinal said : " M. le Mar^chal, what would you do 
if you knew that the Signor Marchese kept a spy 
here to report all our actions ? " "I should dismiss 
his ambassador at once," replied Trivulzio. And that 
same evening the Mantuam representative, Tosabezzi, 
received notice to leave Milan.^ 

Under these circiunstances Francesco Gonzaga 
saw that his best pohcy was to cultivate the friend- 
ship of Csesar Borgia, and he took care to offer 
no opposition to Duke Valentino's latest scheme. 
This was the proposal of a marriage between his 
sister Lucrezia and the Duke of Ferrwa's eldest son, 
Alfonso d'Este. A few weeks after the murder 
of her second husband, the report of this intended 
alliance was already the common talk of Rome. 
"The Pope's dau^ter," wrote a German pilgrim 

^ lyATco, Arch. St. IL, App. iL 



^dbyGoOgle 



190 WITH LUCREZIA BORGIA 

who visited Rome in this year of Jubilee, and was 
grievously shocked at these scandals, " Uves here in 
great state, and is about to marry a third husband, 
the first being yet alive. If one does not please her, 
she asks for another." In February 1501, when Isa- 
bella was spending the carnival at Ferrara, formal 
proposes to this effect were made to her &.ther by 
the Pope's envoy. At first the jmjud spirit of the 
Este princes recoiled with horror from the thought. 
Not only was Lucrezia the Pope's bastard, but her 
own character was by no means free from stain. 
There might be no grounds for the horrible crimes 
which were &«ely imputed to her in Rome, but the 
Ferrarese ambassador reported that she had been 
engaged in an intrigue with a papal chamberlain 
named Peroto, and had given birth to a child a year 
after the dissolution of her first marriage. The bare 
idea that a woman against whom such charges could 
be brought, should reign in the place of the good 
Duchess Leonora, seemed intolerable to the Duke 
and his children. At first Alfonso quite declined to 
entertain the proposal, and Isabella regarded it with 
unqualified disgust, although she was too prudent to 
give vent to her feelings in public. But by d^rees 
this natural repugnance melted away before the 
solid advantages of the proposed marriage. The 
Pope not only offered to give his daughter the 
enormous dowry of 800,000 ducats, but to reduce 
the yearly tribute paid by Ferrara as a fief of the 
Church firom 400,000 ducats to a nominal sum of 60 
ducats, and to siurender several important fortresses 
and valuable benefices to the Duke. Louis XII. 
warmly supported the Pope's proposals, and Ercole 
began to realise the substantial benefits which he and 



^dbyGoogle 



THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT 191 

his State would derive from the marriage. When 
the Emperor, moved by his invincible hatred for the 
Boi^as, commanded him as his hege lord to break 
off the negotiations, the Duke only returned a civil 
answer, and made use of Maximilian's despatch to 
secure better terms from the Pope. 

Atlength, after prolonged conferences, the marriage 
contract was finally signed on the 26th of August, 
and Ercole wrote to inform his daughter Isabella of 
the fact. On the same day the marriage was publicly 
proclaimed in Rome. Both the Pope and Caesar 
were exultant, and Lucrezia, who, in spite of her 
troubled past, was of a singularly child-like and light- 
hearted nature, gave vent to her delight by dancing all 
night with so much energy that she was laid up with 
an attack of fever the next morning. The Mantuan 
agent, Cattaneo, supplied Isabella with abundant 
details of the preparations that were made for the 
wedding diuing the next few weeks. 

" The dowry," he wrote on the 18th of December, 
" will consist of 800,000 ducats, counting the value 
of the presents which this Madonna will receive. 
First of all, 100,000 ducats will be paid down in gold 
at Ferrara ; then she will have clothes, plate, jewels, 
fine linen, costly hangings and trappings for horses 
and mules representing another 200,000 ducats. Her 
trousseau will contain no less than 200 camoras, each 
of which will be worth 100 ducats, with sleeves 
and gold fringes valued at 80 ducats apiece. One 
robe alone is valued at 20,000 ducats, and a jewelled 
hat is said to have cost 10,000 ducats, while in Rome 
and Naples more gold has been employed in pre* 
paring h^ outfit during the last few weeks than is 
generally required in two years." 



^dbyGoogle 



192 FERRARESE ENVOYS IN ROME 

On the 28rd of December, Alfonso d'Este'sbrothers, 
Don Ferrante and Cardinal Ippolito, arrived in Rome 
with a brilliant suite to solemnise the marriage, and 
escort the bride to Ferrara. Lucrezia, clad in white 
and gold brocade, with pearls and rubies in her hair, 
received the two princes on the steps of the Vatican, 
and Caesar led them into the palace, while the Pope 
looked on &om a balcony, and greeted his guests with 
effusion. He conversed freely with the Ferrarese 
envoys, saying that he meant Lucrezia to have more 
beautiful pearls than any other princess, and |naised 
her beauty and goodness, comparing her to the 
Mui:hesana of Mantua and the Duchess of Urbino. 
But in spite of these assurances we see how deep 
was the distrust which the Borgias inspired and how 
anxious Duke Ercole felt with r^ard to Lucreda's 
own character by the following letter which his 
confidential agent, Gian Luca Fozzi, wrote on the 
evening of his arrival in Rome : — 

" To-day, after supper, Girardo and I waited on 
the most illustrious Madonna Lucrezia, in the name 
of Your Excellency and Don Alfonso. We con- 
versed together on many subjects, and in all she said 
we found her very sensible, discreet, of good and 
loving nature, and sincerely attached both to Your 
Excellency and Don Alfonso, so that I confidently 
believe Don Alfonso will find real comfort in her 
society. Besides which, she is singularly graceful in all 
her actions, uid her manners are full of modesty and 
decorum. She is a good Christian, filled wiUi the 
fear of God, and is going to confess to-morrow, and 
to communicate on the Feast of the Nativity of Our 
Lord. She has a sufficient share of good looks, and 
her pleasing expression ^d graceful manners make 



^dbyGoogle 



IL PRETE'S REPORT 198 

her seem more beautiful than she really is. In 
short, her qualities are such that I am sure there is 
nothing to fear from her, but rather everything to 
hope for. Your Highness may rest assured that, 
bound as I feel to speak the truth without prejudice, 
I tell you this with great joy and consolation." ' 

The bride made the same excellent impression on 
// Prete, that faithful servant of Niccolo da Correggio, 
whom Isabella, in her anxiety to receive full particu- 
lars of the marriage, had sent to Rome in her brother's 
suite. This admirable chronicler described the 
wedding ceremony and fites, the dresses and jewels 
of the chief personages, and the bride's dowry and 
trousseau, with a fulness and exactness which, as 
Gr^orovius remarked, are worthy of a Times reporter. 
He was especially careful to obey the Marchesa's 
wishes, by giving a minute description of Lucre- 
zia's appearance and character. "She is a charm- 
ing and very graceful lady," he wrote after the 
first interview. " I can tell you that our Cardinal's 
eyes sparkled at the sight of her." 

On the 29th of December, he wrote again to Isa- 
bella : " This noble Madonna is seldom seen in public, 
being occupied in preparation for her departure. But 
on Sunday, the Feast of St. Stephen, I went to see 
her later in the evening, and found her sitting near 
the bed with ten maids -of -honour, and twenty 
other ladies wearing handkerchiefs on their heads 
after the Roman fashion. They soon began to 
dance, and Madonna danced very gracefully and 
well with Don Ferrante. She wore a camora of 
black velvet trimmed with gold fringe, with narrow 
sleeves slashed to show her white linen chemise, a 
> F. GregoroviuB, "Lucreria Borgia/' p. 189. 
VOL. I. N 



;cl by Google 



194 WEDDING OF LUCREZIA BORGIA 

vest of black velvet richly embroidered in colours, 
a gold-striped veil and a green silk cap with a ruby 
clasp on her head. Her maids-of-honour have not 
yet got their wedding dresses. Our own ladies are 
quite their equals in looks and in everything else. 
But two or three of them are decidedly graceful. 
One from Valencia dances well; another, called 
Angela, is very charming. Without her knowledge 
I have chosen her for my mistress I Yesterday the 
Cardinal and Don Ferrante rode through the town 
with the Duke, all wearing masks." ^ 

The wedding was celebrated on the 80th of 
December, in the Cappella Paolina, before the Pope, 
who sat on his throne, attended by thirteen Cardinals 
and the foreign Ambassadors, only the Emperor's 
representative being conspicuous by his absence. 
The bride was magnificently attired in a robe of 
gold brocade, with flowing sleeves that trailed on 
the floor. Her train of crimson velvet, trimmed 
with ermine, was borne by ten maids-of-honour. 
Her golden hair was tied back with a black ribbon, 
and she wore a gold net over her hair, and a string 
of pearls with a pendant of large emeralds, pearls, 
and rubies round her neck. The Duke of Ferrara's 
mandate was read aloud, the Bishop of Adria de- 
livered an address which was shortened by the Pope's 
orders, Ferrante placed the ring on the bride's finger 
in his brother's name, and she replied in a clear voice 
that she received it of her own free choice. Then 
Cardinal Ippolito presented her with Duke Ercole's 
present, a gorgeous casket of jewels, valued at 70,000 
ducats, filled with precious gems, rings, necklaces, 
and the famous pearl necklace which, Isabella re- 
1 F. Gregorovius, op. ciL, p. 19*, &c. 



^dbyGoogle 



F^TES IN ROME 195 

membered with a sigh, had belonged to her dearly 
loved mother. The Pope was delighted, and ex- 
claimed as he took the jewels in his hands that the 
young Cardinal's charm of manner doubled the value 
of the jewels. But Duke Ercole had been careful 
to insert a proviso in the contract stipulating that the 
jewels were to be returned, and only the wedding 
ring kept by Lucrezia if the marriage were afterwards 
dissolved. 

Cardinal Ippolito then presented the bride with 
his own gift of four jewelled crucifixes, and the other 
Cardinals followed with their gift:s, after which the 
whole company witnessed a succession of races and 
jousts on the Piazza before the Vatican. Steel 
weapons were used, and as many as six noble youths 
were wounded, reports // Prete. " Then Caasar," 
he goes on, " took the Madonna's hand and danced 
before the Pope with rare grace, and the maids-of- 
honour followed and danced very well in couples. 
His Holiness was in high spirits, and laughed all the 
time. This lasted over an hour. Then the comedies 
began. One was in Latin verse, and a shepherd and 
children were introduced, and looked very fine, but I 
could not understand its meaning. After that the 
company dispersed, and only His Holiness, the bride, 
and her brother and brothers-in-law sat down to the 
wedding feast at the Pope's table." 

Isabella's correspondent gave her detailed accounts 
of the week's festivities that followed, of the comedies 
and ballets, the masquerades and dancing, the recita- 
tion of epithalamiums and marriage hymns, the bull- 
fights organised by Cssar Borgia, and the torchlight 
processions in which Lucrezia took part.* At length, 
1 Gregorovius, op. cU., pp. 200-217. 



^dbyGoogle 



196 JOURNEY OF THE BRIDE 

on the 6th of Januuy, the wedding party set out for 
Ferrara, escorted by a cavalcade of Roman horsemen. 
The bride was attended by a suite of 180 persons, and 
Angela Borgia, that damigella elegantissima who had 
fascinated // Prete at first sight, was her chief lady- 
in-waiting. By the Pope's command the bride was 
received with royal honours at Temi, Spoleto, Fohgno, 
and each place where a halt was made. At Gubbio 
Duchess EUsabetta herself came to meet her, and 
Duke Guidobaldo, who had strong reason to distrust 
Cassar Borgia, no doubt felt it prudent to give his 
sister a splendid reception at Urbino. Elisabetta her- 
self accompanied the bride over the mountain passes 
to Pesaro, where Lucrezia was lodged in the very 
palace which she had occupied for some years as the 
wife of Giovanni Sforza. At Imola, the party rested 
for a whole day in order that the bride might set her 
jewels and clothes in order for her entry into Ferrara, 
and wash her head. This, Ferrante d'Este explained 
in a letter to his father, she had been unable to do for 
ten days, owing to which she suffered severely &om 
headaches. Some days were spent at Bologna, where 
a banquet was given by the Bentivoglios in her 
honour, after which the party embarked on bucen- 
taurs, and travelled by water first along a canal, and 
then up the river Po as far as Castell Bentivoglio, a 
town about twenty miles from Ferrara. Here the 
bride was surprised to see Don Alfonso, who had 
ridden out in disguise to meet her, and spent two 
hours in her company to her great delight. She 
wrote that night to tell her father of the prince's 
courtesy, which gratified the old Pope highly. The 
next day he sent for the Ferrarese envoy to express 
his satisfoction, and spoke with genuine affection of 



iu,CjOOgIC 



TO FERRARA 197 

Lucrezia, saying repeatedly : " I have done great 
things for her, and I mean to do more." As the 
Venetian ambassador, Paolo Capello, remarked : 
" The advancement of his children is the only thing 
that he seems to care about." ^ 

> M. Sanuto, DiarU, iif. 847. 



^dbyGooglc 



CHAPTER XII 

1503 

Isabella presides at Luerezia Borgia's marriage fesUvitiea — Recep- 
tion of the bride at Ferrara — Isabella's letters to her husband 
— Comedies, balls, and f^tes — The ambassadors' gifts — Isa- 
bella entertains the French ambassador — Her interview with 
the Venetian envoys — Return to Mantua — Lucrezia Borgia's 
life at Ferrara — Her relations with Isabella and the Marquis. 

While Elisabetta Gonzaga was escorting Lucrezia 
Borgia on her journey through Central Italy, Isabella 
d'Este came to Ferrara at her father's request, to 
receive her brother's bride. Her own letters to 
Francesco give full descriptions of the wedding 
festivities, which were on a splendid scale and are 
said to have cost Duke Ercole 25,000 ducats. On 
the 2dth of January, two days after her arrival, 
Isabella wrote : — 

" My dearest Lord, — My father came to my room 
after dinner to-day and arranged the order of the 
bride's entry, which is to be as follows. On Tuesday, 
I shall accompany Don Alfonso with only a few 
ladies in a barge as far as Malalbeigo to meet her, 
after which she will sleep at my lord Alberto d'Este's 
house at Casale, and I shall return home with the 
Duchess of Urbino, who however must go back on 
Wednesday to keep the bride company. Madonna 
Lucrezia Bentivoglio with half of these ladies will go 
to meet her and follow her in the procession, while I 
remain here with the other half to receive her at the 
steps of the Palace. It is true that I mean to go and 



^dbyGoogle 



ISABELLA AT FERRARA 199 

see the entry from the Custom-house, but as soon as 
the procession has passed by, I shall return to the 
Palace. After making these arrangements, my 
father took me to see the haU where the comedies 
are to be acted, which is 146 feet long by 46 wide. 
Steps have been made from the Piazza with a parti- 
tion to divide the men from the women, who will be 
in the centre, with the men on either side; the ceiling 
and stq)s are hung with green, red, and white 
draperies. On the opposite side of the hall is a 
wooden stage about the height of a man, with battle- 
ments, and the scenery for the comedies, which are 
to be six in number. About 5000 persons are 
expected, but the seats will be reserved for strangers, 
and any that remain will be given to Ferrarese gentle- 
men. Five shields with coats of arms hang from the 
roof — those of the Church, of France, Este, and Borgia, 
and the black and white eagle which was our old coat 
of arms. I saw nothing else worthy of note. The 
wooden beams of the roof are left bare, but perhaps 
these are to be draped later. I will tell you what 
more is to be seen on the day itself. All these 
gentlemen are busy preparing sumptuous dresses and 
gold chains, but the attire of the women will be 
splendid beyond words I I have not left the house 
these two days, owing to the number of visitors 
which I have had. To-night we go to the house of 
M. Ercole Strozzi. I am sending 500 oysters by the 
sailors who take back the barge, and 1 hope Yom* 
Excellency will enjoy them for love of me. Kiss my 
darling boy a thousand times over I — Your wife, 
Isabella." ^ Ferrara, Jan. 29, 1502. 

' This and the following letters from Ferrara were published 
hj D'Arco in <lrcA. St. It., App. li. See also F. Gregorovius, 
" Lucresia Borgia." 



^dbyGooglc 



200 RECEPTION OF THE BRIDE 

On the 1st of February, the Marchesa described 
her first meeting with the bride : " Soon after eight 
o'clock I entered Don Alfonso's bai^ together with 
Don Giulio (her half-brother) and my own gentlemen 
and ladies. At Torre della Fossa I changed boats 
and went on to Malalbergo, where we met the bride 
in a ship with Don Ferrante and Don Sigismondo and 
a few others, and here I found the Duchess of Urbino 
with them. The boat came alongside, and one bark 
having curtsied to the other with joyous haste, I 
entered the bride's with Madonna Laura (Giovanni 
Gonzaga's wife), and after exchan^ng salutes we went 
on our way and she did not enter the smaU bucentaur 
for fear of losing time. About four o'clock we 
reached Torre della Fossa, where my father was 
standing on the shore awaiting us. The archers in 
their red and white liveries, seventy-five in number, 
were drawn up in a row, and the whole court galJiered 
round the Duke, who took Madonna Lucrezia by 
the hand and kissed her, after she had insisted on 
first kissing his hand. Then we entered the large 
bucentaur, where all the ambassadors shook hands 
with us, and we sat down in the following order: 
the bride between the French and Venetian, myself 
between the Venetian and Florentine, and the Duchess 
of Urbino between the Florentine and Sienese, the 
Lucchese envoy being close by. My father and 
Don Alfonso sat on deck above, talking and joking 
together, and were much amused by the Spanish 
clowns, who paid the bride all manner of compli- 
ments, and so, amid great cheering and shouting 
and the sound of trumpets and guns, we reached 
Casale about five. After accompanying the bride 
to her rooms we all left, and I took the Duchess of 



^dbyGoogle 



COSTUMES OF THE PRINCESSES 201 

Urbino in my carretta to her lodgings, which are 
those of Ventimiglia above the loggia. I will not 
describe Madonna Lucrezia's appearance, as you have 
seen her. She wore a vest of wrought gold trimmed 
with crimson satin, with slashed sleeves in Castilian 
fashion, a crimson satin mantle, turned back on one 
side and lined with sable, open at the throat to show 
a frilled chemise, in the usual fashion. On her neck 
she wore a string of big pearls, with a pendant of 
ruby and a pear-shaped pearl, and a gold coif on 
her head, but no band. Madonna Lucrezia Benti- 
voglio received her on the shores of the Po with a 
great company of ladies. Madonna Teodora was 
presented to her by Don Alfonso's seneschal as 
chief lady-in-waiting, together with twelve Ferrarese 
maidens wearing camoras of crimson satin, and black 
velvet mantles lined with black lamb. The gentle- 
men of her household have not yet been chosen. 
Five carriages were sent to meet her — one hung 
with gold brocade, and led by four white horses, 
each worth fifty ducats apiece ; one covered with 
red velvet, led by roan horses, all very fine ; and 
three hung with purple satin, with horses of different 
colours. I have not mentioned Don Alfonso, be- 
cause, as I told Your Excellency before, he went 
last ni^t to Bentivoglio, returned to Ferrara this 
morning, and joined my father at Torre della Fossa. 
The Duchess of Urbino is very well and lively, 
and commends herself to Your Excellency with me, 
and I beg you to kiss the dear child of our love. 
— Your wife, Isabella." 

On this occasion the Duchess of Urbino wore 
black velvet embroidered with a gold pattern, while 
Isabella herself was attired in a black velvet robe 



DiclzedbyGoOgle 



202 LUCREZIA'S APPEARANCE 

trimmed with lynx fur, with a green velvet vest 
studded over with gold plaques — a gift from Fran- 
cesco — a gold circlet on her head, and a gold 
collar set with diamonds round her neck. Her 
beauty and distinguished air attradted general ad- 
miration, as the Marchesa di Cotrone, who accom- 
panied her to Ferrara, wrote that evening to the 
Marquis. 

" The bride is not beautiful, but sweet and attrac- 
tive in appearance, and although she had many ladies 
with her, and among them that illustrious Madonna, 
the Duchess of Urbino, who is very handsome and a 
worthy sister of Your Excellency, yet ray illustrious 
lady was universally pronounced, both by our people 
and by those who came with the Duchess, to be by 
far the most beautiful, so much so that if the bride 
had foreseen this, she would have made her entry by 
torchlight! There can be no doubt of this, since 
others are as nothing at my lady's side. So we 
shall bear the prize back to the home of my own 
Madonna." ^ 

On the following day the Duke and his son rode out 
to meet the bride at Casale, and escorted her across 
the bridge of Castel Tedaldo, and through the town 
to the ducal palace. The pageant is described by 
contemporaries as the grandest ever seen in Ferrara. 

*' I will tell you the order of this illustrious bride's 
entry," writes Isabella, " and whatever else is worth 
noting, as best I can. First of all came my father's 
seventy-five archers in white and red liveries, with 
three captains in different costumes, then eighty 
trumpeters, among them six of the Duke of 
Romagna's, wearing cloth of gold, and purple and 
' D'Arco, op. at. 



^dbyGoogle 



ENTRY OF THE BRIDE 208 

white satin uniforms, and twenty-four pipers and 
trumpeters. Behind them came the nobles and gentle- 
men of Ferrara, of whom seventy wore golden chains, 
none of which cost less than 500 ducats, while many 
were worth 800, 1000, and even 1200 ducats. Then 
followed the Duchess of Urbino's suite, all in black 
velvet and satin, and after them Signor Don Alfonso 
and M. Annibale BentivogUo. His Highness rode a 
big bay horse with purple velvet trappings embossed 
with gold. He wore a suit of grey velvet covered 
with scales of beaten gold, worth at least 6000 ducats, 
a black velvet cap trimmed with gold lace and white 
feathers, and grey leather, gaiters. Eight squires 
walked behind him, four men and four boys, in 
French suits of gold brocade and purple velvet, with 
hose of red and purple cloth. Then came the bride's 
suite, twenty of whom were Spaniards clad in black 
and gold, but only twelve of the whole company 
wore gold chains, and these not at all large ones or 
equal to those worn by my gentlemen. These were 
followed by the Bishops of Adria, Comachio, Cervia, 
and two others sent by the Pope. Then came the 
ambassadors, waking two abreast — a Lucchese and 
a Sienese together, the other Sienese with a Floren- 
tine, and so on, the two Venetians wearing long 
crimson satin mantles ; last of all the four Roman 
ambassadors in long cloth-of-gold mantles lined with 
crimson satin. Behind them were six drummers 
and two Spanish jesters in brocade of variegated 
colours. Then the bride, under a crimson baldacchino 
carried by the doctors. In front of her was a big 
dapple-grey horse, given her by the Duke, with 
crimson trappings embroidered with gold, led by 
eight grooms in purple and yellow vests and hose." 



^dbyGooglc 



204 STATE PROCESSION 

The Venetian chronicler' informs us that, as the 
bride rode over the bridge of Castel Tedaldo, her horse 
took fright at the guns, and would have thrown her 
if her groom had not rushed to her help, and placed 
her on a mule. Isabella continues: "The bride 
was mounted on a roan mule with velvet trappings 
covered with gold lace, and fastened with nails of 
beaten gold. She wore a cloth of gold camera with 
purple satin stripes and flowing sleeves after the 
French fashion, and a sberma of wrought gold, open 
on one side, and lined with ermine, as were her 
sleeves. Round her throat was tiie necklace of 
rubies and diamonds which belonged to Madonna of 
Ferrara, of blessed memory 1 On her head was the 
jewelled cap which my lord father sent tt^ther with 
the necklace to her in Rome, without any band. 
Six of Don Alfonso's chamberlains, all wearing fine 
gold chdns, held the reins. The French ambassador 
rode at her side, outside the baldacchino." 

The bride, according to another account, sent 
for the French envoy, Philippo Bert, when the 
procession started, and made him ride at her side, 
as a token of the Pope's gratitude to the King of 
France for bringing about the marriage. 

"Behind the bride, the Duchess of Urbino and 
my lord father ; the Duchess on the right on a roan 
mule, with black and gold velvet trappings, wearing 
a black velvet robe adorned with certain triangles of 
beaten gold which are astrological signs, a string of 
pearls at her throat, and a gold coif on her head. My 
Lord Duke rode a roan horse, with black velvet and 
a suit of purple velvet, and was followed by two 
ladies. Donna Hieronima Borgia and the wife of 
> Marino Sannto, DiarU, iv. SSS-SSO. 



^dbyGoogle 



ISABELLA RECEIVES THE BRIDE 205 

Fabio Orsini, both in black velvet ; and behind them, 
Madonna Adriana, a widowed relative of the Pope. 
These were the only women on horseback. Madonna 
Lucrezia BentivogHo rode in a chariot hung with 
gold brocade, followed by twelve other chariots, bear- 
ing the bride's ladies and her own Ferrarese and 
Bolognese ladies. Behind them came two sumpter- 
mules, with black and silver trappings, elaborately 
worked, and fifty-six more with red and yellow clothing, 
and twelve with purple and yellow. A few arches, 
as I told Your Excellency, were erected at certain 
points along the route, and there were some represen- 
tations which are not worth mentioning, and no one 
paid much attention to them." 

At five o'clock the procession reached the Piazza, 
where two rope-dancers descended simultaneously 
fit)m opposite towers, and at the same moment the 
doors of the dungeons were thrown open and all the 
prisoners released. On the steps of the ducal palace, 
the Marchesa, magnificently arrayed in a camera of 
cloth of gold, embroidered with her favourite device 
of musical notes and rests, received the bride, and 
conducted her to the Sala Grande, followed by the 
Duke and the whole company. In this noble hall, 
hung with Leonora's priceless tapestries, two Ferrara 
poets, Celio Calcagnini, the friend of Raphael and 
Erasmus, and Ariosto, recited a Latin Epithalamium 
in the bride's honour, and hailed Lucrezia as pul- 
ckerrima Virgo — a title which may well have sounded 
ironical in the ears of the bystanders, when applied to 
one whom the Romans had derisively called "the 
Pope's daughter, wife, and daughter-in-law." 

The following day was spent in dancing and 
acting, and in the evening Isabella took up her pen 



iu,C00g[c 



206 COMEDIES AND BALLS 

and wrote : " To give Your Excellency an account 
of to-day's doings : After dinner we brought the 
bride out of her rooms, and led her into the Sala 
Grande, which was so crowded with people that there 
was no room to dance. However, we got through two 
dances as best we could." Cagnolo, who had come 
to Ferrara in the French ambassador's suite, tells us 
that Lucrezia came down from the tribunal, where 
she was seated between Isabella and Elisabetta, and 
danced Roman and Spanish dances, to the sound of 
tambourines, with rare grace. He adds that although 
she is not regularly beautiful, her golden hair and the 
dazzling whiteness of her skin, together with her 
gentleness and winning manners, render her most 
attractive. " She is very gay and hght-hearted, and 
is always laughing." * 

Then the acting b^an. " My father," continues 
Isabella, "brought in all the actors, and showed 
us the costumes which have been prepared for the 
five comedies, to show us that the dresses had 
been made on purpose, and that those which were 
worn in one comedy would not have to be used 
agun. There are in all one hundred and ten 
actors, men and women, and their clothes are of 
cendale (a fine silk) and camlet. The leader of the 
troop appeared in the character of Plautus, and ex- 
plained the argument of the five plays, the ' Epidico,' 
the ' Bacchidae,' the ' Miles gloriosus,' the ' Asinaria,' 
and ' Cassaria.' After this we passed into another 
hall, and about six o'clock the first play began. 
Neither the verses nor the voices struck me as very 
good, but the Moresche dances between the acts 
were very well danced, with great spirit. . . . The 

1 Zambotto, Cronaca. 



^dbyGoOgle 



ISABELLAS ENNUI 207 

last was danced by Moors with lighted torches in 
their hands, and was a fine sight. It was not over 
till past ten, and then every one went home to 
supper." The Marchesa evidently found these pro- 
longed festivities very tedious, and at the end of Uiis 
letter she adds a postscript in which her real feelings 
are expressed. 

" I will not deny that Your Excellency, in my 
eyes, enjoys far greater pleasure in being able to see 
my little son every day, than I find in these f&tes. 
If they were the finest in the world, they would not 
please me without Your Excellency and our little 
boy. But I will' not believe that he has forgotten 
me already. If he does not remember me out of 
affection, he must remember me if only because he is 
kissed so often ! So I hope Your Excellency will be 
sure to kiss him a few more times for love of me I 
Don Alfonso and the bride slept together last night, 
but we did not pay them the usual morning visit, 
because, to say the truth, this is a very cold wedding I 
I hope that my person and suite compare favourably 
with those of others who are here, and we shall at 
least carry off" the prize of the card-playing, since 
Spagnoli has already robbed the Jew of 500 gold 
pieces. To-day we are to dance till four o'clock, and 
then see another comedy. — Your wife, Isabella." 
Feb. 8. 

On the 4th, the bride did not leave her room till 
late in the day, and the Duke took his chief guests to 
see the sights of Ferrara— the treasures of art con- 
tained in the Castello and the Schifanoia palaces, the 
guns in which his son Alfonso took especial interest, 
and the holy Dominican nun, Sister Lucia of Viterbo, 



^dbyGoogle 



208 HER IMPATIENCE TO RETLTRN HOME 

who had received the stigmata, and whose wounds 
were said to bleed afresh every Friday. 

" Yesterday," wrote Isabella on Saturday the 5th, 
'* we all stayed in our rooms till five o'clock, because 
Madonna Lucrezia chooses to spend all these hours 
in dressing, so that she may outshine the Duchess of 
Urbino and myself in the eyes of the world, and 
being Friday, there was no dancing. At half-past 
five the ' Bacchidfe ' began, and was so long and tire- 
some, with so few dances, that I wished myself many 
times at Mantua. It seems a thousand years till 
my return, both because of my longing to see Your 
Excellency and my little son, and of my wish to 
escape from here, where I do not find the least 
enjoyment. Your Excellency need not envy me 
for being at this wedding, which is a cold and dull 
affair t I only wish I had stayed at home. If I 
had time to write to you more fully, I should be less 
bored. But, as soon as I am out of bed, my brothers 
come in and do not leave my side all day. Besides 
which all the ladies come and visit me, since Donna 
Lucrezia is not to be seen untU she appears in the 
Sala. We sup about eleven o'clock and go to bed 
at one or two. You may imagine how little I enjoy 
all this. Pity me 1 Last night only two dances 
were introduced in the play, and at the end we 
he^ nothing but groans and complaints from the 
spectators, who had already sat there more than four 
and a half hours. Nothing else is worth saying, only 
I beg you not to forget to kiss Federico for me. — 
Your wife, Isabella. 

"P.S. — I must tell you that to my credit I am 
always the first to be up and dressed I " February 5, 
1502. 



^dbyGoogle 



THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR 209 

Lucrezia spent that day in her room, washing her 
head and writing letters to tell her father of the 
splendid f&tes which had been given in her honour. 
And Sanuto informs us that she privately presented 
Duke Ercole with the pontifical bull releasing the 
fief of Ferrara from the payment of tribute. In 
the evening Isabella invited Monseigneur Bert, the 
French ambassador, to supper in her rooms, and 
placed him between the Duchess of Urbino and 
herself at table. The conversation, Cagnolo tells 
us, was witty and brilliant. The Marchesa looked 
her loveliest in a robe of white and silver talh, and at 
the urgent entreaty of her guests, consented to sing 
to them after supper, accompanying herself on the 
lute, to the delight of all who were present. After- 
wards she took the ambassador into her private 
rooms and discussed poUtical afFaiis confidentially 
with him for nearly an hour, in the presence of two 
of her ladies. Finally she took off her own perfumed 
gloves and presented them to Monseigneur Bert, 
who received them with the deepest reverence and 
gratitude, saying that he counted them even more 
precious than the sacred linen bestowed on him by 
Suor Lucia, and would keep them in a reliquary to 
the end of his days. 

On Sunday the whole court attended high mass 
in the Duomo, and Don Alfonso was solemnly in- 
vested with a consecrated cap and sword, presented 
by the Pope to his dear son. Another ball was given 
in the Sala Grande, at which Isabella looked radiant 
in a gown of crimson satin and black velvet, trimmed 
with massive gold cord, and ruby and pearl buttons ; 
and the bride, who appeared in a violet robe patterned 
over with gold fish-scales, and a Jewelled coronet on 

VOL. I. Q 



^dbyGoogle 



210 COMEDIES AND JOUSTS 

her head, danced French country dances with great 
charm and spirit. After this came a performance of 
the " Miles gloriosus," ending with a true mummers' 
dance of the rudest description, in which shepherds, 
wearing rams' heads, fought and butted each other 
with their horns to the infinite amusement of the 
spectators. 

On Monday a new diversion was provided for 
the guests, in the form of a single combat which 
took place on the Piazza in front of the ducal palace, 
between Vincenzo da Imola, a soldier in the Marquis 
of Mantua's service, and a Bolognese gentleman of 
Annibale Bentivoglio's suite. After a desperate en- 
counter with lances and clubs, Vincenzo succeeded 
in unhorsing his adversary, and would have slain him 
if the Duke had not divided the combatants. " Vin-* 
cenzo remained on horseback," writes Isabella, *' and 
rode round the enclosure amidst infinite shouting, all 
the people ciying Turco / while the poor Bolognese 
showed his broken stafFI So we bore off the palm." 

In the evening the "Asinaria " was performed with 
a marvellous interlude of satyrs, who danced to the 
tune of a musical clock, and chased wild beasts and 
birds over the stage. Then a Mantuan musician played 
three lutes at once, and the whole performance ended 
with a ballet of the harvest, in which the difierent 
operations of digging, ploughing, sowing, reaping and 
thrashing the com were represented to the rustic 
music of bagpipes. Isabella appeared in a gown of 
crimson velvet, striped with gold bands, and a tiara of 
immense diamonds on her head, while the bride wore 
a robe of woven gold, and a long chain of priceless 
gems round her neck. 

On Shrove-Tuesday, which was the last day of 



^dbyGoogle 



GIFTS TO THE BRIDAL PAIR 211 

the carnival, the ambassadors visited the bride's 
chamber, and presented her with costly gifts. First 
of all, Duke Ercole gave his daughter-in-law his 
own magnificent jewels. Then the French ambas- 
sador presented the bride with a rosary of golden 
beads, perfumed with musk, and her chief maid-of- 
honour, Angela Borgia, with a precious chain. At 
the same time he gave the Duke a golden shield 
with an enamelled figure of St. Francis, made in 
Paris, and Don Alfonso a similar shield, bearing an 
image of the Magdalene, no doubt, remarks Cagnolo, 
because he had taken to himself a bride who in virtues 
and charms resembled this saintly maiden, and of 
whom it might be said, as it was of Mary Magdalene, 
" to her much is forgiven, because she loved much I " 

The other ambassadors followed with gifts of 
rich brocades and bronze and silver ewers and bowls, 
but the most remarkable presentation was made by 
the Venetian envoys, who took off the magnificent 
crimson velvet and ermine mantles which they had 
worn all the week, and laid them at the feet of the 
bride — " upon which," wrote the Marchesa di Cotrone 
to Francesco Gonzaga, " every one who was present 
burst out laughing." 

A ball took place afterwards, at which the royal 
ladies appeared in their most gorgeous costumes, and 
Isabella wore a violet velvet robe embroidered with 
gold acorns, and a magnificent jewelled tiara. The 
last comedy, the " Cassaria," was performed with a 
series of elaborate musical interludes and recitations in 
honour of the happy pair. Don Alfonso, who was 
an accomplished musician, played the viol, and took 
part in a concerto for six instruments, and at the 
close of the last ballet — a war-dance of Swiss 



ib^Cooglc 



212 A ROPE-DANCER 

soldiers — a golden ball melted away in the air and re- 
vealed the forms of four Virtues, who sang a delicious 
quartette. But the musical part of the entertainment 
was decidedly superior to the comedy, which Isabella 
declared to be " lascivious and immoral beyond words,'* 
so much so that she refused to allow any of her ladies 
to be present 

The next morning, being Ash Wednesday, was 
spent by Isabella in religious exercises with her 
family. But in the afternoon, by way of relaxation, 
she was present with the whole court at a performance 
given by a youth named Cingano, who anticipated 
Blondin by walking on a rope from the roof of the 
bishop's palace to the Sala Grande in the ducal palace. 
The Duke's son and the royal ladies, as well as aU the 
foreign envoys, came out to witness the feats of this 
performer, who danced with his eyes blindfolded, 
walked backwards in a steel cuirass, and was seen 
hanging by his feet t» the rope suspended in mid-air 
above the square, to the infinite amusement of the 
august company.' That evening the Marchesa re- 
ceived farewell visits from the foreign ambassadors, 
and made use of this opportunity to ingratiate herself 
and her husband with the Signory of Venice, as we 
learn from the foUowing letter, which her secretary 
Capilupi addressed to the Marquis : — 

" My dear Lord, — To-day my Madonna and the 
Duchess were in the bride's room when the Venetian 
ambassador came to take leave of her, and at the 
same time pay their respects to Her Excellency and 
the Duchess of Urbino. But they first of all ad- 
dressed my Madonna, in a long speech, saying that 
the Signory had charged them to call upon Your 

^ Muratori, Diario FerrareMe, vol, xxiv. 404. 



iu,C00gIC 



THE VENETIAN AMBASSADORS 218 

Highness if you had been at the wedding, and that 
since you were not present, they wished to pay the 
same honour to the Marchesa, because of the services 
rendered by Your Excellency to their State, whose 
loyal son they count you to be, and on whose good 
offices you may always depend. Madonna then took 
up her speech and answered them in a clear voice, 
with as much elegance and prudence as if she had 
been a consummate orator. I am quite unable to 
write down all that she said, but I must tell you 
one thing which every one thought very wise and 
admirable. * If this illustrious Signory,' she re- 
marked, ' had made trial of Your Excellency in your 
youth, and had employed you in the defence of Italy 
at that time, now that you are older and more ex- 
perienced, they might avail themselves of your 
services with more advantage.' These and other 
appropriate words amazed the ambassadors imd others 
present so much that they all confessed themselves 
her slaves. The ambassadors then turned to the 
Duchess of Urbino, and in their words plainly showed 
that they honoured her in the first place as Your 
Excellency's sister, and in the second as the Duke 
of Urbino's wife, and she also replied discreetly. 
Last of all Donna Lucrezia spoke, but although she 
has had more husbands than either your wife or 
sister, she could not attain by a long way to the 
wisdom of their answers. Your Excellency will 
rejoice to learn what an excellent impression Madonna 
your wife has made on all these lords and am- 
bassadors. Her disgust and displeasure at the foul 
comedy of yesterday was evident to all, so that the 
Duke had good cause to be ashamed ; her conduct 
was only praised> since, as Your Highness knows. 



^dbyGooglc 



214 LUCREZIA BORGIA 

she would not allow any of her maidens to be 
present. — Your faithful servant, Benedictus Capi- 
Lupus." ' Ferrnra, Feb. 9, 1502. 

The next day Isabella took leave of her relatives, 
and, accompanied by the Duchess of Urbino, re- 
turned to Mantua, where she arrived on Monday 
the 14th, and joyfully embraced her little Federico 
once more. A few days afterwards she addressed a 
courteous note to Lucrezia, announcing her safe 
arrival and signing herself " Your loving sister." * 

Lucrezia on her part was unfeignedly anxious to 
cultivate Isabella's friendship. In a letter which 
Laura Bentivoglio addressed to the Marchesa a few 
months afterwards, firom Ferrara, she described a 
visit which she had paid to Alfonso's wife, in the 
following terms : — 

" She made me sit down, and asked with charming 
sweetness after Your Excellency, b^gtng to hear 
about your clothes, and especially about your head- 
dresses. Afterwards, in speaking of her Spanish 
robes, she said if she had anything that you would 
care to see or possess, she would gladly oblige you, 
being most anxious to please Your Excellency. 
And she expressed a wish that you would write to 
her sometimes and be more familiar in your inter- 
course with her, and asked repeatedly if the betrothal 
of Duke Valentino's daughter with your son had 
been arranged. To-day she wore a camora of black 
satin and gold foliage, with a hem that looked like 
a flame of pure gold, and flowing sleeves, such as 
Your Excellency wears, and a necklace of the finest 
pearls. Her head was dressed in her usual fashion, 

1 Luaio, Prtcettoii, p. 36. 

' F. Gregorovius, " Lucresia Borgia," App. 



I 



idb,Google 



HER RELATIONS WITH ISABELLA 215 

with a very bright emerald on her forehead and a 
green velvet cap wrought with beaten gold. Her 
manners and gestures were most natiu^ and quite 
charming, and she looked very pretty, but has grown 
rather thinner, although she is not ilL" 

Luerezia always showed great curiosity about 
the Marcfaesa's clothes, and on one occasion, Luere- 
zia d'Este, who visited her while she was under- 
going a cure, wrote as follows to Isabella : *' I 
found her lying on the bed wearing a black silk 
robe with tight sleeves and frills at the wrist, and 
after many caresses and affectionate greetings, she 
inquired what were the latest Mantuan fashions and 
praised my head-dress. I promised to make some 
caps in our style, and send them to her. Certain 
rosettes which I wore on my forehead also pleased 
her, and she b^^jed me to show them to a jeweller 
and have them copied for her." * 

But, in spite of mutual compliments and fine 
speeches, the two ladies were never on intimate terms, 
and Dr. Luzio points out that most of the letters 
from the Gonzaga archives quoted by Lucrezia's 
biographer Gregorovius were in reality addressed to 
the Marquis and not to Isabella.* In later years 
some rivalry arose between the two princesses, and 
Isabella could not forgive her old friends, Niccolo 
da Corre^o and Ercole Strozzi, for transferring 
their devotion and dedicating their poems to her 
sister-in-law. Luerezia, however, proved an excellent 
wife to Alfonso, by whom she was fondly beloved, 
and who sincerely lamented her early death in 1519. 
She bore him four children, the eldest of whom, 

1 Lnxio in N. Antolo^, 1696. 
* Lusio, Precettmi, p. 37. 



^dbyGoogle 



216 HER CONDUCT AT FERRARA 

Ercole, was bom in 1508, and succeeded his father as 
Duke in 1584. Her conduct during the latter years 
of her life was exemplary, and she edified the people 
of Ferrara by the charitable institutions which she 
founded, and spent much of her time in Duchess 
Leonora's fJEivourite convent ai Corpus Domini. 



^dbyGoogle 



CHAPTER Xlll 

1602 

Isabella's visit to Venice — Her letters to the Marquia — Courtesy 
of the Doge and Signory — Her income and expenditure — - 
Proposed marriage between Federico Gonzaga and Cssar 
Borgia's daughter — Elisabetta of Urbino goes with' Isabella 
to Porto-^Casar Borgia seises Urbino — Flight of Duke 
Guidobaldo to Mantua — Isabella asks for the Venus and 
Cupid of Urbino — Cosar Borgia sends them to Mantua — 
Michel Angelo's Cupid sold to Charles I. and brought to 
England. 

As soon as Isabella had recovered from the fatigues 
of the wedding festivities at Ferrara she began to 
make plans for a new expedition. The Duchess of 
Urbino had never seen Venice, and a vow which 
Isabella had made to the Santo at Padua afforded 
a good excuse for paying a second visit to the 
famous city. This time the two princesses decided 
to go in the strictest incogvito, in order that they 
might be able to dispense with tedious ceremonies, 
and devote themselves whoUy to sight-seeing and 
their own amusement. So they set out one morning 
in March, taking only two ladies with them — the 
Marchesa di Cotrone and the faithful Emilia Pia — 
and escorted by the Protonot^o Sigismondo Gon- 
zaga and two of Isabella's most trusted servants, 
her seneschal Alessandro da Baesso and her secretary 
Benedetto Capilupi. The Marquis accompanied his 
wife and sister as far as Sermide, where they took 



^dbyGoogle 



218 VISIT TO VENICE 

boat to the mouth of the Po, and spent the night at 
a wretched hostehy at SteUata. As usual, Isabella 
gave her husband a full account of her doings in a 
letter from Venice, where she arrived on the 14th of 
March.^ 

" My dear Lord, — Yesterday morning we left * la 
Stellata' so early that we reached Chiozza an hour 
after dark, but since the hostelries were all full we 
had to send Benedetto Capilupi to inform the 
Podest^ of our arrival, which we did the more 
readily, hearing that he was M. Alvise Capello, 
brother to M. Paolo, and a great firiend of Your 
Excellency ; and although we begged him to direct 
us to some private lodging near the inns, he insisted 
on receiving us in his own house in the kindest 
manner possible, and, above all, allowed us to remain 
strictly incognito. So we accepted his invitation, 
and were honourably lodged and entertained at 
supper in the palace. That night we were too tired 
and travel-stained to see His Magnificence, but this 
morning he visited us and regretted that he had not 
been aware of our coming, so as to pay us greater 
honour, as the Signory would have wished, and 
begged us to dine with him. We replied that we 
were on our way to discharge a vow at Padua, but 
had come through Venice, as the Duchess had never 
seen this city, and that since we were in travelling 
dress we should not have made ourselves known to 
him, only that he was a friend of Your Excellency, 
and, we felt sure, could be trusted to keep our 
secret ; to which he replied that we had done well, 
and that the moment he heard of our arrival he had 

• This and the five followiDg letters in the Archivio Gonsaga 
were published by Dr. Lush), Maniova t Urbmo, 807-315. 



^dbyGoogle 



THE SIGHTS OF VENICE 219 

sent word to the Signory, but we b^jed that on no 
account should we be received and publicly enter- 
tained by them. So we came on here quietly this 
evening, and are lodged in the house of M. Niccolo 
Trevisano, which is occupied by the Duke of Urbino's 
ambassador. We found Franceschino Trevisano 
in the house, and hear £rom him that aU Venice 
knows of our arrival, and that Your Excellency's 
friends are deUghted. We all three commend our- 
selves to you, and I beg you to kiss my boy. 
To-morrow I will send some fish and oysters. I 
thank Your Excellency for allowing me to come 
heare, and am joying Venice much more than I did 
last time, and think the city far more beautiful. 
The Duchess owns that it is more marvellous than 
Rome, and wonders at the sight, and is lost in 
admiration, and kisses Your Excellency's hand. — 
With the right hand of your wife, Isabella." 
Venice, March 14, 1502. 

The next day she resumed her tale : — 
" I was sure Your Excellency would be vexed to 
hear of the discomforts that we endiaed at the 
Stellata, but I hope you will understand that mine 
were not serious, and that I have spirit enough to 
put up with such trifling inconvenience, although, of 
course, we should have been more comfortable if we 
had stayed with Your Excellency at Sennide. The 
only disadvantage would have been that we could not 
have reached Chiozza that evening, where, although 
we arrived unexpectedly, we were very honourably 
entertained by M. Alvise Capello at his expense, as I 
told you before. Yesterday we stopped at Ponia to 
see those big ships, and went on board a very large 
one which is being built and is said to be three thou- 



^dbyGoogle 



220 THE CAMPANILE 

sand tons and more. This morning we went to hear 
mass at Sta. Maria dei Miracoli, and then to S. 
Giovanni e Paolo and the Scuola di S. Marco, and 
returned home by another way. Directly after 
dinner we went to S. Marco, hoping to find very few 
people at that hour, but we were mistaken, as there 
were a good many, and then, so as not to leave any- 
thing undone and to see this marvellous city well, we 
climbed the Campanile of S. Marco, where we 
greatly enjoyed the beautiful view and examined the 
noble buildings on all sides. When we descended, 
we returned by boat and went to S. Giorgio and to 
the Misericordia, and came home by the Grand 
Canal. As yet I have seen none of our friends, 
except Genua, who shook hands with me in the 
Campanile, and this evening he called at our lodgings 
to see Lf we required anything. Monsignore and 
I spoke to Francesco directly about the jewels. 
Monsignore pretended that he had found a Mend 
who would lend him 8000 ducats before Your 
Excellency heard of this, in order to conduct the 
transaction the more secretly with regard to the 2000 
ducats which the Albani will pay. We have sent for 
the Jew, and Monsignore and I will do our utmost to 
settle this business. The Duchess is anxious to see 
the Doge and Signory, who will not appear till the 
procession of Olives on Sunday, so we have settled to 
stay here over that day, although I, having seen them 
already, do not care about it, but I must do this for 
her sake. On Monday we shall be at Padua, 
Tuesday at Vicenza, Wednesday at Verona, and so 
as not to travel on Holy Thursday or Friday, we will 
spend these two days there and make our com- 
munions. On Saturday we shall be at Mantua, and I 



^dbyGoogle 



COURTESY OF THE DOGE 221 

pray you to give a hundred kisses to my darling boy, 
so that when I am there he will not think it strange 
to be kissed." Since the Doge had invited the 
Marehesa to visit the Collegio, as she had done 
before, Isabella sent Capilupi and Baesso to make her 
excuses and those of the Duchess to the Prince and 
Signory, and explain that they were travelling 
incognito, and had no clothes in which they could 
appear. The Doge returned a courteous answer, and 
gave orders that the Treasury of S. Marco and the 
Arsenal should both be shown to the distinguished 
visitors. 

" Meanwhile," writes IsabeUa, " we went to hear 
mass at Ca' Grande, and afterwards landed at the 
Rialto and walked through the Fish-market and the 
Merceria to the columns of S. Marco. There were 
such crowds of people that it was difficult to make 
our way, but we enjoyed it so much that we did 
not mind the walk, and Monsignore was the most 
tired of the party. The Duchess is as well as pos- 
sible. At the columns we took a boat and came 
home, where we found a secretary from the Signoria 
waiting to tell us that four gentlemen were coming to 
visit us on the part of the Doge and Senate. We 
begged him to dispense with this ceremony, but we 
had hardly finished dinner before they were here. 
The Duchess and Monsignore and I met them on 
the stairs and led them into the room, and I replied 
to their compUments, laying stress on the love and 
devotion of Your Excellency for this illustrious 
Signory. When they were gone M. Alvise Marcello 
appeared, having cleverly delayed his visit till theirs 
was over, and spent some time in friendly conversa- 
tion. He seems as much devoted to you as ever. 



^dbyGoogle 



222 GIFTS FROM THE SIGNORY 

M. Filippo CapeUo also called and talked in the same 
familiar way with Monsignore and me. Then we 
went to the ' Vergine,' where we enjoyed seeing the 
nuns' rooms and hearing two of them sing, but owing 
to the new regulations lately introduced by Frate 
Raphael da Varese, who is preaching in S. Marco 
this Lent, no men are allowed to enter the convent. 
On our return home we found Alvise Mareello, who 
told Monsignore that he had got the order to view the 
Treasury to-morrow morning and the Arsenal after 
dinner. We commend ourselves to you, and so does 
M. Alvise a thousand times. I enclose the names of 
the gentlemen, begging you to kiss our little son for 
me: M. Alvise Moncenigo, M. Zoanne Gabriele, 
M. Pietro Justiniano, M. Alvise Molino." Venice, 
March 16. 

The next day Messer Alvise called early with a 
present of fish and confectionery from the Signory,^ 
valued, Sanuto tells us, at twenty-five ducats. This 
gift included four large chests of fish of different 
kinds, eight large gilt marzipane cakes, twenty-nine 
boxes of sweetmeats, four pots of ginger and four of 
syrup of violets, as well as twenty pounds of wax 
candles. Isabella sent these presents by messenger to 
Mantua that evening, be^ng the Marquis to accept 
them for her sake. She added a postscript to the 
effect that the Pope's ambassador had informed the 
Duchess how warmly the Doge had spoken of their 
august visitors in the College, saying tiiat the Duke 
and Marquis could give no better proof of their con- 
fidence in the Signory than by sending those persons 
who were dearest to them to Venice. " And all our 
friends here say the same thing." 

1 SxDuto, DiarU, iv. 23*. 



^dbyGoOgle 



ST. MARK'S 228 

After this the Marchesa proceeded to give her 
husband the following account of their day : — 

" We went to mass at the Cariti, and on to 
S. Marco, where the Pala and Treasury were shown 
us by Messer Paolo Barbo, the procurator. Then we 
were taken to the Great Hall of the Council, and to 
the Annoury of the Doge's Palace, after which we 
went on foot by the Merceria, which were prepared 
for us, as far as the Rialto, where we took boat and 
came home to dinner. Afterwards we went to the 
Arsenal, which our friend Messer Alvise Marcello 
showed us with the greatest, care and kindness, and 
Messer Carlo Valerio and Paolo Capello came to 
shake hands. When we had seen all, M. Alvise 
took us into the house which he occupies close by, as 
Treasurer, and entertained us in the usual manner. 
M. Alvise and M. Paolo Capello came with us in the 
boat to S. Antonio, where we saw the Sepulchre, and 
on our way home we called on our nei^bour, tbe 
Queen of Cyprus, who had invited us to visit her. 
These gentlemen escorted us home, and so the day 
ends, and if Your Excellency considers the length of 
the journey, and all we have seen and done, you will 
count us to be the most gallant ladies in the world I " 
Venice, March 17, 1502. 

The two princesses had certainly made good use 
of their short visit, and Isabella was delighted with 
all that she had seen and done. We do not hear if 
she saw her friends Lorenzo da Pavia and Aldo 
Manuzio, or the painter Giovanni Bellini, who had 
excited her displeasure by his long delays in exe- 
cuting the picture for her Grotta. But it was Alvise 
Marcello to whom she appUed two years later to help 
her in the matter, and the other patricians are fre- 



^dbyGoogle 



224 RETURN TO MANTUA 

quently mentioned in her correspondence. Queen 
Caterina Comaro was aD old iriend of the Este prin- 
cesses, whom Isabella had already visited in her 
mountain home of Asolo, and to whom she wrote 
after her return to Mantua, thanking her for the 
affection and kindness which she had shown her. 
On the morning of the 21st, the ladies left Venice, 
and by evening reached Padua, where they were 
entertained by Count Achilles Borromeo, and Isa- 
bella found time to inform her husband that the 
French ambassadors were expected at Padua on their 
way to Venice, having been abruptly dismissed by 
the Emperor. Maximilian had refused to grant 
Louis XII. the investiture of Milan and the incor- 
poration of the duchy in the kingdom of France, 
while the French monarch on his part declined either 
to release Lodovico Sforza or to allow the exiled 
partisans of the Sforzas to return to Milan. " Until 
the present time," she adds, " the King of France has 
taken little count of the VenetiMis, but now he is 
most anxious to secure their friendship." And she 
ends with expressing her delight in the good news 
which her husband gives her of Federico, whose 
company she longs to share, but hopes to make up 
for lost time on her return. Alter spending the last 
days of Holy Week in the house of Count Canossa . 
at Verona, and receiving a gift of fish from the 
cavalier Giorgio Comaro, in the name of the Signory , 
of Venice, Isabella and her sister-in-law reached 
Mantua on Easter Eve, and the happy mother once 
more clasped her precious boy in her arms. 

A week afterwards, Francesco left home to attend 
some races in the neighbourhood, and Isabella's letters; 
as usual were full of fond allusions to the child's 



^dbyGooglc 



FEDERICO'S INFANT CHARMS 225 

cleverness and charms. " The boy always seemed 
intelligent," she writes on the 4th April, " but since 
Your Excellency's depart;ure, he surprises me every 
hour with his pretty ways, and seems determined to 
keep me amused in your absence. He sits in your 
place at meals, and plays a thousand other tricks, 
which I do not tell Your Excellency lest I should 
excite your envy." Again, two days later, she wrote : 
" Yesterday, when I was saying my office, he came 
in and said he wanted to find his papa, and turned 
over all the cards till he found a figure with a beard, 
upon which he was deUghted, and kissed it six times 
over, saying, ' Papa bello / ' with the greatest joy 
possible." ' 

Another and less pleasant task to which Isabella 
now turned her attention was the settlement of her 
accounts. The expenses of her visit to Ferrara had 
been heavy ; besides the cost of her own sumptuous 
toilette, and those of her ladies, presents of costly 
brocade and chains had to be given to the actors 
and buffoons, the trumpeters and musicians. Marino 
Sanuto tells us Uiat on this occasion the Marchesa 
had shown remarkable liberality to all of these, but 
especially to the Spanish jesters in the bride's train.^ 
At Venice, as we have seen, she had been engaged 
in raising fresh loans to pay the Albani and redeem her 
jewels ; and soon after her return to Mantua she ad- 
dressed a letter to her father, Duke Ercole, to whom she 
had more than once applied for help in her difficulties. 
This time, however, she gave him a full statement of 
her income and expenditiu^, which is of great in- 
terest, and shows that if this brilliant lady occasionally 

' LuEio, PreceUori, p. 38. 
* DiarU, iv. iSQ. 



^dbyGoogle 



226 ISABELLA'S EXPENSES 

erred on the side of extravagance, she was a prudent 
and clever manager, who made the most of her 
money, and had a shrewd eye to business. 

" My honoured Lord and Father, — When I first 
entered this iUustrious house I was given a yearly 
allowance of 6000 gold ducats, to pay for my clothes 
and provide dowries for my maidens, and aJl that is 
necessary for my servants — including two gentlemen ; 
the Court supplying the food of about a hundred 
persons. Afterwards, in order that I might be free 
to increase or diminish my household, my illustrious 
consort gladly agreed, by the advice of his stewards, 
to t^e this burden from off their shoulders, and give 
me another 2000 ducats for the expenses of my whole 
company. Of this income 6000 was charged on the 
toU of the mills, 1000 on an excise duty, and the other 
1000 on the lands of Letopalidano, near Gonzaga. So 
you see that in all I have 8000 ducats a year. It is 
true that by my own economy, and that of my servants, 
the income of this estate has been increased by about 
1000 ducats, with which I have been enabled to buy 
some neighbouring lands ; so that at present the rent 
brings in about 2500 ducats a year. But I also have 
to feed about fifty more persons of my household. 
And it is true that my lord has given me other houses 
for my pleasure, such, for instance, as Sacchetta and 
Porto ; but their income does not exceed their ex- 
penses, and sometimes I have to spend more money 
to keep them in repair. This is all I can tell Your 
Excellency for your satisfaction." 

By this statement it is clear that Isabella enjoyed 
a yearly income of from 8000 to 9000 ducats — no 
inconsiderable sum, if we consider that the ducat 
was worth about eleven and a half francs — or, roughly 



^dbyGoogle 



ALLIANCE WITH THE BORGIAS 227 

speaking, nearly ten shillings — and that money has 
increased five times In value since those days.' But 
considering the large demands upon her purse, and 
her passion for pictures and antiques, as well as fine 
clothes and jewels, it is decidedly to her credit that 
she was able to keep out of debt, and could often raise 
money to help her husband in bad times or sudden 
emei^ncies. The question of the Cardinal's hat for 
her brother-in-law, Sigismondo, was now once more 
raised. But this time it was complicated with another 
scheme. This was nothing less than the betrothal of 
Isabella's two-year-old son, Federico, to the infuit 
daughter of Csesar Borgia and Charlotte d'Albret. 
The proposal was first made by Duke Valentino. 
Early in June 1502 he addressed a charming letter to 
Isabella, expressing his joy at the prospect of this 
fresh, link between tiiem, and during the next few 
months this marriage was the object of constant 
negotiation. Both parties were equally wary. 
Francesco stipulated that his brother should be 
raised to the Cardinalate at once, while Borgia, 
on his part, demanded substantial pledges for 
the consummation of the marriage in future years. 
But flattering as were the terms in which the Duke 
expressed his delight at the prospect of the union 
between his family and the Gonzagas, both the 
Marquis and Isabella looked upon his proposals 
with deep distrust Their suspicions were not 
removed by the events which took place in the 
course of the following summer. About the 20th 
of June Isabella and her sister-in-law went to Porto 
with a few chosen ladies, and little Federico, be- 
cause, as his motiier said, she could not be happy 
1 See A. Liuio in Niioea Antotogia, 1896. 



^dbyGoOgle 



228 CiESAR BORGIA SURPRISES URBINO 

without him. While they were enjoying the fresh 
breezes and delicious gardens of this charming 
eountry-house, the most terrible and unexpected 
news reached them from Urbino. 

" We were here," wrote Isabella on the 27th of 
June to her sister-in-law, Chiara de Montpeosier, 
"very quiet and contented, enjoying the company 
of the Duchess of Urbino, who has been wiUi us 
since carnival, and often wishing that you were here 
to complete our happiness, when news of the unex- 
pected and perfidious seizure of the duchy of Urbino 
reached us. The Duke himself arrived here with 
only four horsemen, having been suddenly surprised 
and treacherously attacked, so that he narrowly 
escaped with his life. We were quite stunned by the 
blow, and are still so bewildered and unhappy that 
we hardly know where we are, as Your Excellency 
will understand ; and so great is my compassion for 
the Duchess that I could wish I had never known 
her." ' 

On the 18th of June, the day after Ceesar Borgia 
addressed his affectionate letter to Isabella rejoicing 
over the proposed marriage of their children, he left 
Rome at the head of a large army, and marched 
through the district of Spoleto, laying the whole 
country waste, and spreading terror wherever he 
came. Before his departure he sent friendly mes- 
sages to Duke Guidobaldo, asking him to allow 
his troops to march through the territory of Urbino, 
and begging for the help of some artillery in his ex- 
pedition against the Varani of Camerino. But when 
he reached Spoleto, instead of marching against 
Camerino as had been expected, he suddenly turned 

1 LuDo, JUtmtoiw e Urlmo, p. 125. 



;dbv Google 



FLIGHT OF GUIDOBALDO 229 

up the rocky defile of the Furlo Pass, and marched 
along the great Flaminian Way, and through 
the valley of the Metaurus towards Urbino. Qn 
the 20th of June, the Duke, " supposing himself to 
be in perfect security,'" had ridden out to sup in 
the orange gardens of the Zoccolanti convent, a 
favourite sanctuary of the Dukes of Urbino, where 
Fiero della Francesca had painted his fine altar- 
piece, now in the Brera. Here, in the shady groves 
on the outskirts of the convent garden, he was en- 
joying the beauty of the summer evening, when a mes- 
senger arrived in hot haste firom Cagli to say that Duke 
Valentino was outside tiie city, marching on Urbino 
at the head of 2000 men. It was too late to think 
of resistance. Caesar's mercenaries were advancing 
in every direction. Already the passes of the Apen- 
nines were guarded, and a price had been set upon 
the Duke's head. Guidobaldo's only hope of safety 
lay in flight, and, yielding to the entreaties of his 
servants, he fled for his life, taking with him his 
young nephew, Francesco della Rovere. After many 
adventures and narrow escapes, the fugitives suc- 
ceeded in reaching Mantua safely. " I have saved 
nothing but my life, my doublet, and my shirt," 
wrote Guidobaldo on the 28tii of June to his kins- 
man, Cardinal GiuUano della Rovere, in a long letter 
giving a vivid description of his midnight flight, 
and of the fiilse promise with which Boi;gia had 
deceived him. " Such ingratitude and treachery," he 
adds, "were never before known."' Even Lucrezia 
was appalled at her brother's action, and told the 

1 Dennistoun, " Ehikea of Urbino," vol. it pi S25, &a 
* Alvisi, " Ces«r BorgU " ; Dennistoim, " Dukes of Urbino," 
ToL i p. 391 ; YrUrte, " Obu Borgia," toL U. 



^dbyGoOgle 



280 MICHEL ANGELOS CUPID 

prete of Corre^o that she was miserable when she 
remembered how kindly the Duchess of Urbino had 
treated her, and would not have had this happen for 
all the world. 

At smirise on the 2l5t of June, the Duke of 
Romagna, as Ceesar now styled himself, entered 
Urbino, and, clad in a splendid suit of annour, in- 
stalled himself on the ducal throne in the ancient 
palace of the Montefeltri. No resistance was pos- 
sible, and the few loyal subjects who dared oppose the 
victor were stabbed or thrown into prison. During 
the next few weeks a long train of mules was 
seen descending the steep hillside, laden with the 
priceless tapestries and statues, the paintings and 
treasures of gold and silver plate, which were the 
pride of the ducal house. Sanuto reckons the value 
of the booty carried off by Duke Valentino on this 
occasion at 150,000 ducats, or nearly half a million 
of our present money. 

In iJie general grief and consternation at Mantua, 
Isabella did not lose sight of her own interests. She 
remembered a wonderfiil torso of Venus, and a Cupid 
of almost equal beauty, which she had seen and ad- 
mired in her brother-in-law's collection, and wrote off 
without delay to Rome, begging her brother. Cardinal 
Ippolito d'Este, to secure these rare statues, if pos- 
sible, for her Grotta. Her letter was written on 
the 80th of June, only three days after Guidobaldo 
reached Mantua. 

"Most Reverend Father in God, my dear and 
honoured Brother, — The Lord Duke of Urbino, my 
brother-in-law, had in his house a small Venus of 
antique marble, and also a Cupid, which were given 
him some time ago by His Excellency the Duke of 



:dbv Google 



ISABELLA'S REQUEST 281 

Romagna. I feel certain that these things must 
have fallen into the said Duke's hands, together 
with all the contents of the palace of Urbino, in the 
present revolution. And since I am very anxious to 
collect antiques for the decoration of my studio, I 
desire exceedingly to possess these statues, which 
does not seem to me impossible, since I hear that 
His Excellency has Uttle taste for antiquities, and 
would accordingly be the more ready to oblige 
others. But as I am not sufficiently intimate with 
him to venture to ask this favour at his hands, I 
think it best to avail myself of your most revered 
Signoria's good offices, and pray you of your kind- 
ness to ask him for the s^d Venus and Cupid, both 
by messenger and letter, in so efibctual a manner 
that both you and I may obtain satisfaction. I am 
quite willing, if it so please Your Reverence, that you 
should mention my name and say that I have asked 
for them very urgently, and sent an express courier, 
as I do now, for, bdieve me, I could receive no 
greater pleasure or favour either from His Excel- 
lency or from your most dear and reverend Signoria, 
to whom I commend myself affectionately. — Your 
sister, Isabella, Marchioness of Mantua." ^ Mantua, 
June 80, 1502. 

The letter, in its frank, straightforward tone, is 
highly characteristic of the writer. Even at this 
critical moment, when her heart is wrung with sorrow 
for the poor Duke, who has fled to Mantua in his 
shirt-sleeves, and the beloved Duchess, Isabella does 
not hesitate to seek a favour at the hands of the 
treacherous prince who had caused their ruin. It is 
true, she will not stoop to a^ this favour of Valentino 

1 Oajc, CarUggfo d'Artitti, toL ii. 5S. 



^dbyGoogle 



282 C^SAR SENDS THE STATUES 

in person ; she has no domestichezza with him, and is 
not on sufficiently familiar terms with him for that. 
But she is none the less ready to make use of his 
connection with her owb family in order to att^ her 
object and ^^tify her passion for rare antiques. The 
Cardinal, who was in high favour at the Vatican 
since Lucrezia's wedding, complied with his sister's 
request without delay, and Cssar Borgia hastened to 
gratify the fancy of the illustrious Madonna, whose 
goodwill he was especially anxious to gidn. Within 
the next few weeks, the Duke of Romagna's chamber- 
lain, bringing with him a mule laden with marbles, 
arrived at Mantua; and on the 22nd of July, the 
Muxshesa told her husband joyfully that the precious 
statues were safe in her Grotta. 

" Yesterday, the muleteer arrived safely with the 
Venus and Cupid which Duke Valentino has sent here, 
and his chamberlain, Messer Francesco, presented 
them to me." And after begging Francesco, who 
had gone to meet the French king at Milan, to take 
steps for recovering the Duchess of Urbino's dowry, 
she adds the following postscript : " I do not write of 
the beauty of the Venus, because I believe Yom* 
Excellency has seen it, but for a modem thing the 
Cupid has no equal." ' 

This Cupid, which justly excited the accomplished 
Marchesa's admiration, was not, as she apparently 
knew, a genuine antique, but tiie work of a young 
Florentine sculptor, Michel Angelo Buonarroti, whose 
fame was already great in Rome. In those early days, 
when Savonarola's sermons were shaking the heart of 
Florence, the youth of twenty carved a Sleeping 
Cupid with quiver and torch at his side, which was 

' Alvisi, " Osar Borgia," Pl 537. 



^dbyGoogle 



TO MANTUA 288 

so like a Greek marble that a dealer took it to Rome 
and sold it to Cardinal Riario as an antique. The 
Cardinal found out the fraud and retmned the Cupid 
to the dealer, but invited tJie scidptor to Rome. 
Michel Angelo, indignant at the fraud which had been 
practised in his name, sought out the dealer and 
demanded him to restore his Cupid ; but the agent 
laughed him to scorn, and soon found another pur- 
chaser in the Pope's son, who, wishing to conciliate 
the Duke of Urbino, presented him with this Cupid 
and an antique torso of Venus. Guidohaldo, it seems, 
set great store on this Cupid, and when, towards the 
close of ld08, he had recovered his dominions, he told 
Cattaneo, the Mantuan agent at the Papal court, that 
he wished the Marchesa would restore his statue. But 
Isabella replied with her usual readiness that, glad as 
she was to hear that the Duke was recovering his scat- 
tered b^asures, she must remind him that he had 
given her permission to ask Borgia for the Cupid; 
and, to prove her case, sent Cattaneo Guidobaldo's 
own letter on the subject After this there was 
nothing left for the Didce but to beg the Marchesa 
to keep the statue and to assure her that his person 
and property were altogether at her disposal.' So the 
Cupid remained in the famous Grotta, where it is 
mentioned in the inventory of 1542, as the work of 
MichelagTiolo JiorenUno. 

De Thou, who visited the Castello in 1578, 
prised the statue highly, and in June 1680, Charles 
the First's agent, Daniel Nys, mentions it together 
with the Cupids of Praxiteles and Sansovino as the 
tarest objects in the ducal collection. There seems little 
doubt that this Cupid, which Michel Angelo carved, 
1 Luilo is Ank. SL lomi., 1886: 



^dbyGoogle 



284 THE LOST CUPID 

and which bad so strange a story, and both Guido- 
baldo and Isabella valued so highly, came to England 
in 1682, with the rest of the Mantuan art-treasures, 
and for a while adorned the palace of Whitehall or 
the halls of Hampton Court. But nothing is known 
of its fate in after years, and it probably disappeared 
with so many other rare and precious things at the 
sale of Charles the First's collections. 



^dbyGoogle 



CHAPTER XIV 

1508—1608 

Louis XII. at Milsn — He receives the exiled princes and the 
Marquis of Mantua — Cssar Borgia arrives at Milan and con- 
clades an agreement with the king — Isabella's warnings to 
her husband — The Duke and Duchess of Urbino forc«l to 
leave Mantaa and take shelter at Venice — Francesco Gon- 
saga goes to France — Isabella governs Mantua — Her nego- 
tiations with Borgia regarding her son's marriage — Cesar's 
carapaigu in Romagna — Treacherous murder of Vitellouo and 
his companions — Isabella sends Valentino a present of- masks 
— Death of the Pope and sudden revolution in Rome — 
Return of Duke Guidobaldo to Urbino — Election of Pope 
Pius III. 

All the victims of Ciesar Borgia's high-handed poUcy, 
and all those who looked with alarm at his rapid 
success, now turned to the French king for help. 
Early in July, Louis XII. crossed the Alps to make 
preparations for war against the Spanish forces, who, 
under Gonsalvo di Cordova, had attacked his troops 
in Naples. On the 28th he entered Milan, bringing 
wit^ him Federico of Aragon, the ex-king of Naples, 
and attended by the Duke of Ferrara and the Mar- 
quis of Mantua, who bad joined him a week before 
at Vigevano. Here, too, came Uie unfortunate Duke 
of Urbino and Giovanni Sforza to plead their cause 
agunst Valentino. Louis received the exiled princes 
with fair promises, and Francesco Gonzaga was be- 
ginning to talk loudly of av^i^ng their wrongs, 
when Cfesar Bo^ia himself appeared suddenly on 



^dbyGoogle 



286 ISABELLA'S FEARS 

the scene. " This inscrutable Duke," as Machiavelli 
calls him, " who hardly ever speaks, but always acts," 
left his victorious army in Umbria, and after paying 
a flying visit to his sister Lucrezia, who had given 
birth to a dead child and was lying dangerously ill 
at Ferrara, reached Milan on the 7lJi of August. 
His coming changed the face of affairs and destroyed 
EUsabetta Gonzaga's last hopes. He accompanied 
the king to Genoa on the 26th, and did not take 
leave of him until Louis had promised him his sup- 
port in completing the conquest of Central Italy in 
return for his help against the Spaniards in Naples. 

All this while Isabella was going through agonies 
of fear and suspense. The imprudent words which 
her husband had spoken in pubhc agfunst Valentino 
had filled her with alarm for his safety, and she im- 
plored him repeatedly in her letters to be more care- 
ful in future, and, above all, to take every precaution 
against poison, knowing the unscrupulous nature of 
the Duke and the crimes which he had already 
committed. 

" I cannot conceal my fears for your person and 
State," she writes on the 28rd of July, only the day 
after she had received Borgia's gift of tiie Venus 
and Cupid. " It is generally believed that His 
Most Christian Majesty has some understanding with 
Valentino, so I beg of you to be careful not to use 
words which may be repeated to him, because in 
these days we do not know who is to be trusted.' 
. . . There is a report here — whether it has come 
from Milan by letter or word of mouth, I do not 
know — ^that Your Excellency has spok«i angry words 
against Valentino before the Most Christian King 
■ D'AicOj Notixie tfltabelia, p. 59. 



^dbyGoogle 



FOR HER LORD'S SAFETY 287 

and the Pope's servants, and whether this is true or 
not, they will doubtless reach the ears of Valentino, 
who, having already shown that he does not scruple 
to conspire against those of his own blood, will, I 
am certain, not hesitate to plot against your person. 
And being jealous for your life, which I count dearer 
than my own, and knowing how your natural good- 
ness leads you to take no precautions for your safety, 
I have made inquiries of Antonio da Bologna and 
others, and hear firom them that you allow all manner 
of persons to serve you at table, and that Alessandro 
da Baesso eats with you, leaving grooms and pages 
to do the offices of carvers and cupbearers. So that 
I see it would be perfectly easy for any one to poison 
Your Excellency, since you have neither guards nor 
proper servants. I pray uid implore you therefore, 
if you will not take care for your own sake, to be 
more careful for my s^e and that of our little son, 
and I hope that you will in future order Alessandro to 
discharge his office of carver with the greatest caution. 
If he cannot do this, I will send Antonio or some 
other trustworthy servant, because I had rather run 
the risk of makkig you angry than that both I and 
our little one should be left to weep for you." 

She added the following postscript in her own 
writing : " My dearest lord, do not laugh at my fears 
and say that women are cowards and always afraid, 
because their malignity is &r greater than my fears 
and your own courage. I would have written all 
this letter with my own hand, but the heat is so 
great we are nearly dead. The boy is very well and 
sends you a kiss. — Isabella, who longs to see Your 
Highness." ' 

> Luzio e Reoier, Mjmtova e Vrhmo, p. 137. 



^dbyGoOgle 



288 CiESAR BORGIA AT MILAN 

At the same time Isabella wrote to ha old friend, 
Niccolo da Corre^gio, who had also gone to meet 
King Louis, begging him to acquaint her with all 
that w^ happening at Milan. 

On the 8th of August, Niccolo, ever loyal to her 
wishes, wrote to tell her of Caesar Borgia's imexpected 
arrival, and of the affectionate way in which the 
King had welcomed him : — 

" To obey your ordas I must tell you that last 
night Duke Valentino arrived here on horseback. 
I cannot tell you with what warm demonstrations of 
friendship His Christian Majesty welcomed him. 
He was returning fix>m the house of Messer Trivulzio, 
when he met the Lord Duke arriving fiixim the 
Porta Romana, and, embracing him with great joy, 
he led him to the Castello, and lodged him in the room 
nearest to his own. He himself ordered the Duke's 
supper, choosing certain favourite dishes, and he 
visited him three or- four times in the course of the 
evening, even when he had put on his night-shirt 
and was about to go to bed I He ordered seneschals 
and servants for the said Duke, and b^ged him to 
weu- his own shirts and clotiies, saying that he is not 
to ask any one else for what he needs, but make 
use of the king's wardrobe, carriages and horses, as 
if they were his own. Only think, His Majesty 
went so far as to propose that a litter for the 
camp, to suit the Duke's taste, should be provided. 
In fact, he could not do more for a son or brother. 
Yesterday, being Sunday, His Christian Majesty 
went to mass at San Stefano, where Duke Galeazzo 
was murdered, and ^erwards dined in the house of 
your illustrious father, the Duke of Ferrara, which is 
now occupied by Messer Teodoro di Trivulzio, and 



^dbyGoogle 



FAVOUR OF LOUIS XII. 289 

went to a dance at the house of Francesco Ber- 
nardino Visconti, and after supper he went to see 
some more dancing in the house of Bishop Fallavicini 
outside the Porta Lenza, and the Lord Duke accom- 
panied His Majesty on horseback, and did not return 
to the Castdlo until past nine. I did not go to the 
festa, but hear that Ippolito was at the Bishop's 
house. This morning the king is gone to dine at 
Binasco, where he remains to-night, and goes on to 
supper at Pavia to-morrow. The illustrious Lord 
Duke, your father, will also go to Pavia, starting 
three or four hours earUer. His Christian Majesty 
goes on to Genoa, not, as was said at first, to Parma, 
since he is returning to France sooner than was 
expected. I do not know what else to tell Your 
Highness of public matters, for it is rash to pro- 
nounce any judgment in these times. But the 
Signor Marchese will soon return, and will tell you 
more of these caresses between the Duke and the 
king."' 

This letter confirmed Isabella's worst fears. She 
used all her influence to induce her husband to pay 
court to the dreaded Valentino. As a further pre- 
caution, she induced him to write a letter expressing 
his friendly sentiments for the Duke, which she could 
show to the chamberlain who had just presented her 
with the two antiques. Her fears, as it turned out, 
were not unfounded, for Sanuto reports that Francesco 
publicly denounced Caesar Borgia as a bastard and a 
priest's son, and that Valentino, on arriving at Milan, 
openly challoiged him to fight. During mass the 
next day the Marquis told the Venetian envoy that 
he would fight the Duke single-handed with sword 
1 LiuiOj " Nicoolo da Cotreggio," in Giont. St. d. Lett., xzi p. 340. 



^dbyGoogle 



240 THE EXILED PRINCES 

and da^er, and boasted that he would deliver Italy. 
King Louis, however, succeeded in reconciling the 
two princes, and when he returned to France they 
parted good friends. In a conversation which Borgia 
had at Genoa with the Mantuan treasurer, Ghivizzano, 
he laid stress on his friendly feelings for his lord, and 
on the Pope's esteem for both Francesco and his 
wife, but insisted that if the Marquis wished to 
remun his ally, he must not keep the exiled Duke 
at his court. Accordingly, on the 9th of September, 
both the Duke and Duchess of Urbino left Mantua, 
Elisabetta declaring that her husband would be 
exposed to greater peril without her, and that she 
would never leave him, were they to die in an 
hospital. Fortunately they found shelter at Venice, 
which, Sanuto remarks, became tiie refuge and resort 
of all the princes whom Duke Valentino had expelled, 
and were hospitably received by the Signory, who 
gave t^em a pension and a house at Canareggio.^ 
But poor Elisabetta was reduced to the greatest 
straits for want of money. At one time she even 
entertained the idea of entering the service of the 
Queen of France, Anne de Bretagne, who, in the 
kindness of her heart, had sent the unhappy Duchess 
generous offers of help. But she could not make up 
her mind to leave her husband, while no power on 
earth would induce her to accept Valentino's offer of 
a liberal pension if she would consent to Uie dissolu- 
tion of her marriage, and Guidobdhlo would agree to 
renounce his patrimony and become a faiest. 

In these melancholy circumstances Isabella showed 
the same tender affection and sympathy for her un- 
fortunate relatives. She ventured to ask Duke 
> Dittrii, iv. 389, 701. 



^dbyGoogle 



ELISABETTA AT VENICE 241 

Valentino for the recovery of Emilia Pia's property, 
and sent her trusted seneschal Alessandro da Baesso 
and other members of her household constantly to 
and &o with letters and presents to Elisabetta. On 
the 5th of October she wrote as follows : — 

" My dear and honoured Sister, — ^The good news of 
your safe arrival at Venice, and of the kind reception 
which you have had both in public and private, re- 
joiced my heart, and I thank you warmly for your 
letters. I could not answer before, because I had no 
messenger to send, but now that Alessandro is going 
to you, I would not put off" writing any longCT. You 
will hear from him that my lord and all of us are 
well, excepting Leonora, who still has fever. We 
have weaned Federico, who after the first night and 
day has got over it easily. My lord starts to-morrow 
for France as arranged. Your Highness may think 
how sad I am without your conversation, but I hope 
you will console me by writing constantly, and I will 
do the same, and commend myself to you as well as 
to the illustrious Lord Duke and Madonna Emiha." ^ 

But when, a few days after this, Guidobaldo, 
responding to the call of his old subjects, made a 
desperate attempt to recover his throne, the Marquis 
turned a deaf ear to his sister's entreaties, uid refused 
to lift a hand against his ally, Duke Valentino. As 
might have been expected, his gallant effort proved 
fruitless, and the love of his people availed little 
against the might of Borgia. Guidobaldo was forced 
to fly from Urbino a second time, but fell danger- 
ously ill at Citt^ di Castello. It was not until the 
end of January that he succeeded in escaping to 
Venice. During some weeks EJisabetta remained 

^ Lusio, ilattowt e Urbmo, p. 145. 

VOL. 1. a 



^dbyGoogle 



242 THE MARQUIS IN FRANCE 

ignorant of his iate, and Sigismondo Gonzaga, who 
hastened to Venice and tried to comfort her, gave 
Isabella a piteous account of her sorrow and anxiety. 

Meanwhile, Francesco Gonzaga had started for 
France on the 6th of October, as Isabella informed 
the Duchess, on the invitation of King Louis, who 
wished to consult him on Italian affairs and hoped to 
secure his help against the Spaniards. He had pro- 
mised his wife that he would be at home for Christ- 
mas, and Isabella's letters show how eagerly his 
return was expected. 

" After I sent my last letter," she writes on the 
2nd of December, " Federico wished to have supper 
with me, which he did with the most charming grace 
in the world, and afterwards, as he was at play with 
ten gold ducats before him, 1 made some one knock 
at the door and pretend that a poor beggar was 
asking for alms. Upon which he took up a ducat at 
once, and without any prompting, desired the money 
to be given him, saying : ' Tell him to pray to God 
for me and also for my Pa.^ This delighted all who 
were present. I hope this childish inspiration will 
have the effect of soon bringing you home, where 
your presence is eagerly desired." ^ 

But Louis XII. insisted on taking the Marquis 
to spend Christinas in his chateau at Loches, and 
eventually kept him at his court xmtil the end of 
January. Both the King and Queen treated Fran- 
cesco with marked courtesy, and Anne of Brittany 
renewed an offer which she had formerly made to 
educate his daughter Leonora at her court and marry 
her to a prince of the blood-royal. This plan was 
eventually abandoned, but at one time it seems to 

> Liui*, Preeettvri, f. 3t. 



:dbv Google 



QUEEN ANNE OF BRITTANY 248 

have been seriously entertmned, as we leam from a 
curious autograph letter addressed by the Queen to 
Isabella, which is still preserved in the Gonzaga 
archives : — 

" A ma Cousine la Marquise de Mantove. 

" Ma cousine, men cousin votre mari m'a dit que 
lui et vous me veuliez bailler votre fille pour estre 
avee mey et vous la m'envoyerez, mais que eussiez 
sceu mon vouloir. Ma cousine, envoiez la moi quant 
vais voudrez, car je la traieteray tout ainsi que si elle 
estoit myenne, et pouvez estre seure, ma cousine, que 
tout ce que je pouiriez faire pour vous, toujours my 
employereay de bon coeur. Priant Dieu, ma cousine, 
qu'il vous ait en sa garde.~Votre bonne cousine, 
Anne. 

" Escript h, Loehes, le 15 jour Decembre." ' 

During her husband's absence, Isabella adminis- 
tered public affairs with her usual tact and ability, 
and managed to keep Duke Valentino in good 
humour. The negotiations regarding Federieo's 
marriage and Sigismondo's Cardinalate still dragged 
on, and the Duke sent an envoy to Mantua to dis- 
cuss tiie terms of the contract with the Marchesa. 
But both parties regarded each other with mutual 
suspicion, and in her letter to Francesco, Isabella 
complained that the Pope returned equivocal answers 
as to the Cardinal's hat, while the Duke refused to 
fix the amount of his daughter's dowry. Ctesar's 
object, it is clear, was to gain time, and to keep in 
touch with the Gonzagas and with France, until the 
dream of his life was successfully accomplished, and 
he had established one great kingdom of Central 
Italy. All through the autumn of 1502, he continued 

1 L. PelisBicr, Revue hutorigue, 1891. 



^dbyGoOgle 



244 MASSACRE OF SINIGAGLIA 

his career of conquest After quelling the rebellion 
in Urbino, he marched ag^nst Siniga^a, which was 
held by Guidobaldo's sister Giovanna for her young 
son Francesco della Rovere, and captured and sacked 
the town. Then he seized Perugia and Cittk di Cas- 
tello and proceeded to attack Siena. The conquest 
of Tuscany was his next object, and he entered into 
n^otiations with the Emperor for the investitiu% of 
Pisa, Siena and Lucca. On the 1st of January 1508, he 
informed the Marchesa Isabella, who had repeatedly 
sent him congratulations on his victories, of his latest 
success at Sinigaglia, and of the cold-blooded murder 
of his old colleagues, Vitellozzo, Oliverotto, and their 
companions. This treacherous act, which Machia- 
velli describes as the " belUssimo inganno di Sini- 
gaglia," forms the subject of a long letter which 
Isabella wrote to her husband on the 10th of January, 
and which throws considerable light on the political 
situation. 

"My dear Lord, — Much as I desire Your High- 
ness's return, and impatiently as I long to see you 
again, I quite imderstand from your letter of the 16th 
of December, which the muleteer has brought me, 
that the cause of your delay is honourable and useful 
to Your Excellency as well as agreeable to His Most 
Christian Majesty. This being the case, I am content 
with your explanations, and take no little pleasure 
and comfort in hearing how much favour and atten- 
tion is paid you by His Majesty. The feet that he 
supplies you with money from his own purse, over 
and above the pension which you receive, is in 
itself, as you say, a great sign of affection. I thank 
you warmly for telling me this, and have communi- 
cated the good news to the most revered Proto- 



^dbyGoogle 



TREACHERY OF C^SAR BORGIA 245 

notary, the Magnifico Giovanni Gonzaga, and other 
of our gentlemen, who feel no small pleasm% in 
hearing that you are so highly honoured. After my 
last letter of the 8rd, I should not have written 
again if I had not received yoiu* letter, from which 
I gather that this one will reach you before you 
leave Lyons. Although you have doubtless heard 
of the capture and death of the confederates of La 
Marca, I will tell you the accoimt which I have 
received from our mutual brother. Signer Giovanni. 
On the Srd he wrote to say that the illustrious Lord 
I>uke of Romagna was congratulating himself with 
Signor Giovanni Bentivoglio on the capture at 
Sinigaglia of Paolo Orsini, Vitellozzo, the Duke of 
Gravina and Oliverotto de Fermo. He justifies his 
action because, in spite of the pardon which they 
had received from His Holiness and His ExceDency 
after their former rebellion, they came to Sinigaglia 
as soon as the French troops were gone, with the 
intention of seizing his person. Fortunately he 
heard of this and was able to forestall their action 
and treat them as they would have treated him. 
The said captains went to Sinigaglia by order of the 
Duke, with his safe conduct, and took possession of 
the town in his name and then rode out to meet 
him. The Duke shook hands with them and em- 
braced them, re-entered the town riding between 
Vitellozzo and the Duke of Gravina, and talking with 
them. But as soon as they entered the house where 
he took up his abode, be made them prisoners with 
his own bands, and they were led away bound and 
condenmed to die the next morning. Both Vitellozzo 
and Oliverotto had their heads cut off. By the same 
letter I hear that the Frefetessa, bearing of the 



^dbyGoogle 



246 ISABELLA'S ACCOUNT 

Duke's advance, abandoned the town, leaving the 
Rocca well defended, and went by Florence to 
Genoa, to join S. Pietro in Vincula (her brother-in- 
law, Cardinal Giuliano), which Francesco Malatesta 
also confirms. Signor Giovanni wrote on the 5th, 
to say that the Lord Duke had informed his brother- 
in-law (Annibale Bentivoglio) of the death of 
Vitellozzo and Oliverotto, and that the Duke of 
Gravina and Paolo Orsini are prisoners, and will 
shortly be put to death in their turn. From Rome 
we htttt of the imprisonment of Cardinal Orsini, 
and M. Giovanni Lucido (Cattaneo), writing fix>m 
Rome on the Srd, tells me that the Pope threw 
Rinaldo Orsini, Cardinal Archbishop of Flor^ice, 
and Giacomo Sante Croee into prison on the same 
day, and that all Rome has taken up arms in self- 
defence. But the Pope is well prepared and there 
will not be any revolt. Signor Giovanni tells me 
that the Duke left Sinigaglia after the town had been 
sacked by his troops, and hastened against Perugia, 
^ere Giovanni BagUoni and his men-at-arms sur- 
rendered. I hear that a plot has been made in 
Siena against Pandolfo Petrucci, who has imprisoned 
twenty-two citizens, and put three of the chief 
among them to death. The Lord Duke has written 
a very courteous letter to Signor Giovanni Benti- 
voglio, begging him to conclude an alliance with 
him, and asking for 100 hgbt horse and 80 men- 
at-arms, whom he is sending under the Cavaliere 
della Volta. I also hear that Signor Giovanni 
Maria da Camerino has fled and that his women 
are gone to Florence, and the people of Ancona 
have sent envoys to the Duke promising to pay 
him obedience. No one knows where the Duke 



^dbyGoogle 



OF BORGIA'S CONQUESTS , 247 

of Urbino is, but, from what we hear, we think 
that he escaped from Citt^ di Castello through the 
Casentino, and Modesto, who has just arrived from 
Venice, tells me it is reported there that he has 
reached a place of safety and will soon be in Venice ; 
but of this 1 have not heard either fi«m the Duchess 
or from any one else. Francesco Malatesta writes 
from Florence that the devoted friends of Your 
Excellency there are alarmed at the extraordinary 
good fortime and exaltation of the Duke of Romagna, 
and wish that you were at home, fading that they 
could better decide on their course of action if they 
knew they could depend on you and yoin- forces. 
It is said that the Pope has renewed negotiations 
Mdth the Florentines, and I hear this also frY>m 
Rome, but it is not likely that they will trust him. 
All the same, if Your Excellency has not already 
concluded this alliance, 1 beg you to make haste and 
to settle matters, while you are with the Most Christian 
King, as long as you can do this with profit and 
honour, for there is no knowing what may happen. 
As to the affairs of Naples, I hear so many different 
reports that I do not know what to beUeve, and 
leave Your Excellency to learn the truth at court 
There is nothing more to say, excepting that I and 
Federico and our other children Leonora and Livia 
are well and commend ourselves to your good graces. 
— Your obedient wife, Isabella." ^ 

A few days after writing this letter, which gives 
so graphic a picture of Ciesar Borgia's treacherous 
and vindictive acts, the Marchesa thought it well to 
conciliate the all-powerful Duke by offering him a 
present of a hundred masks, which she sent him 
1 D'Arco, Notiae ^Isabella, p. S65. 



^dbyGoogle 



248 HER GIFT TO CAESAR 

together with the following letter congratulating hira 
on his " glorious victories." 

" Most illustrious Lord, — Your kind letter inform- 
ing us of Your Excellency's fortunate progress has 
tilled us with that joy and delight which is the natural 
result of that friendship and affection which exists 
between you and ourselves, and in our illustrious 
lord's name and our own we congratulate you on 
your safety and prosperity, and thank you for inform- 
ing us of this, and also for your offer to keep us 
informed of your future successes. This we beg you 
of your courtesy to continue, since, loving you as we 
do, we are anxious to hear often of your movements, in 
order that we may rejoice in your welfare and share 
your triimiphs. And because we think that you 
should take some rest and recreation after the fatigues 
and exertions of these glorious undertakings, we send 
you a hundred masks by our servwit Giovanni, being 
weU aware that so poor a gift is unworthy of your 
acceptance, but as a token that if in our land we 
could find an offering more worthy of your greatness, 
we would gladly send it to you. If these masks are 
not as fine as they should be, Your Excellency must 
blame the masters of Ferrara, since owing to the 
law agwnst wearing masks in public, which has only 
lately been revoked, the art of making them has been 
in a great measure lost. We beg you to accept them 
as a token of our sincere goodwill and affection for 
Your Excellency. As for our alliance, we have no 
more to say until we hear the decision of His Holi- 
ness regarding the securities required for the payment 
of the dowry, which we await in order finally to 
conclude the agreement" * 

1 GregoToviiu, " LucresU Borgia," App. 



^dbyGoogle 



HIS REPLY 249 

The Duke, who not only followed the practice of 
other noble youths in riding out in disguise in search 
of adventures, but always wore a mask on his face 
in the streets of Rome,' was highly gratified by the 
Marchesa's present, and wrote to express his thanks, 
from Aquapendente, on the 1st of February : — 

"Most illustrious and excellent Madonna, hon- 
oured Comatre^ dearest Sister, — We have received 
Your Excellency's gift of a hundred masks, which 
are most acceptable to us not only on account of 
their remarkable beauty and variety, but because of 
the time and place «f their arrival, which could not 
possibly be more opportune. It seems, indeed, as 
if Your Excellency must have foreseen the order of 
our plan of campaign and our present journey to 
Rome. After having taken the city and province 
of Sinigaglia with all its fortresses, in a single 
day, and justly punished the perfidious treachery of 
our foes, we released the cities of Castello, Fermo, 
Cistema, Montone, and Perugia from the yoke chF 
tyrants, and brought them back to their old obe- 
dience to His Holiness. Last of all, we deposed 
the tyrant Pandolfo Petrucci from the dominion of 
Siena, where he had shown such atrocious cruelty. 
And these masks are above all precious to us be- 
cause they afford a fresh proof of the singular affec- 
tion which we know that you and your illustrious 
lord cherish for us, and have already shown in other 
ways, and now testify again by the long letter which 
accompanies them. For all this we thank you in- 

1 A. Giiutinkn, Ditpacd, L 418. 

* Comatre, Fr. ammire, gossip. Cssar Borgia habitually ad- 
dresses Isabella by this title because he had stood godfather to 
her SOD. 



^dbyGoogle 



250 FRANCESCO IN FRENCH SERVICE 

finitely, although the greatness of your merit and of 
your goodness towards us is beyond words, and 
claims recognition by deed. We shall wear the masks 
with pleasm«, and their perfect beauty will need no 
other ornament As for our mutual relationship, we 
are doing our utmost to bring this about, and when 
we reach Rome will see that His Holiness gives his 
consent to the contract. The prisoners for whom 
Your Excellency intercedes shall be set free, and as 
soon »s we have information to this effect, we will 
let Your Highness hear from us without delay. — Of 
Your Excellency the compare and younger brother, 
C^SAR, Duke of Romagna. From the pontifical 
camp at Aquapendente." ' 

When Cffisar Borgia wrote this letter, he was 
hurrying back to Rome to quell the rising of the 
Orsini, who, in revenge for the Pope's violent acts, 
had entrenched themselves in their fortresses of Ceri 
and Bracciano, and were ravaging the Campagna up 
to the gates of Rome. While he was ^igaged in this 
fresh warfare, news reached him of the reverses which 
the French troops had suffered in Naples. On the 
28th of April, Gonsalvo de Cordova gained a decisive 
victory over the French general, Louis d'Ars, at 
Cerignola, and soon afterwards entered Naples in 
triumph. Louis XII. lost no time in raising a new 
army, and in July the Marquis of Mantua, who had 
only lately returned from France, started for the 
South wilji La Tr^mouiUe, at the head of a con- 
siderable force. 

Isabella was once more left to hold the reins of 
state in these critical times. Since her visit to Venice 
after Lucrezia Borgia's wedding, she had not left 
' GregoroviuB, " Lucreiia Borgia," App. 



^dbyGoogle 



A MIRACLE-PLAY 251 

Mantua for a single day, but in April 1508, she paid 
a short visit to her father, and spent St. George's day 
at Ferrara, where, as usual, ^e received a warm wel- 
come. On the 24th, she wrote to her husband : — 

" Yesterday, besides receiving visits from a lai^ 
number of ladies and gentlemen, Uiese Signers, my 
brothers, remained continually with me, and about 
four o'clock my sister-in-law (Lucrezia) came to my 
room, and after conversing very pleasantly for some 
time, took me in her chariot for a drive through 
Ferrara till late, when the said Signors returned with 
me to my lodgings. To-day the representation of 
the Annunciation has been given. I went to the 
Castello to fetch this lady, who continues to ^ow me 
great honour and affection, and we went together to 
the Archbishop's hoiise, where I found my lord father, 
and saw the wooden stage which had been erected 
and sumptuously adorned for the occasion. A young 
Angel spoke the argument of the play, quoting the 
words of the Prophets who foretold the Advent of 
Christ, and the said Prophets appeared, speaking their 
prophecies translated into Italian verse. Then Mary 
appeared, under a portico supported by eight pillars, 
and began to repeat some verses from the Prophets, 
and while she spoke, the sky opened, revealing a 
figure of God the Father, surrounded by a choir of 
angels. No support could be seen either for His feet 
or for those of the angels, and six other seraphs 
hovered in the air, suspended by chains. In the 
centre of the group was the Archangel Gabriel, to 
whom God the Father addressed His word, and after 
receiving his orders, Gabriel descended with admir- 
able artifice, and stood, half-way in the air, at the 
same height as the orgim. Then, ^ of a sudden, an 



^dbyGoogle 



253 AT FERRARA 

infinite number of lights broke out at the foot of the 
angel-choir, and hid them in a blaze of glory — which 
reaUy was a thing worth seeing, and flooded all the 
sky with radiance. At that moment the Angd 
Gabriel alighted on the ground, and the iron chain 
which he held was not seen, so that he seemed to 
float down on a cloud, imtil his feet rested on the 
floor. After delivoing his message he returned with 
the other angels to heaven, to the sound of singing 
and music and melody, and there were verses recited 
by spirits, holding lighted torches in their hands and 
waving them to and fro as they stood supported in 
the air, so that it frightened me to see them. When 
they had ascended into heaven, some scenes of the 
Visitation of St. Elizabeth and St. Joseph were givoi, 
in which the heavens opened again and an angel 
descended, with the same admirable contrivance, to 
manifest the Incarnation of Jesus to Joseph, and set 
his doubts at rest regarding the Conception of the 
Holy Virgin. So the festd. ended. It lasted two 
and a half hours, and was very delightfid to see, be- 
cause of the fine machinery which I have described, 
as well as other things of the kind which I have left 
out. But the heat was great, because of the im- 
mense crowd of people. On Thursday I think we 
are to have a representation of the Magi and of the 
Innocents, of which 1 will inform Your Excellency, 
to whom I send by this courier a basket of fresh 
honeycomb. — You most devoted wife, Isabella." ^ 

On the following day the spectacle of the Magi 

offering their gifts at the cradle of Bethlehem, with 

the guiding star in the sky above, and a fine display 

of opened heaven and angelic choirs, excited great 

1 D'Arco, Notisie etUebtUa. 



^dbyGoOgle 



DEATH OF ALEXANDER VI. 258 

admiration, while the Massacre of the Innocents 
moved the spectators to tears, and many women and 
children who were present cried aloud.^ 

A Iresh sorrow awaited Isabella on her return 
home. This was the death of her sister-in-law, 
Chiara de Montpensier, whose troubled life ended 
at Mantua on the 2nd of June. The poor Duchess 
of Urbino, hving as she was in penury and exile 
at Venice, felt this fresh blow keenly, and wrote to 
Isabella saying that after losing state, home, and 
fortune, she was now deprived of the sister who had 
been to her as a mother. Suddenly an unexpected 
event turned the tide of affairs and changed the 
whole poUtical situation. 

On the 18th of August, Pope Alexander VI. 
died in the Vatican. His illness had been very 
short On the 5th of August, he uid his son Ctesar, 
who was on the point of starting to join his army 
at Perugia, and embark on a fresh series of con- 
quests, dined with Cardinal Adriano da Cometo at 
his villa. The following day Caesar wrote a letter to 
Isabella d'Este, gratefully accepting an offer of a 
couple of her dogs, which belonged to a breed that 
he admired especially. A week afterwards both he 
and his father fell seriously ill of malarial fever, 
which attacked all the guests who had dined at the 
Cardinal's villa. The old Pope, who was seventy-three 
years of age, became rapidly worse, and on the after- 
noon of the 18th CostabiU wrote to Duke Ercole,' and 
Cattaneo sent word to the Marquis of Mantua, that 
His Holiness was sinking. He died that night, but 
Cattaneo, who informed the Marquis of the event 

• D'Ancona, Origini, vol ii, 
■ Arc/mio di Stato, Modata. 



^dbyGoogle 



254 RETURN OF GUIDOBALDO 

early the next moming, says expressly that there was 
no suspicion of poison, although both father and son 
were taken ill at the same time.* 

The news spread like wildfire through the whole 
of Italy. It reached Francesco Gonzsga as he was 
marching south Mdth the French army at Parma, 
and he sent it on by express courier to Mantua. It 
rejoiced the heart of Giovanni Sforza, who was ill in 
bed himself, but told his brother-in-law that the good 
news had nearly cured his malady, and that he only 
hoped soon to hear that Valentino was also dead I It 
reached the exiled Duke and Duchess in their sad 
retreat at Venice, and Guidobaldo started without 
delay for Urbino, where the people rose in arms and 
welcomed him with acclamation. Never was an 
exiled prince greeted with such passionate delight. 
The children poured out to meet him with olive- 
branches in their hands, and hailed his return with 
triumphal songs. Old men wept tears of joy, 
women and children thronged the streets, and 
mothers held up their little ones to see the Duke, and 
told them never to forget that day. "The very 
stones," wrote Castiglione, "seemed to rejoice, and 
to sing for gladness." * Emilia Pia's secretary, who 
described the scene to the Marehesa Isabella, told 
how high-bom women danced with glee in the 
streets, and old blind men of eighty were led up to 
the Duke, and asked leave to touch him with their 
hands that they might be sure he was there again. 
" Some brought their children in arms to see him ; 
others uttered words which would have moved the 

' Archivio Goitsaga, quoted in Pastor, "History^of the Popes," 
vi., App. 

^ Serassi, iMUrt tli Ctuti^ioite. 



^dbyGoogle 



PAPAI. CONCLAVE 235 

stones to tears." ^ Elisabetta herself wrote to tell 
Isabella the welcome which the Duke had received 
from his faithful people. She remembered how, in 
the darkest days of her distress at Mantua, the good 
Sister Osanna bade her dry her tears, since Borgia's 
dominion would prove as transitory as a blaze of straw, 
and thanked God that her words had proved true.' 

Meanwhile aH Rome was in a ferment "The 
confusion," wrote Cardinal Egidio of Viterbo, "was 
such that it seemed as if everything were going to 
pieces." Ciesar Bor^a, after vainly trying to take 
possession of Castell' Sant' Angdo, was borne in a 
Utter to Nepi, and placed himself under the pro- 
tection of the French army, which had advanced to 
Viterbo. On the 16th of September, thirty-seven 
Cardinals met in conclave. At first the French 
candidate, George d'Amboise, was thought certain of 
success, but Giuhano deUa Rovere strongly opposed 
his election; and before the conclave met, the 
Mantuan agent, Ghivizzano, wrote to the Marquis, 
saying : " The Cardinals are buzzing about us like 
bees, and intriguing in all directions, but neither 
D'Amboise nor Giuliano will be Pope: it will be 
Siena or S. Prassede." The issue proved that he was 
right. On the 22nd the aged Cardinal Ficcolomini 
of Siena was elected. "A good man," says Ghivizzano, 
"whose previous life and acts of charity make the 
people hope that as a Pope he will be the very 
reverse of Alexander VI. And so they are beside 
themselves with joy." ' On the same day Francesco 

' Luzio e Renter, Mantova e Urbino, p. 1 4^. 
^ Donesmondi, Sloria Eccl. tU Mantova, ii. 

• ArcMoio Goazaga; Pastor, "Histoiy of the Popes," vol. vi. 
p. 619. 



^dbyGoogle 



256 THE POPE'S DEATH-BED 

Gonzaga wrote a remarkable letter to his wife from 
the French camp outside the walls of Rome, telling 
her of the Pope's election, and repeating the legend 
which had already sprung up in the popular mind, 
that the devil himsdf had come to fetch the soul of 
the hated Borgia. 

"Most illustrious and beloved Wife, — In order 
that you may hear the latest details which have 
reached us of the Pope's death, we write to inform 
you how, in his last illness, he began to speak and 
act in a way which made those about him think that 
he was wandering, although he retained perfect 
possession of his faculties. His words were : * I will 
come, you are right, only wait a Uttle longer,' and 
those who were in his secrets afterwards revealed that 
in the conclave held after the death of Innocent III. 
he had made a compact with the devil and had bought 
the papal tiara at the price of bis souL One article 
of the compact was that he should sit in the papal 
chair for twdve years, which he actually did, as 
well as four more days. There are others who say 
that seven devils were in the room at tiie moment 
when he gave up the ghost And when he was dead, 
his blood began to boil, and his mouth foamed as if he 
were a burning caldron, and this lasted as long as he 
was above ground. His corpse swelled to such a size 
that it lost the very shape of a human body, and there 
was no diflference between its breadth and length. 
He was carried to the grave with little honour, his 
body being dragged from the bed to the sepulchre by 
ajacckino, who fastened a cord to his feet, because no 
one would touch him, and his funeral was so miserable 
that the wife of the lame dwarf at Mantua had a 
more honourable buri^ than this Pope. And every 



^dbyGoogle 



ELECTION OF PIUS III 257 

day the most shameful inscriptions are written over 
his grave for his last epitaph. To-day we hear that 
Siena is elected Pope. He is said to be a neutral 
person, without passions or party. We are altogether 
at the service of Your Highness, and beg you to kiss 
Federico many times. We have sent to ask for 
victuals and a passage through Home for our army, 
as had been abeady promised, but since the new Pope 
had not yet been elected, we do not know what 
answer to expect We hear that the enemy are at 
Genazzano and are advancing against us. Mon- 
seigneur Tremoglia is ill and has been forced to retire, 
so we are left in command of the camp. Berie valeat. 
Conjux Marchio Mantuce. Ex Insula. 22 Sept. 
1508. Xmo Regis Locum tenerUis GeTieraUs." ] 

' Gregoroviu8, "LucrcaU Borgia," App. p. 123. 



D,„l,z.dbyG00gle 



CHAPTER XV 

1503—1605 

Death of Pius III.— Election of Julius II.— Return of ElisabetU to 
Urbiao— Cces«r Borgia sent to Spain, and his capture — Birth 
of Isabella's daughter IppoUta — Francesco Goneaga resigns 
his command of the French armies — Returns to Mantua — The 
French lose Naples — Comedies at Urbino, Mantua, and 
Ferntra — Death of Duke Ercole — Quarrels and plots of the 
Este brothers — Marriage of Francesco Maria della Rovere 
and Leonora GoDeaga — Sigismondo Gomaga raised to the 
Cardinalate — Letters of Emilia Pia — Castiglione and Bembo — 
Death of Suor Osanna — A Dominican vicar-general — Birth 
of Isabella's son Ercole. 

The election of Pope Pius III. proved to be only a 
temporary measure. The new Pontiff was rfready 
worn out with age and infirmities, and the fatigues of 
his coronation, added to the anxieties of his office, 
brought on a fatal illness of which he died on the 
17th of October, only a month after his elevation to 
the papal see. This time all parties agreed to choose 
Giuliano della Rovere, and on the 1st of November, 
after the shortest conclave ever known in the long 
history of the Papacy,' he was proclaimed Pope under 
the title of Julius II. His election produced a 
complete revolution in the policy of the Holy See. 
The Duke of Urbino, whose sister was the wife 
of Giovfumi della Rovere, Prefect of Rome, was 
appointed Captain - general of the Church, with 
Giovanni Gonzaga as his lieutenant, and his nephew 

> Pastor, " History of the Popes, " vi. 210. 



:dbv Google 



ELISABETTA RETURNS TO URBINO 259 

Francesco deUa Rovere, the son of Julius the 
Second's brother, was pubUcly recognised as heir to 
the duchy. EUsabetta, who had remained in Venice 
until peace and order were restored in her lord's 
dominions, now took leave of the Doge and Senate, 
uid after thanking them publicly for the hospitality 
which she had received at their hands, returned to 
Urbino the first week in December. On the 11th, 
her seneschal, Alexander Picenardi, gave Isabella the 
following account of the rejoicings which hailed her 
entry: — 

" Most illustrious Mistress, — I venture to give 
Your Highness an account of the entry of Her 
Excellency the Madonna into Urbino, but could not 
describe the disasters and discomfort that we suffered 
from bad weather, bad roads and bad hostelries 
between Venice and Urbino. When at length we 
were four miles from Urbino, the whole population 
poured out to meet her, chanting Te Deums, with 
olive-boughs in their hands and crying 'Gom&g& 
and Feltrol' And when we reached Urbino, a 
great number of gentlemen and citizens were 
at the gates, and came out to greet her with the 
greatest joy, kissing and clasping her hand with tears 
of tenderness, so that it was three hours before Her 
Excellency could reach the Piazza. Then she 
ali^ted from her horse in front of the Vescovado 
and entered the church, where aH the ladies of Urbino 
were assembled, bringing her an olive-branch with 
golden leaves, and all with one voice called out Her 
Excellency's name and embraced her with great joy. 
Then Monsignore the Bishop, robed in his vestments, 
took Madonna the Duchess by the hand and led her to 
kneel down before the high altar, where all the deigy 



:dbv Google 



260 THE COURT OF URBINO 

were assembled, and they b^an to sing Te Deum 
laudamug and other devout prayers. When the 
blessing had been given, they came out of church and 
entered the palace, accompanied by the Bishop and 
all the clergy and a great multitude of people, and 
they remained in the palace till past midnight, and 
every day and every night Her Excellency has been 
f^ted in this manner. She is very well and com- 
mends herself to Your Illustrious Highness, and, poor 
as I am, I venture to throw myself at your feet, and 
hope Your ExceUency with forgive my presumption. 
— Your most faithful servant, Auexandee, Sene- 
schal." ^ 

Thus the good Duchess came back to reign over 
this people who adored her, and charm the hearts of 
men by her gentleness and sweetness. For the next 
few years the court of Urbino shone with more than 
its old lustre, and the most brilliant cavaliers and 
most accompUshed scholus and artists — Castiglione 
and Bembo, Cristoforo Romano and TUnico Aretino — 
sought a home in this palace, where Guidobaldo and 
Elisabetta held up before the world a noble example 
of the purest virtue and the most refined culture. 

By d^rees the home of the Montefeltri regained 
its former splendour. It is true that the priceless 
tapestries of the Trojan war were never recovered, 
but the famous library, and many of the treasures 
of art which the palace had formerly contwned, were 
restored by Caesar Borgia, who, in his anxiety to 
conciliate ibe new Pope, was abject in his professions 
of ftioidship for the Duke, whom he had wronged so 
cruelly. But the election of Juhus II. had sealed his 
doom. He was too dangerous a rival to be allowed to 
' Liuio e Renier, op, ck., p. 150. 



^dbyGoOgle 



CiESAR BORGLA'S END 281 

remun in Rome, and after surrendering the chief for- 
tresses of Romagna to the Pope, he went to Naples. 
Here Gonsalvo de Cordova arrested him by order of 
King Ferdinand of Aragon, in spite of a safe conduct 
which had been giren him. He was sent to Spain in 
August 1504, and after languishing for two years in 
prison, succeeded in making his escape from the 
Tower of Medina del Campo, and feU in March 1507, 
at Viana, fighting for his brother-in-law, the King of 
Navarre, against Castile. So this hero of great 
powers and greater audacity, whose extraordinary 
career had filled Italy with amazement, and whose 
name struck terror into every heart, died at the early 
age of thirty-one, and the meteor which had Hashed 
upon the world with sudden brilliancy, vanished into 
night Six months after his father's death he was 
already forgotten in Rome. " Of Valentino," wrote 
the Mantuan envoy, Giovanni Lucido, "one hears 
no more." To the last he remained on friendly 
terms with the Gonzagas, and when he reached 
Pampeluna, he wrote a long account of his escape 
to the Marquis, signing himself, " Your Compare et 
minore frateUo," and telling him that now, after all 
his labour and efforts, he was at length a fi%e man. 
And Lucrezia, in her letters to Francesco, thanks 
him repeatedly for " the singular and truly fraternal 
love that you have ever shown to my brother the 
Duke." 

While these strange events were thrilling the 
heart of Italy, and one Pope was succeeding the 
other at the Vatican, Isabella rem^ed at Mantua, 
directing the govoiunent in her husband's absence, 
and much occupied with her little son. On the 
12th of November, she took the three-year-old child 



^dbyGoogle 



262 MESSEK VIGILIO 

to see an Italian comedy, the " Formicone," adapted 
from Apuleius, acted by some pupils of Francesco 
Vi^o, who held a pubUc school in Mantua, and 
whom she had already determined in her own mind 
to choose for Federico's tutor. The performance was 
admirable, and Isabella, in writing to her lord, tells 
him that " a son of our steward distinguished himself 
in the part of a servant, and will be of great use in 
our comedies, while Federico was surrounded by a 
fine troop of children." But the Marquis disapproved 
alike of Messer Francesco and of his comedies, and 
wrote back rudely that Isabella need not take 
Federico to those plays and encourage Vino's 
hopes of having the child for a pupil, since he meant 
the boy to have Uttle book-learning, and acquire that 
little from other teachers, and hoped soon to take 
him out to fight at his side and make a man of 
him.' 

The day on which Isabella attended the repre- 
sentation of Messer Vigilio's comedy was marked by 
another event, as we learn from her brother-in-law 
the Protonotary's letter to the Marquis. 

" Yesterday I went with this illustrious Madonna 
and Signor Federico to the school of Messer Fran- 
ceso, whose scholars recited a fine comedy exceedingly 
welL It was a very pretty sight, and pleased us all 
highly. Afterwards we drove as usual to take the air 
in the town, and returned to the Castello about 
five o'clock ; and Madonna sat down to cards to 
spend the evening after her usual custom, and played 
till after eight. Then she rose from the table and 
told me that she would not come to supper as she 
felt pmns, and went to her room, and we sat down 
' IVAacoiu, Oriffm, iL 389, and Lusio, Ftdenco Ottaggio, p. 62. 



^dbyGoogle 



BATTLE OF THE GARIGLIANO 268 

to table, and 1 supped in the Castello. And before 
we had finished, the said Madonna gave birth to a 
little girl, and although we greatly desired a boy, 
yet we must be content with what is given us." ^ 

This fourth daughter who was bom to Isabella 
received the name of IppoUta, and became a mm in 
the Dominican convent of S. Vincenzo. 

Meanwhile Francesco GonzAga. was conducting 
the campaign in the kingdom of Naples under great 
difficulties. The French troops under his command 
were turbulent and imdisciplined, his movements were 
impeded by heavy floods, and his plans were foiled by 
the superior generalship of the Great Captain, although 
he succeeded in crossing the river Garigliano and 
relieving Gaeta. At length, heartily sick of the 
task, and being unable, in the words of the Venetian 
diarist, " any longer to endure the pride, quarrels, and 
disobedience of the French," he resigned his command 
on the plea of illness, and returned to Mantua.* A 
few weeks after his departure, on the 28th of De- 
cember, the French were completely defeated in a 
battle on the banks of the GarigUano, and Piero dei 
Medici, who fou^t on the French side, was drowned 
in the river. The fortress of Gaeta, which Gonsalvo 
had long blockaded in vain, now surrendered, and 
Naples was lost to France. On the 11th of Feb- 
ruary a treaty was signed at Lyons by which 
Louis XII. gave up all claim to the kingdom, and 
Ferdinand of Aragon remuned in undisputed pos- 
session of Southern Itidy. 

Francesco's return and the restoration of Duke 
Guidobaldo to his duchy were celebrated with bril- 

' Lusio e Reoier in Giont, Si. d. Lett. It., vol. xxxiv. p. 27. 
' M. Suiuto, vol xxiv. 



^dbyGoogle 



264 PLAYS AT FERRARA 

liant fgtes both at Mantua and Urbino. Among the 
dramatic performances given at the Duke's court, 
was the so-caUed Comedy of Pope Alexander VI. and 
Valentino, a representation which included Lucrezia's 
wedding, Cffisar Borgia's conquest of Urbino, the death 
of the Pope, and the triumphant return of Guidobaldo 
and Elisabetta.' 

Duke Ercole came to Mantua at Isabella's urgent 
entreaty, and highly commended the series of come- 
dies that were given' in his honour. After he had 
returned home, a dramatic version of the history of 
Joseph, by a Ferrara poet, was given in the ducal 
theatre, and Isabella's old friend, the chamberlain 
Bernardo dei Prosperi, sent her full accounts of the 
performance. "Yesterday," he writes, "this Signor 
had the first part of the story of Joseph represented, 
up to his imprisonment in Egypt. It was very 
touching, and admirably acted in perfect silence, 
because we have adopted the good customs learnt 
at Mantua, and no longer allow every rogue to 
come in and interrupt the performance. There was 
no music but that of the organ and some flutes, 
which were very soft and pleasant to hear."' The 
Duke's health had lately given much cause for 
anxiety, and he was no longer able to ride ; but in 
July he travelled in a litter to Florence to pay his 
vows at the shrine of the Annunziata. After his re- 
turn he fell seriously ill, and Isabella hurried to Fer- 
rara to nurse him. But he rallied again, and retained 
his keen interest in literary subjects. On the 27th of 
October Isabella sent him one of the satirical pro- 
ductions known as predicke d^amore, which had been 

> D'AncoDa, Orifftu, iL 21 ; Ugolini, Storia di Urbino, U. 138. 
* D'Anconaj op. dt. 



^dbyGoogle 



DEATH OF ERCOLE D'ESTE 265 

lately composed at Milan by a witty Mar named 
Fra Stoppino.' He lingered on through the winter 
months, and died on the 25th of January 1505.^ 

Alfonso, who had been absent on a long journey 
to France, England, and Spain, hurried home on 
hearing of his father's illness, and the day after his 
death, rode through Ferrara clad in white, during 
a heavy fall of snow. A bold soldier and mighty 
hunter, the new Duke was a man of extraordinary 
physical strength, and would spend whole nights in 
the marshes of Comacchio, tracking wild boars, in the 
roughest weather, to the despair of his courtiers and 
attendants. He inherited Uie artistic traditions of 
the house of Este, built the sumptuous marble villa 
of Belvedere on an island in the Po, and employed 
Giovanni Bellini and Titian to decorate the Castello. 
But his fierce and vindictive temper was the cause 
of great family dissensions, and the first year of his 
reign was marked by a terrible domestic tragedy 
which cost Isabella many tears. First of all, in 
November 1505, a quarrel arose between Cardinal 
Ippolito d'Este and his half-brother Giulio, an illegi- 
timate son of the late Duke, who were both in love 
Trith their sister-in-law Lucrezia's fair maid-of-honour, 
Angela Borgia. One day Angela laughingly told 
the Cardinal that his brother Giulio's eyes were worth 
more than his whole person, upon which Ippolito, in 
a fit of jealous rage, hired a band of assassins to attack 
Don Giulio on his return from a himting expedition 
at Belriguardo. The ruffians tried to put out his 
eyes and partially blinded him. Don Alfonso repri- 
manded the Cardinal sever^y, and when Don Giulio 

' Luzio e Renier, Mantooa e Urbiiio, p. 169. 
< Frlszf, Slaria di Ferrara, iv. S50. 



^dbyGoogle 



266 PLOT OF THE ESTE BROTHERS 

had recovered his sight, Niceolo da Correggio succeeded 
in effecting an apparent reconciliation between the 
brothers. But a few months afterwards Giulio entered 
into a conspiracy with his younger brother Ferrante 
to murder both the Duke and Cardinal and seize the 
duchy. The plot was discovered, and Ferrante was 
thrown into prison. Giulio fled to Mantua, where 
Isabella not only gave him shelter, but did her utmost 
to save him from Alfonso's wrath, and wrote long 
letters to her old friend Niceolo on the subject. But 
the Duke was implacable, and Niceolo visited Isabella, 
in July 1506, at her villa of Sacchetta, and laid proofs 
of Giulio's guilt before her eyes. After this the un- 
fortunate prince was given up, and imprisoned together 
with Ferrante in the dungeon of the Castello of 
Ferrara. Here the unhappy brothers were left to 
languish in captivity during the whole of Alfonso's 
reign. Ferrante died in prison in 1540, and Giulio 
was only released in 1550, two years before his death. 
By this time he was eighty-three years of age, and 
the Ferrarese chroniclers relate that when the old man 
came out of his ceU he still wore the clothes which 
had been in fashion when he was first imprisoned 
more than half a century before.' 

This tragic incident threw a gloom over Isabella's 
family life, and after 1506, her visits to Ferrara became 
less frequent than of old. But her strong family 
instincts made her cling to her father's house, and in 
the long stru^le which Alfonso maintained against 
three successive Popes, he found a loyal friend and 
supporter in his sister. 

While these dark shadows saddened Isabella's old 
home, happier events were taking place at Mantua. 

1 Frizzi, op, dL, p. S5fi. 



^dbyGoOgle 



BETROTHAL OF LEONORA GONZAGA 267 

The month of her father's death was also that of her 
daughter Leonora's betrothal to Francesco Maria 
della Rovere, the nephew and heir of her brother-in- 
law, Duke Guidobaldo. This marriage had long 
been desired by EUsabetta, and was equally agreeable 
to the Marquis of Mantua, as a means of obtaining 
the Cardinalate, which he had been striving to obtain 
for his brother during the last fifteen years. The 
Venetian ambassador, Giustiniani, mentions a re- 
port as to the proposed marriage in his despatches 
from Rome as early as 1503;' and Emiha Pia, in 
writing to Isabella at the close of 1504, remarks that 
*' the new Cardinals are to be made at Easter, and it 
is held certain that Our Reverend Monsignore, the 
Frotonotary, will be one." The official proclamation 
actually took place in the Consistory held in the 
following November, when Sigismondo GU)nzaga was 
proclaimed Cardinal, together with eight other 
prelates nominated by the Pope. In January 1505, 
Lodovico Canossa was sent to Mantua with formal 
proposals by the Duke of Urbino, and on the 2nd of 
March, the marriage was celebrated in the Vatican, 
Giovanni Gonzaga acting as his niece's represen- 
tative. The Pope insisted that the bride should 
bring her husband a dowry of 30,000 ducats, but 
only 20,000 ducats were to be paid at once, and the 
remainder of this sum at a period to be fixed by 
the Duchess EUsabetta. Leonora's portrait was sent 
to Rome, at the request of the Pope, and in a letter 
of April 80, Isabella expressed her regret to the 
Prefettessa Giovanna della Rovere that it was only a 
black and white drawing, since there was no ptunter 
at present in Mantua who could handle colours well, 

' Ditpacci, u. 359. 



^dbyGoOgle 



268 EMILIA PIA'S LETTERS 

but said that she hoped to be able to send a better 
picture soon. It was a struige excuse for Isabdla 
to advance, but Mantegna's health, we know, was 
foiling, and his son Francesco and Bonsignori were 
probably engaged elsewhere. This proposed mar- 
riage led to an active renewal of correspondence 
between the courts of Mantua aaA Urbino, and since 
Elisabetta's time was fully occupied, she often 
employed Emilia to write to Isabella in her stead. 
The letters of this witty and accomplished lady 
abound in information of the most varied description. 
She thanks iJie Marchesa for an account of the 
Queen of France's coronation, which Mario Equicola 
has sent firom Blois, and gives her in retmn all the 
latest gossip from Rome and Urbino.* She describes 
Uie funeral services in honour of Que«i Isabella of 
Spain, the banquets and representations given by Car- 
dinal Sanseverino, and the wedding of Julius the 
Second's daughter. Madonna FeUce, to Giovanni 
Orsini, the eccentric lord of Bracciano, whom Leonora's 
husband, Francesco Maria, denounced as a madman. 
She tells Isabella the marriages which are expected to 
take place, and those which have ended in smoke. 
and discourses in the same witty fashion of carnival 
plays and Lent sennons. She has a great deal to 
say of the eloquent friar, whose preaching is con- 
verting every one at court, and rejoices to hear 
that Isabella is attending the sermons of two of 
her own friends, who are giving Lent courses at 
Mantua, although they can hardly rival the Urbino 
monk. In the same letter she informs the Marchesa 
of the alarm which had been excited in Rome by 
a report, brought from Spain by the merchants of 
> Liuio e Benier, Manlova e Urbino, pp. IS8-I66. 



^dbyGoogle 



ISABELLA'S PERFUMES 269 

Valencia, that Csesar Borgia had escaped from piison. 
In reality, as Emilia expluns, Valentino had tried to 
let himself down from his prison window hy a 
rope made of his bedclothes. But his attempt 
failed. The rope gave way, and he fell and dis- 
located his shoulder. The Marchesa's lively corre- 
spondent ends by telling Her Excellency that she is 
sending her a certain kind of wood that is said to 
have a murellous property for polishing the nails 
and the hands, as well as a recipe for washing the 
teeth, which is used by the Queens at Naples. And, 
in return, Isabella sends Emilia some of the silver 
boxes containing perfiimes of her own manufocture, 
which were eagerly sought after by persons of quaUty, 
and were so highly appreciated by Fietro Bembo in 
the days when he was secretary to Pope Leo X.' 

In the summer of 1504, Elisabetta invited 
Isabella to accompany her to Rome. The Marchesa, 
who had never seen the Eternal City, was enchanted 
at the prospect, and declared that she would either 
come incogmtO) clad in black, or else as a maid in the 
Duchess's train. This journey, however, was ulti- 
mately abandoned, partly from fear of the plague in 
Rome, of which there were several cases ; partly 
because of the wish of the Pope to cut down 
expenses and restore order in the disordered finances 
of the Vatican. "This Pope," writes Emilia, "is 
so niggardly that I know not if our plan will succeed." 
But she rgoices to hear that the standards of the 
Church, which are said to be very gorgeous, and the 
b^ton of Captain -general, are on their way to 
Urbino. 

That summer a distinguished Mantuan gentle- 
1 V. Ciaa in Gwm. St. d. LeU. It., is. ISO. 



^dbyGoqgle 



270 CASTIGLIONE AND 

man, Baldassarre Castiglione, entered the Duke's 
service and settled at Urbino, much to the displeasure 
of his own Uege lord. The Marquis Francesco's 
consent had indeed been formally asked, but he was 
naturally reluctant to lose so brilliant and accom- 
plished a figure from his court. AVhen, a year 
afterwards, Guidobaldo sent him as envoy to Fernura, 
he was forbidden to cross the Mantuan frontier ; and 
when, in 1506, he went to England to receive the 
Order of the Garter, which Henry VII. conferred on 
the Duke of Urbino, Francesco refused to allow him 
to visit Mantua and embrace his mother before he 
started on this long journey. Neither EUsabetta's 
intervention nor a humble request which Castighone 
himself addressed to the Marquis could induce him 
to relent, and it was not till his return from England, 
in the spring of 1507, that he was allowed to set foot 
on his native soil. Isabella, however, proved a good 
friend to Castiglione, and earned his undying grati- 
tude by her constant efforts to appease her husband's 
resentment 

Another Mantuan subject and kinsman of Fran- 
cesco, Cesare Gonzaga, also settled at Urbino in 
these days, but always remained on friendly terms 
with the Marchesa, and was one of her constant cor- 
respondents. A devoted friend and companion of 
Castighone, he assisted him in the composition of 
the pastord pl&y< " Tirsi," which the two authors 
recited at the carnival of 1506, and is one of the chief 
speakers who figure in the " Cortigiano." Cesare 
was the brother of Luigi Gonzaga, who Uves in 
Ariosto's verse, and whose splendid palace of Boigo- 
forte, near Mantua, was often honoured by Isabella's 
presence, and his gay letters were much appreciated 



^dbyGoogle 



CESARE GONZAGA AT URBINO 271 

by the Marchesa. In the summer of 1504, he writes 
that he hears she has been reading Esop, and is so 
much devoted to Latin literature as to despise all 
poetry in the vulgar tongue, and ends by be^png her 
not to tire out all her teachers ! 

Again, at the close of 1510, when Cesare is on 
duty in the papal camp at Modena, he snatches a 
moment to beg Her Excellency to allow Marehetto 
to set a madrigal of his composition to music, and 
send him the melody of her favourite sonnet 
" Cantai." '* If you will do me this kindness," he 
adds, *' I shall be grateful to you till the Day of 
Judgment, and do not think it strange if in IJiese 
troublous times I make such a request, for, after all, 
'Marie ha solo la scorza, e il resto AToore' (Mars 
only has the bark of the tree, and Love holds the 
rest)." ' 

Yet another member of this brilliant group, 
whose name lives in Castiglione's inunortal pages, 
and who, like him, sang the praises of the gentle 
Duchess, was also intimately connected with Isabella 
d'Este. This was the Venetian Pietro Bembo, who 
came to Rome in the spring of 1505, on a mission 
from the Doge and Signory, and was sumptuously 
entertained by the Duke and Duchess, in their anxiety 
to make some return for the hospitality which they 
had received at Venice during their sad days of exile. 
Isabella was already well acquainted with Pietro's 
father, the old FodestJi of Verona, and with his brother 
Carlo, whose palace she had visited in Venice, and who 
had lent her some portraits of Petrarch, Dante, and 
Boccaccio, which she wished to have copied at Mantua. 
In January 1508, Isabella begged Pietro to accompany 
1 D'Arco, Documenli, 81 ; Anh. SL It., App. 0. 



^dbyGoogle 



272 PIETRO BEMBO 

his friend Ercole Strozzi to Mantua, but at that time 
he had been unable to accept her invitation, which 
thus, in his courtly phrase, rendered him at once the 
happiest and most miserable man in the world. 
Again, in October 1504, Bembo was on his way to 
visit Mantua, when he heard, on arriving at Verona, 
that Isabella had been summoned to h^ dying father's 
bedside. The Marchesa renewed the invitation early 
in April, and Pietro wrote from Venice, saying that to 
visit Mantua was one of the greatest wishes of his 
heart, but regretting that as yet he is unable to wait 
upon her. " Since, however," he adds, " I cannot come 
myself, I send Your Hi^mess, by Zuan Valerio, part 
of my family, that is to say, three youths who have 
not yet left the house, and commend them humbly 
to Your Excellency's good offices." ' The three 
sonnets of his composition, which Bembo enclosed, 
were highly appreciated by Isabella. She was still 
better pleased when, two months later, their author 
presented himself at Mantua on his way back to 
Venice, with letters from Elisabetta and Emilia Pia, 
who availed herself of this opportunity to send the 
Marchesa a flask of m}rrtle scent. On this occasion 
Isabella showed her cultured guest the treasures which 
she had collected in the little room in the old Castello, 
with their delicately inlaid woodwork, and frieze of 
music notes and playing cards, and the new studio of 
the Grotta in the Corte Vecchia, where her choicest 
pictures and marbles were arranged. There Bembo 
saw Michel Angelo's sleeping Cupids and Mantegna's 
two priceless paintings, the Triumphs of Venus and 
of Pallas, as well as Perugino's Triumph of Chastity, 
which had lately arrived from Florence, and promised 
> D'Aico, Noluie UnAtUa, p. 318. 



^dbyGoogle 



VISITS MANTUA 278 

to try and induce his friend Giovanni Bellini to 
paint a similar fantasia for the Marchesa's camerino. 
He saw Isabella's rare books and manuscripts, the 
dainty Aldine editions of Virgil and Petrarch, in the 
production of which he had helped the great Venetian 
printer ; Messer Lorenzo's wonderftil organ and viols 
and ebony and ivory lutes, and all the rich stores 
of antique cameos and medals which were Isabella's 
proudest possession. Isabella herself, as she wrote to 
tell Bembo's friend Tebaldeo, was delisted to see 
how much her illustrious guest appreciated all her 
treasures, and charmed him by singing some of his own 
songs to the music of her lute. After his departure 
Bembo sent her the following letter, be^nning, after 
his usual custom, with the words Jesus Christus : — 

" I send Your Excellency, my dear Madonna and 
most honoured mistress, ten sonnets and two some- 
what irregular tramotti, not because they are worthy 
to come into your hands, but because I wish that 
some of these verses may be recited and sung by Your 
Signory, remembering with what surpassing charm 
and sweetness you sang the others, on that happy 
evening which we spent together, and knowing tiiat 
my poor compositions can never attain to greater 
honour. Most of the sonnets anA both the tramotti 
are quite new, and have not yet been seen by any one. 
I must confess that they will not, I fear, answer Your 
Signory's expectations, any more than they satisfy my 
wishes. But I know that, if they are sung by Your 
Signory, they will be most fortunate, and nothing 
will be needed to delist the listeners except the 
beautiful and charming hand and the pure, sweet 
voice of Your Most Illustrious Highness, to whose 
good grace I never cease to commend myself. Your 

VOL. I. s 



^dbyGoogle 



274 MACHIAVELLI AT MANTUA 

Signory will deign to commend me to my Lady Alda 
Boiarda. — Of Your Illustrious Signory the servant, 
PiETRO Bembo." ' Venice, July 1, 1505. 

About the same time, Isabella received a still more 
famous visitor in the person of the great Florentine, 
Niccolo Machiavelli, who came to Mantua in May, to 
bring Francesco Gonzaga the formal intimation of his 
appointment to the post of Captain - general of the 
Republic. His name had been first suggested by 
Louis XII. to the Gonfaloniere Fiero Soderini, and 
negotiations had been in progress during some weeks, 
as we learn from a letter which Isabella wrote to her 
husband from Ferrara in April. 

" My dear and most illustrious Lord, — The arti- 
chokes which Your Excellency sent me were 
especially acceptable, both as coming from you and 
as being the first which I had seen this year. My 
brothers and sister-in-law enjoyed them with me, 
for love of you, and I thank you warmly for taking 
the trouble to send them. Yesterday morning I 
received yours of the 17th, containing much good 
news. Truly, as Your Excellency remarics, nothing 
can be better for us than the establishment of peace 
between the most powerfril King of the Romans and 
France and our other allies. We shall be able to 
judge of this better when we hear particulars of the 
treaty, but the idea that the Florentines wish to 
secure you for their captain seems to me to promise 
well and to be likely to lead to great honour. You 
will no doubt consider this offer with your wonted 
prudence, and I will keep my counsel, for it is not 
a thing to be discussed with other persons, until it 
is finally arranged. I think of coming to Revere 

> D'Arco, Notieie d'habtlla, p. 312. 



^dbyGoogle 



DEATH OF SUOR OSANNA 275 

on Saturday, and on Sunday to Mantua. Here we 
have no further news since the last which I gave 
you. Please kiss Federico for me. — Your wife, 
Isabella." ^ Ferrara, April 19, 1505. 

This was the errand which brought MachiavelU 
to Mantua early in May. Unfortunately we have 
no further information as to his visit, interesting as 
it would have been to learn the impression which so 
brilliant a lady luid skilled a diplomatist as the 
Marchesa made upon the author of the "Prince." 
His mission proved unsuccessful, for the salary 
which the Florentines offered was far inferior to 
that which the Marquis had received from the 
Venetians, and after some prolonged negotiations, 
Francesco finally declined the post. 

The death of Suor Osanna, who breathed her last 
in Isabella's arms one day in June 1505, was a 
great sorrow to the Marchesa. She had shared all 
her joys and griefs with this saintly friend, and 
the good Sister is said to have loved her exceed- 
ingly. To Osanna's prayers Isabella confidently 
beheved that she owed the gifl of the long-desired 
son, whose birth the holy nun prophesied some 
months bdbre the event, while in all private and 
public calamities the Gonzagas always turned to bra* 
for help and consolatioa Now the Marchesa placed 
a silver head on the Sister's grave, and employed her 
&vourite sculptor, Cristoforo Romano, to raise a noble 
monument to her memory in the Dominican church. 
During the next few years Isabella endeavoured by 
every possible means to obtain the beatification 
of her sainted friend, an honour which was finally 
bestowed upon Suor Osanna by Pope Leo in 1515. 
' D'Arco, op. ciL 277. 



^dbyGooglc 



276 PADRE FRANCESCO 

Her efforts on behalf of " this our dear mother," as she 
calls her, were warmly supported by Padre Francesco 
da Silvestri, the distinguished Dominican friar who 
filled the chair of theology at Bol(^na during many 
years, and was afterwards appointed General of the 
Ord^ by Pope Clement VII. This learned and ac- 
complished ecclesiastic, to whom Bandello dedicates 
one of his novels and whom he praises as a most 
rare and singular man, endowed by nature with 
every gift of body and mind, was one of Isabella's 
most constant friends and correspondents. He shared 
her love of music and pictures, and encouraged her 
to persevere in her own studies, and above all to 
train her children in the love of learning and in 
the fear of God. In March 1504, when Isabella, 
released by her husband's return from the cares of 
government, once more returned to her classical 
studies, Padre Francesco writes to her from Milan : 
"I hear that you are still studying grammar. I 
hope that, when I visit you next, I shall find you 
studying rhetoric." And, in a Latin letter of July, 
he exhorts her to attend to her son's education, and 
warmly approves the choice of VigiUo as his pre- 
ceptor. "See that Federico receives a liberal 
education," he writes when the boy is barely four 
years old, " and appUes himself in these tender years 
to letters, so that he may grow up worthy of his 
wise and excellent mother." When her fother died, 
Francesco's letter was the most beautiful and con- 
soling unong all the infinite number of condolences 
which Isabella received, and when Suor Osanna 
died, six months later, it fell to the Mar to pro- 
nounce her funeral oration. In later years, Fran- 
cesco's arduous duties as Vicar-General and Grcneral 



:dbv Google 



LA BEATA OSANNA 

By F. BONSIGNORI 



?•-/«' A 'A ™/.- 



D,t„db,Googlc 



,db, Google 



ISABELLA'S ILLNESS 277 

of the Order compelled him to travel through France 
and Italy to inspect Dominican convents, but his 
interest in the Marchesa and her family never fuled, 
and he remained a true and faithful Mend until he 
died at Rennes in 1528. 

In the autumn of 1505, Isabella fell seriously ill 
of fever, and could not shake off the attack for 
several weeks. Her friends in all parts of the world 
wrote to express their anxiety, and combined to 
b^^e the dulness of her convalescence. Bembo 
made anxious inquiries aitet her health &om Venice. 
CristofoFo Romano called on all the Dominican Mars 
of Le Grasie at Milan to pray for her recovery, and 
promised to visit the Seven Churches in Rome, and 
say a prayer at each altar for his dear lady. Mario 
Equicola sent the latest literary curiosities &om Blois 
for Isabella's amusement, confessing, however, that he 
could find nothing in France that would be new to 
her I Elisabetta despatched her favourite jester, Fra 
Serafino, to Mantua without delay, and Emilia Pia 
wrote lively letters to cheer the invalid. But Isabella 
foi^^ all her troubles when, towards the end of 
November, she gave birth to a fine boy. 

" 1 rejoice," wrote Cristoforo from Rome, " to hear 
of this fortunate event, and thank GJod that your ill- 
ness has had so happy an ending. Be of good cheer, 
dear lady, and may God give you much joy in your 
children ! " This second son, the future Cardinal 
who was one day to preside over the Council of 
Trent, received the name of Louis or Alvise in 
honotu* of the King of France. But Isabella preferred 
to call him Ercole, after his grandfather, and when 
the boy grew up to manhood, he became known by 
this second name. 



^dbyGoogle 



CHAPTER XVI 

1505—1607 

Isabella's visit to Florence — Mario Equicola's treatise, Wee spe nee 
metu — Ravages of the plague at Maatua — Isabella retires to 
Sacchetta with her family — Francesco Gonsaga joins Pope 
Julius II. at Peni^a — Conducts the papal army against Bologna 
—Flight of the BenttvogU— Entty of the Pope— Letters of 
Isabella — Frisio sends her antiques from Bologna — Birth of 
Isabella's son Fernmte^ Visit of Ariosto to Mantua — Favour 
shown him by Isabella — Ariosto pays her a splendid tribute in 
hia OtIohJo Furioto. 

In March 1506, Isabella took a journey to Florence 
to discharge a vow which she had made during her 
illness, to Santa Maria dell' Annunziata, and spent 
the Feast of the Annunciation in that city. It was 
the first and, as far as we know, the only visit that 
she paid to this town, where were hving so many 
friends, and which must have had many attractions 
for her. Great, indeed, must have been the interest 
with which she saw Uie Duomo and the Campanile 
of Giotto, the churches and palaces on the banks of 
Amo, and above all, the frescoes and pictures of her 
artist-friends. Perugino, it is true, had failed to 
satisfy her, and young Raphael had lately left for 
Urbino ; but Isabella probably met the Florentine 
master Lorenzo di Credi, since he soon afterwards 
painted a Magdalene by her order. And she looked 
with wonder and admiration at the great cartoons 
which Leonardo and Michel Angelo — the sculptor 



^dbyGoogle 



ISABELLA IN FLORENCE 279 

of her Cupid — had designed for the decoration of the 
Council Hall, in the Palazzo Puhblico. 

The Marchesa paid several visits to Madonna 
Argentina, the wife of the Gonfaloniere Piero 
Soderini, and met Leonardo's uncle, but did not 
succeed in seeing the painter, who had retired to 
Fiesole in disgust at the failure of his experiments 
in wall-pwnting, and was buried in the absorbing 
study of hydraulics. 

Before she left Florence, she desired a sculptor 
named Filippo Benintendi to model a sUver effigy of 
herself, to be placed by that of her husband in the 
chapel which Alberti had built for Lodovico Gonzaga, 
in the Annimziata church. But the plague broke out 
after her return to Mantua, and for some time to 
come, money was very scarce in the Gk)nzaga treasury. 
So the poor sculptor never received the 25 ducats 
which the Marchesa had promised him, and nearly 
two years afterwards, he ventured to remind her of 
this omission, telling her at the same time how 
beautiful her image appeared, standing as it did in 
the finest part of the church, and how much ad- 
miration it excited &om every Mantuan who came 
to Florence. Unfortunately this silver head shared 
the fate of all Isabella's busts, and perished in a fire 
which destroyed all the ornaments and works of art 
in the Gonzaga chapel.^ 

On the Mu^hesa's return home, the alarming 
increase of the plague compelled her to leave Mantua 
and take her children to the villa of Sacchetta, where 
they spent the summer months. Here, on her birth- 
day, the 16th of May, she received a present of 
exceptional interest in the shape of a treatise, 

' Luiio in EmpOTiymt 1900, p. S55. 



^dbyGoogle 



280 ISABELLA'S MOTTO 

composed by Mario Equicola, on her favourite motto. 
Nee spe nee metu. 

The Marehesa, as we have already seen, in common 
with most Italian lords and Udies of the age, was in the 
habit of adopting special devices and mottoes. The 
musical notes which gave expression to her love of 
music, the candelabra bearing the motto Sufficit unwm 
in tenebris which Paolo Giovio suggested, and which 
were embroidered in gold on her festal robes, may 
still be seen among the decorations of her camerim at 
Mantua. There too, inscribed in quaint characters, we 
may read the words of her favourite motto, Nee spe nee 
metu, by which she expressed that serene equanimity 
and philosophic frame of mind to which she aspired, 
neither elated by hope nor cast down by fear. She 
chose this motto for her own as early as 1504, when, 
at the request of her friend Margherita Cantelma, 
she gave one of the Imperial ambassadors who visited 
Mantua and Ferrara gracious permission to use the 
words in writing and in his armorial bearings and on 
the liveries of his servants, " we ourselves," she wrote 
at the time, " being the inventor of this motto, and 
having adopted it as our peculiar device."^ In the 
following autumn Mario Equicola, the Calabrian 
secretary of Margherita Cantelma, who had followed 
her and Sigismondo to Ferrara, and was often em- 
ployed by the Este princes, wrote from Blois to 
inform Isabella that he had written a book on this 
device, and only awaited her permission to publish the 
work. 

"Most illustrious Lady, — It was the custom of 
ancient authors to seek for noble and excellent sub- 
jects in order to render their works immortal. 

> Luzio e Renier, Giom. St. d. Lett, II., zxxiiL 49. 



^dbyGoogle 



"NEC SPE NEC METU" 281 

Signora mia, although I am only a poor man of 
letters, I thank God, who has allowed me to serve 
Your Excellency, from whose rare talents and lively 
wit I hope some of my writings may acquire fune 
and authority. In this firm hope, 1 have composed 
a book of some forty sheets, in interpretation of Nee 
spe nee metu, making mention of the words on every 
page. In the said book 1 introduce discussions on 
the meaning of this motto, which will show Your 
Signory the methods of ancient poetry, philosophy, 
and theology, connecting Nee spe nee metu with each 
in turn, and praising this motto above all others ever 
composed. I beg you to give me leave to publish 
and print this Uttle work, and if you wish, will send 
it to you before it is published. 1 awwt your 
pleasure, certifying that the twenty-seven chapters 
on this inscription are neaily finished, after which I 
will illustrate the musical signs." ^ 

Mario had apparently divided his book into 
twenty-seven paragraphs, in allusion to the mystic 
number XXVll., vinie sette, another device adopted 
by Isabella, which, we learn from Paolo Giovio,* 
signified that all the sects {sette) of her enemies 
were conquered (vhUe). Isabella readily gave the 
desired permission, and the book, piinted and bound 
in elegant covers, was presented to her by Maigherita 
Cantelma on her next birthday. "Your letter and 
the book which Madonna Margherita sent us," wrote 
Isabella in reply, "are a more delightful birthday 
present than any gift of gold or other precious things, 
since you have thereby exalted our little device to 
sublime heights." But, with her usual candour, she 

1 ITArco, NoHne d'ltabelia, p. SIS. 
* Delle Inprat, p. 59. 



^dbyGoogle 



282 MARIO EQUICOLA 

remarks to her friend Margherita, in a letter written 
on the same day : " I certainly never imagined all 
these mysteries when I made the little motto I " 

Mario, however, succeeded in ingratiating himself 
with the Marchesa, who invited him to Mantua on 
his return from France, and whom he describes, in 
a letter to Cardinal d'Este, as one of the Trinity 
whom he served on cMth. *' The first," he explains, 
" is Your Highness ; the second. Signer Sigismondo 
Cantelma ; the third, the Signora Marchesana." When 
Mario left Mantua in the following September, Isa- 
bella sent a bust of herself as a gift to his mistress, 
Mar^erita Cantelma, in return for the pains which 
this beloved friend had taken with her birthday 
present. A year afterwards, he accompanied Mar- 
gherita again to Mantua, and assisted at some 
dramatic performances given by Bishop Lodovico 
Gonzaga and Antonia del Balzo at Gazzuolo. " You 
must blame Madonna Antonia," wrote Margherita, 
on the 15th of November, "who insists on keeping 
me here a ni^t to see the Most Reverend Mon- 
signore's comedy. I will not describe the amuse- 
ments to which these lords and ladies devote 
themselves until we meet ; they really are so many 
and varied that I am convinced time does not fly for 
them, and they are more youthftd, more joyous and 
blooming than ever. None tiie less I am longing to 
be in the sacred Grotta, with her who is the true 
goddess of my adoration." Bishop Lodovico was 
the last siurivor of Lodovico and Barbara Gonzaga*s 
sons, and only died in 1511, while his sister-in-law, 
Antonia, lived till she was close upon a hundred, and, 
as we learn from Bandello's writings, preserved her 
joyous nature and love of letters to the last In 



^dbyGoogle 



PLAGUE AT MANTUA 288 

March 1508, we find Equicola again reading Latin 
poetry at Mantua with Isabella, and in the autumn he 
finally obtained leave from Cantelma and his wife to 
enter the Marchesa's service, and eventually succeeded 
Capilupi as secretary of his "most illustrious and 
learned pupil." 

When Mario's libretto reached Isabella, she had, 
as we have said, left Mantua to escape from the 
plague, and was spending the summer at Sacchetta. 
It was a dreary year in the chronicles of the house of 
Gk>nzaga. The chronicler Schivenoglia records that 
the plague broke out at carnival, and lasted so long 
that the gates of Mantua remuned closed until the 
day of the Blessed Vit^n's Nativity in September. 
More than 2000 persons died in the city and suburbs, 
and the expenses of the epidemic cost the Govern- 
ment 140,000 ducats. Trade suffered severely, and 
the people were reduced to the greatest misery. 
The taxes were not paid, the revenue was in arrear, 
and Isabella was once mpre compelled to pledge her 
jewels. But she battled bravely with this new 
calamily, and exerted herself with her wonted energy 
to found charitable institutions and to relieve the 
distress of her husband's subjects. 

When the plague was beginning to abate, the 
Marquis received a summons from Pope Julius II., 
who was starting an expedition against Perugia and 
Bologna, and invited Francesco to meet him at 
Urbino. By a bull issued on the 10th of January, 
this warlike Pope had proclaimed his intention of 
recovering all those territories of which the Holy 
See had been unjustly robbed, and the BagUoni and 
Bentivogli were the first usurpers against whom he 
directed Ids arms. Duke Guidobaldo recommended 



^dbyGoogle 



284 POPE JULIUS II 

his brother-in-law to His Holiness as the most v^ant 
and expert captain in Italy, and Julius, acting on 
his suggestion, summoned Francesco to his help. 
When he left Rome towards the «id of August, so 
promptly did the Marquis respond, that he reached 
Perugia at the head of 200 horse on the 17th of 
September, a few days after the Pope had entered 
that city in triumph. *' The faith which His Holi- 
ness places in us," he wrote to Isabella, "leaves us 
no choice in the matter, yet we cannot but feel com- 
passion for that noble family of Bentivoglio, which 
has always been so friendly to us."' On the 25th 
Julius II. reached Urbino, where great pT^>arations 
had been made for his reception, and Elisabetta had 
borrowed Isabella's biggest pearls and finest tapestries 
to do honour to His Holiness. So numerous were 
the guests that EUsabetta wrote to tell her brother 
that to her regret she was unable to give him lodg- 
ings in the palace, which, "being neith^ Mantua 
nor Ferrara," could with difficulty accommodate the 
Pope and his seventy-eight Cardinals. After a, 
rough journey by bridle-path over the mountain- 
passes, in torrents of rain, the Pope reached Imola, 
and here, on the 25th of October, the Marquis of 
Mantua was appointed Ueutenant - general of the 
army in the place of Guidobaldo, who was liud up 
with gout. At the same time news was received of 
the flight of Giovanni BentivogUo and his family, 
who had left for Milan, with a safe conduct from 
Charles d'Amboise, the French general A fort- 
night later, on the 11th of November, tiie Pope 
entered Bologna in triumph. 

The weather was lovely and the roses were still 

1 Luxio e Renler, Mtmlava e Urbino, p. 174. 



^dbyGoogle 



CONQUERS BOLOGNA 285 

in bloom when, on ^e Feast of St Martin, the 
victorious Pope, wearing his purple cape and richly 
jewelled mitre, borne aloft on the Sedia Gestatoria, 
made his way through the crowded streets to the 
Cathedral of S. Petronio. Before him marched the 
pontifical standard-bearers, and, immediately behind 
him, ten white palfreys with golden bridles, closely 
followed by the Duke of Urbino, the Marquis of 
Mantua, Francesco Maria, Prefect of Rome, and a 
suite of nobles. Last of all, borne aloft in the air, 
came the Papal Cross and the Host, under a silken 
baldacchino, accompanied by the Sistine choir and 
forty priests with lighted tapers in their hands. 
Thirteen triumphal arches were erected along the 
route, and gold and silver medals, struck in honour of 
the occasion, were thrown to the crowds of spectators 
who came to witness the stately pageant and receive 
the Pope's blessing from the steps of S. Petronio. 

Francesco Gonzaga wrote glowing accounts of the 
great ceremony, and of the marked favour with which 
the Pope treated him. " It is even possible that we 
may bring him with us to Mantua," he wrote to his 
wife, and forthwith he desired her to see that the 
Castello was made ready, and gave orders that the 
frescoes of the Camera DipiiUa should be carefully 
restored, where they had suffered damage, by Andrea 
Mant^fna and his sons, " or, if they cannot or will 
not do the woric, by M. Francesco Bonsignori." But 
when this letter was written the great master was 
already dead. A brief mention of his death appears 
in one of Isabella's letters to her husband, but she 
was too fidl of joy and triumph at the thought of 
Francesco's triumphant success to dwell aa this 
irreparable loss. 



^dbyGoogle 



286 THE CAMERA DIPINTA 

On the 21st of September she wrote : — 

" I received Your Excellency's letter, describing 
your entrance into Perugia, and all the honours and 
&vours and promises which you have received from 
His Holiness. May God in the highest be praised I 
And I thank Your Excellency for informing me of 
this, since nothing can give me greater joy and satis- 
faction than to hear of your prosperity and exaltation. 
Let Your Signory boldly ask the Pope to come to 
Mantua, and we shall contrive to do him honour. 
I will have the corridor arranged, and the Camera 
ZHpinta restored by Maestro Francesco, because, as 
you will have'_heard, Messer Andrea died immediately 
after yoxur departure. Federico's cure has been pro- 
nounced complete by the doctor this morning. He 
dressed, and dined with good appetite, and is playing 
merrily in his room, so he is making a good recovery. 
I will not write more now, as Monsignore is sending 
this courier in great haste. Ercole and the girls are 
well." 

Three days later she wrote again : — 

*' I ordered Ghisolfo to have the corridor leading 
to the Camera Dipinta covered in, but we cannot 
find the key of the armoury, and have not liked to 
force the door open, because of all the things which 
it contains, and it ought not to be left open all day, 
while men are going to and fro, and are at work in 
the corridor. Your Excellency must tell me what you 
wish about this, as there will be plenty of time. The 
son of M. Andrea Mantegna will repair the Camera, 
as Mffistro Francesco (Bonsignori) cannot leave his 
Cenacolo (in the convent of the Zoccolanti Friars). 
I have been to see the new rooms at S. Sebastiano, 
which are very fine, and the pictures seem to me 



^dbyGoogle 



MANTEGNA'S TRIUMPHS 287 

admirable, Federico and the other children are well, 
and so am I." ' 

The pictures to which Isabella here alludes were 
in all probability Mantegna's Triumphs of Ciesar, 
for which a new hall had been lately prepared in 
Francesco's newly-built palace, S. Sebastiano, near the 
Porta Pusterla. In a letter of April 17. 1506,' Corradi 
had already informed the Marquis that he has ordered 
the carved pilasters for Messer Andrea's canvases, 
and it is these pillars, as Dr. Kr^teUer points out,' 
that we see reproduced in Andrea's well-known wood- 
cuts. But the Triumphs were still employed as stage 
decorations, we learn from a letter of Francesco 
Gonzaga, who, in giving Vigilio orders for the repre- 
sentations of a comedy in December 1501, desired 
him not to move the Triumphs from Marmirolo, as 
those which are in Mantua will be sufficient to adorn 
the theatre.* 

We find another allusion to the new rooms in 
the Palazzo della Pusterla in a long letter which was 
addressed by Isabella to her husband on the 5th of 
October, and which, although written in her most 
lively strain, shows that her relations with him were 
none of the happiest.* 

" Your letter apologising for not having written 
before has filled me with coniusion, for it is I who 
ought rather to have begged your pardon for my 

1 D'Arco, Arte « At^fid, ii. 68. 

« Ibid., 69, 

^ "Andrea Mantcgns," p. 279. 

* D'Ancona, Oripni, ii. 

^ This interesting letter escaped the notice of D'Arco and 
other historians, and is only to be found in a rare pamphlet pub- 
lished in 1870 by P. Ferrato and entitled LeUere di Priacipate di 
Cata Gotaaga. 



^dbyGoOgle 



288 ERCOLE GONZAGA 

delay, not you, when I know you have hardly time 
to eat I but, since you are so kind as to make excuses 
to me, you will also be so good as to forgive my 
delays, which were caused by Federico's illness and 
my reluctance to give you any news which would 
make you anxious. Now, thank God, he is perfectly 
well, and I can the more gladly discharge my duty. 
The hat for which you ask shall be made as soon as 
the master arrives, and shall be as fine and gallant 
as possible. If you will say how soon you require it, 
I will try and have a coat made to match, if there is 
time ; but pray tell me this at once. Thank you for 
wishing me to see your entry into Bologna. It will 
no doubt be a magnificent sight. I am very well, 
and, if you desire it, will come gladly. I think even a 
bomb would have some trouble to make me miscarry. 
Your Highness must not say that it is my fault if I 
quarrel with you, because, as long as you show any 
love for me, no one else can make me believe the 
contrary. But no interpreter is needed to make me 
aware that Yoiur Excellency has loved me Uttle for 
some time past. Since this, however, is a disagree- 
able subject, I will cut it short, and say no more. I 
am sorry Your Highness objects to my calling our 
boy Ercole. I would not have done this if I had 
thought you would dislike it. But Your Highness 
knows that when you were at Sacchetta you said 
he was very like my father, of blessed memory ; and 
I said that, this being the case, you were wrong not 
to call him Ercole. You laughed, and said no more ; 
but if you had told me your mind, then I should 
not have made this mistake. But only let me have 
another boy, and you may call him Alvise, or what- 
ever you like, and leave the other to be Ercole for me. 



^dbyGoogle 



PALACE OF S. SEBASTIANO 289 

But I am sure that, if I had a thousand sons, I shall 
never care as much for any of them as I do for 
Federico. All the same, let Your Highness please 
yourself, and I will do as you wish. A few days ago 
I was in Yoxu: Excellency's new house, and, as I 
wrote before, thought it most beautiful. You write 
that I am making fun of you, which is not true, 
because, if the rooms were not fine, I should keep 
silence ; but, as tJie effect seemed strikingly fine to 
me, I wrote this to you, and I repeat that th^ are 
beautiful, and all the more so in my eyes because 
Your Highness has followed the example of my 
room, althou^, I must confess, you have improved 
upon it. I will not weary you any more with words 
of little importance, but commend myself a thousand 
times over to Your Highness. — By the hand of 
Isabella, who longs to see you." Mantua, Oct. 5, 
1506. 

On the 20th of October, Isabella wrote again as 
follows : — 

" Your letter, giving me an account of your 
fortunate progress, has given me great pleasure, both 
as showing me that you are in good health, and 
telling me of all the honour and glory you are 
gaining. I thank you exceedingly, and must tell 
you ia retiun that I and Federico, Alvise, and all 
the girls are well. Alvise's nurse has had an attack 
of fever, so I have ^ven him Livia's nurse, until she 
has recovered, which will not, I hope, be long now. 
As soon as the felt hat, which is being made after 
Bemardus del Armaria*s directions, is finished, I wiU 
have it covered with velvet and embroidered with 
such taste that it shall be the finest and most gallant 
thing in the world 1 Please see that the pearls which I 

VOL. I. T 



^dbyGoogle 



290 SUSPICION OF THE VENETIANS 

lent to the Duchess of Urbino are soon restored to you. 
Francesco Mant^na has begun to repair the frescoes 
in the Camera Dipinta, and Ghisolfo is having the 
corridor covered. The painters are gone to Venice 
to copy the Italia. The Vicar of Serravalle writes to 
say that part of the Castle wall towuxls the Po has 
fallen down, of which danger he says he warned 
Your Excellency and the Masters of Revenue some 
time ago. I sent orders to the said officers to provide 
for its repair. Owing to this accident Federico's 
nurse lost 70 measures of wheat and 200 of millet" 

In her next letter Isabella told her husband of 
the unexpected difficulties experienced by Girolamo 
Corradi and Bonsignori, the two artists whom she had 
sent by his orders to copy a fresco with a figure of 
Italia in the ducal palace at Venice, which was to be 
reproduced in his palace of S. Sebastiano. At the 
same time she informed him of the jealousy with 
which the Signory evidently regarded his close 
relations with the Pope and the King of France.' 

" When Messer Hieronimo the painter and his 
companion went to Venice to copy the Italia, I 
wrote to Carlo Valerio begging him to assist them, 
and he, being anxious to serve Your Excellency, 
asked His Serenity the Prince for his permission, 
because without this they could not obtain entrance 
into his anto-chamber, and those artists who formerly 
ventured to copy the painting without his leave, went 
there at their own peril. Messer Hieronimo now 
informs me, on Messer Carlo's part, that the Prince 
refused to give his consent, saying : * Look at those 
letters which we have received, informing us that the 
Marquis of Mantua every day speaks against this 

1 D'Arco, ArU e Artffid, ii. 71. Gayc, Carie^, li. 90. 



^dbyGoOglc 



ISABELLA WARNS HER HUSBAND 291 

Signory, not in public, where he uses honourable 
expressions, but in private, and not only does he him- 
self act thus, but his servants follow his example, 
which is most injurious to the State.' It is plain 
they nourish hatred against Yoiu- Excellency, and 
every day they say that they receive similar informa- 
tion. Messer Carlo promised to behave with great 
circumspection, and advises Your Excellency to say 
some good words to the Signory's unbassador now 
in attendance on His Holiness, so that he may report 
them, and not leave the Senate under so xmfavourable 
an impression. Whatever turn affairs may take, he 
begs you to be careful not to let any one know that 
this warning has come from him. As to the copy of 
the Italia, he says it will be best to wait a month 
or two, and after that he will try to obtain the 
necessary permission. It has seemed to me right, 
both for your sake and for that of Messer Carlo, to 
give Your Excellency this information, while you are 
with the said ambassador. Federico continues to 
gain strength. — Your wife, Isabella, with her own 
hand."' Nov. 1, 1506. 

A fortnight later the Marchesa wrote again, on 
receiving Francesco's account of the Pope's triumphal 
entry into Bologna. 

" I was filled with joy on hearing the account of 
the solemn entry into Bologna, which Yoiu* Ex- 
cellency described so fully in your two letters of the 
11th, but this evening I am still more delighted to 
hear that you soon hope to return home. Here I 
expect you eagerly, since my present condition will 
not permit of my coming to join you at Bologna. I 
have received four ducats of the Pope's new coinage, 
> D'Arco, AtU e Arlifid, ii. 78. 



^dbyGoogle 



292 FLIGHT OF THE BENTIVOGLI 

which I distributed as you desired, thanking you 
very much for letting me have them. As soon as I 
received your first letter, saying that His Holiness 
has removed the interdict from Bologna, all the 
piiests in this city began to celebrate mass in thanks- 
giving. I told Messer Annibale Bentiv<^lio, who is 
at Revere, of the permission which you informed me 
has been granted him, at your request, to keep his 
house and all its contents. He has replied that he is 
well aware how much he owes to Your Excellency, 
and b^s me to thank you in his name, hoping that 
you will continue to give him your good protection, 
since his only hope is placed in Your Highness." 

The Bentivogli, as we saw, had fled from 
Bologna before the papal army, and their splendid 
palace, newly decorated with frescoes by Francia's 
hand, had been razed to the ground. In this general 
ruin, Annibale, the eldest son of the ruling prince, 
and his wife, Lucrezia d'Elste, Isabella's half-sister, 
gratefully availed themselves of the G^nzagas' help 
and protection. They came to Mantua, where both 
the Marquis and his wife treated them with the 
greatest kindness, and braved the wrath of the fiery 
old Pope, who was furious with Francesco for giving 
shelter to his enemies. "His Holiness," wrote the 
Mantuan envoy, '* began to bellow like a bull with 
rage, and not only threatened Your Excellency, but 
Heaven itself." At the same time Isabella did not 
neglect this opportunity of enriching her own collec- 
tion with the spoils of her vanquished friends. A 
certain Niccolo Frisio, who, according to Bembo, 
was German by birth, but thoroughly Italian in all 
else, and had earned Castiglione's gratitude by 
nursing him during a senous illness in Rome, wrote 



^dbyGoogle 



BUSTS SENT TO MANTUA 298 

on the 27th of November to inform the Marchesa 
that he had recovered two ahtbaster heads which had 
belonged to the Protonotary, Antonio Bentivoglio, and 
had been stolen. One was a head of Antonia ; the 
other, which had pearls in the hair, a bust of 
Faustina. " I only regret," he added, " that I am 
not in Rome, where I might have secured a couple 
of paintings on the labours of Hercules, which 
would, I am sure, have pleased you better ; but, if I 
return to Rome, I hope to be able to do you this 
service — From him who would have desired to see 
Your Excellency reigning in the capitol, in the great 
days of triumphant Rome, your servant, Niccolo 
Frisio." The busts were duly sent to Mantua, 
and found a place in the Grotta, by the side of that 
famous bust of Faustina which had been Mantegna's 
greatest treasure.' 

Francesco's return was celebrated with great 
rejoicings at Mantua, and the performance of the 
" Formicone " was once more given in the Castello 
at the New Year, under Messer Vigilio's direction. 
Soon afterwards Isabella gave birth to a third son, 
who received the name of Ferrante, and became a 
valiant soldier, as well as a prime favourite of the 
Emperor Charles V. 

Isabella herself was dangerously ill for some days, 
and narrowly escaped with her life. On her recovery, 
her brother. Cardinal d'Este, sent the poet Ariosto 
to convey his affectionate congratulations to the 
Marchesa on this happy event, an attention which 
Isabella greatly appreciated. During the few days 
which he spent at Mantua, Ariosto read to the 
Marchesa the greater part of his Orlando Furioso, 
1 D'Aico, Arte e Artffid, a, p. 73. 



^dbyGooglc 



294 ARIOSTO AT MANTUA 

and this, she wrote to the Cardinal, "made these 
hours in bed pass not only without weariness, but 
with the greatest possible pleasure." From the 
first Isabella showed the keenest interest in the 
Ferrara poet's verses, and encouraged him to continue 
his Orlando, and weave the scattered fragments 
into one great poem. He oftai came to visit her at 
Mantua, and listened attentively to her advice and 
criticism. When his poem was published in 1516, 
her husband allowed the paper on which it was 
printed to be sent from Venice to Ferrara free of 
duty, a privilege to which great importance was 
attached, and which was only granted to a few 
highly &voured scholars. As soon as the book 
appeared Ariosto came himself to Mantua, and 
presented a copy to Isabella herself, and another to 
her husband, while, in a later edition, he paid a 
magnificent tribute to her charms and virtues. 



^dbyGooglc 



CHAPTER XVII 

1607—1508 

Louis XII. invites Francesco Gonzaga to help him in the siege of 
Genoa— Visit of Isabella to Milan— Ffites in the Caatello— 
Isabella's correspondence with Elisal>etta Gonzaga — Her 
intended journey to France — Death and funeral of the Duke 
of Urbino— Visit of Duke Francesco Maria to Mantua — Birth 
of Isabella's youDgcBt daughter — Murder of Ercole Strozzi, 
and death of Niccolo da Correggio — Rivalry of Isal>ella and 
Lucrezia Borgia. 

Early in April 1507, Louis XII. entered Italy with 
8 large army, and invited the Marquis of Mantua to 
help him in quelling a rebeUion which had broken 
out in Genoa, and was secretly supported by 
MachiaveUi and the Florentines. Francesco gladly 
accepted the king's proposal, and distinguished 
himself greatly in the siege of Genoa. After the 
surrender of that city he entered Milan in triumph 
with Louis, who appointed him Grand Master of the 
Order of St. Michel, and expressed so earnest a wish 
to make the Marchesa's acquaintance that Francesco 
sent an express courier to beg his wife to come to 
Milan at once. Isabella set out immediately with 
her little son Federico, now a child of seven, and 
travelled by Lodi to Milan. Once more she saw the 
beautiful city which she had known so well in the 
reign of her brother-in-law, the unhappy Duke who 
languished in the dungeon of Loches, and with that 
strange foigetfulness of the past which marked the 



^dbyGoogle 



296 ISABELLA AT MILAN 

men and women of her age, danced and supped with 
King Louis in these same hdk of the Rocchetta 
where Beatrice had died. Great as were the changes 
and melancholy the scenes of destruction which met 
her eyes in this once splendid palace of the Sfoizas, 
Isabella found many old friends and familiar &ces 
in the brilliant crowd of courtiers. Galeazzo di San 
Severino was there, in close attendance on the king 
as Grand £cuyer de France, and distinguished 
himself in the tournament given in the Marchesa's 
honour on the piazza in front of the Castello, which 
had been the scene of his prowess in old days. So, 
too, was the Moro's favourite painter, Leonardo the 
Florentine, who came to Milan at the French king's 
urgent entreaty to erect triumphal arches and arrange 
the court pageants held in honour of his victory. 
And before Isabella left, another old fiiend appeared 
on the scene in the person of Antonio Pallavicini, 
now Cardinal di S. Prassede, who arrived in great 
haste on the 7th of June as papal legate, and was 
received with the stately ceremonial due to the Pope's 
representative. But, melancholy as were the associa- 
tions which these old scenes and well-known faces 
must have recalled, Isabella seems to have enjoyed 
herself exceedingly. Her brilliant charms made a 
profound impression on King Louis and all his 
courtiers, and the monkish chronicler, Jean d'Auton, 
singled her out among all the fair and high-bom 
ladies who were present at the royal ball in the 
Castello as une belle dame qui danse a merveUles.^ 
On her return to Mantua the Marchesa wrote in high 
spirits to tell her sister-in-law at Urbino all that she 
had seen and done in Milan. Her letter, breathing 
1 Ckrxmique de Louit XII., public par R. de Msulde L* CUviire. 



^dbyGoogle 



FfeTES IN THE CASTELLO 297 

as it does a gay spirit of fun and rivalry eminently 
characteristic of the writer, must be given in full ; — 

"Since Your Excellency went to Rome and 
Rome came to Urbino, I have never ventured to 
rival the grandeur of your court, nor to pretend that 
I have seen as many rare and excellent things as 
you have done, but have looked on in silence and not 
without hidden envy at Your Highness. But now 
that I have been to the first and noblest court in 
Christendom, I can boldly not only challenge you, 
but compel you to envy me. A few weeks ago, I 
was sununoned by my illustrious lord to Milan to 
pay homage to His Most Christian Majesty, and 
arrived there on the vigil of Corpus Christi. After 
dinner, as I was about to go and pay my respects, 
I received a message from him, desiring me to go 
to the lists on the Piazza where the Giostra was 
being held. So I went there at the stated hour 
and found His Majesty, who came to meet me on 
the steps and received me with the greatest courtesy 
possible. All the Milanese ladies were present and 
the Princess of Bisignano, as well as all the barony 
and nobiUty of France and the great lords of Italy, 
the Duke of Savoy, the Marquises of Mantua and 
Montferrat, and all the castellans of the Milanese 
towns, and the ambassadors of every power in Italy. 
The French lords are so numerous that it would be 
impossible to name them alL But I must mention 
the Due de Bourbon, our nephew, a tall youth of 
handsome and majestic appearance, who closely 
resembles his mother (Chiara de Montpensier) in 
complexion, eyes, and features. If the Roman 
Court is marvellous for its ceremonial and order, 
that of France is no less amazing and extraordinary 



^dbyGoogle 



298 JOUSTS AND BANQUETS 

for confusion and disorder — so much so that it is 
quite impossible to distinguish one man from another ! 
It is also certainly remarkable for its freedom and 
absence of etiquette. In this court, for instance, 
cardinals are not treated with any greater honour 
than chaplains are in Rome. No one gives place to 
them or pays them any respect, from the king 
downwards. His Majesty, however, is always most 
courteous and respectful to all who presume to 
approach him, and above all to ladies, always rising 
from his seat and lifting his cap to show them 
honour. Thrice over he came to visit me in my 
lodgings. The first time, when I happened to be 
dining with Signor Zoanne Giacomo Trivulzio, he 
waited more than half-an-hour for my return, and 
each time he remained no less than two or three 
hours, conversing on different subjects with the 
greatest friendliness in the world, neither did he 
fail to speak honourably of Your Highness in the 
course of conversation. Madonna Margherita di San 
Severino (sister of Emiha Pia), the Contessa di 
Musocho, and sometimes the Princess of Bisignano, 
who are well versed in the French language, were 
our interpreters. In spite of repeated efforts, I 
never succeeded in finding His Majesty in the 
Castello, saving one day when he invited me to a 
public banquet in the Roechetta, where the Princess 
of Bisignano and I had the honour of sitting at 
his table. We danced in an informal manner both 
before and after supper. His Majesty danced with 
me, and the Cardinals Narbonne, San Severino, 
Ferrara, and Finale, who were present at the banquet, 
were constrained by him to dance, much to our 
amus^nent and diversi<Hi. I will not write about 



^dbyGoogle 



THE FRENCH COURT 299 

the public spectacles held on the Piazza, because I 
know that they will have been fuUy described by 
your ambassador. Certainly 1 have seen better- 
managed jousts, but I never saw, and do not think 
that, in all Christendom, it would be possible to see, 
a greater number and variety of people t Most of 
them were nobles — not only those of Milan, which 
must be the first or second largest city in the world, 
but the whole court of France and most of the 
courts of Italy were here assembled, so that Your 
Excellency wUl understand how proud and glorious 
a sight it was I The assembly was a much larger 
one than we could have seen at the king's own 
palace in France, because the lords who followed 
him to Italy do not reside at court, and if they are 
occasionally present at some solemn ceremony, we 
should not have seen all the people and nobles of 
Milan, and indeed we may say of Italy, since the 
gentlemen and' citizens of many different cities 
came to witness these spectacles. O how great was 
my happiness ! and how it makes me rejoice every 
time Uiat I remember it ! Only think what it 
would be if Your Signory were here and we could 
communicate by word of mouth ! I have written 
all this to deliver myself from the sin of envy, and 
also to describe a thing which is excellent in spite 
of its disorder! I am sure that the Roman court 
is not to be compared with the French court, where 
the temporal and spiritual are united. If Your 
Excellency could have seen the procession of Corpus 
Christi set out from the Duomo with little enough 
order — first the clergy, then an infinite number of 
Swiss guards with halberds on then- shoulders, 
behind them the Gentlemen of the Guud, battle-. 



^dbyGoogle 



800 THE PAPAL LEGATE 

axes in hand, and after them under a baldacchino 
home by the chief lords came the L^ate of France 
bearing the Body of Christ, followed by the king, 
with seven Cardinals and all the barony of France 
and Italy, and people of Milan and the neighbouring 
towns — it would have seemed to you the finest 
spectacle which you had ever witnessed 1 It is true 
tJiat Your Signory may say, ' I have seen Rome ' ; 
still you must confess that you saw it undone uid 
in ruins. But I have seen Genoa, Florence, and 
Milan, which in our age are no less worthy of 
admiration, in their most triumphant days. I will 
not deny that I have a great wish to see Rome, 
not for the sake of the court and the different 
nations who are represented there, for I could not 
look upon anything finer than what I have seen 
here, but in order to visit the antiquities and 
famous ruins of Rome and to realise what the 
triumph of a victorious Emperor must hare been. 
But this occasion has not been entirely without 
Roman ceremonies, since at the entrance of my 
friend, the Most Reverend Cardinal and Legate 
of S. Prassede, he was received by the Ijcgate of 
France and eight Cardinals, all the orders of clet^, 
and singers, with great magnificence, because His 
Most Reverend Signory holds the rank of the Pope 
whom he represents, so that I may say I have seen 
both the Pope and the Roman court. Afterwards 
I paid His Signory two visits at his lodgings, where I 
was most lovingly received, embraced, and honoured, 
and was able to realise the splendid state of the 
Cardinals who live in Rome. This impression was 
confirmed by the visit which I received from Cardinal 
de Rouen and all the other Cardinals attached to 



^dbyGoogle 



ELISABETTA AND ISABELLA 801 

this court, who came in a body, not to pay me 
honour, which would not have been suitable on their 
part, but merely to show me courtesy. I might go 
on and describe all the separate visits which I re- 
ceived from Italian and French lords and Milanese 
ladies, as well as from the Ring and the Cardinals, 
but this and all the rest I will leave to Your Signoiy's 
ima^nation, lest I give you too much reason to 
envy me I " Mantua, July 7, 1507. 

Elisabetta. however, declined to own herself van- 
quished, although, owing to Duke Guidobaldo's ill- 
ness, it was two months before she sent the following 
rejoinder : — 

" It is already over a month since I received 
Your Signoiy's letter, which was delightful and ac- 
ceptable beyond words. If I could, my dear lady, 
express in words or writing the pleasure and satis- 
&ction which I take in reading your eagerly expected 
and much -prized letters, it would take me all 
eternity I And I am sure that if you realised a small 
part of the happiness they give me, you would more 
often employ your secretary. On the other hand, 
if I complain, I do not wonder that they are few and 
far between, knowing that all dear and precious 
things are rare. . . . Althou^ Your Excellency 
thinks that you have delivered yourself frvm the sin 
of envy in order to excite my jealousy by telling me 
all the great and magnificent things which you have 
seen at Milan, I must reply that I feel no envy 
whatever. What sight can be greater than that of 
Rome ? I saw that city, which is and has ever been 
acknowledged to be the head of the world, with all 
the marvellous ancient and modem treasures which it 
contains, to my great and endless wonder and delight. 



^dbyGoogle 



802 THE POPE AT URBINO 

I saw, above all, the Pope, who represents God 
upon earth, surrounded by the whole Roman court, 
which is second to none. I confess that these things 
which Your Signory has seen with so much pleasure, 
are also splendid, but if you had seen these other 
great sights, you would, I do not doubt, hold them 
to be very inferior. But of one thing I can boast 
with far greater reason than Your Excellency, which 
is that, although I have only once visited Rome, 
Rome and the Roman court has been, not once, but 
twice to visit me at Urbino. Now Your Excellency 
will see if I cannot challenge you to a glorious duel 
and carry off an honourable victory I And further> 
I will tell you of other things, which will, I am 
certain, cause Your Signory voluntarily to retire 
from the fray, and peiiiaps make you regret that 
you ever entered the lists, seeing that you are en- 
tirely vanquished. The Most Serene Catholic King, 
being at Gaeta, desired to imitate the example of the 
Pope and Sacred College, and himself proposed to 
come to visit me at Urbino, which he would have 
done had he not been ^erwards obliged to change 
his plans and take another voyage elsewhere." This 
was Ferdinand the CathoUc, who came to visit his 
newly conquered kingdom of Naples with his new 
wife, Germaine de Foix, in October 1506, and re- 
mained there until the following June, when he met 
Louis XII. at Savona, before that monarch returned 
to France. "And the great King of the Romans, 
after holding many Diets, was unable to obtain the 
Electors' consent to his journey into Italy, so that 
till now it has been impossible for him to visit 
Urbino in person and keep his promise of showing 
me His Majesty. All this will help Your Highness 



^dbyGoogle 



ISABELLA INVITED TO FRANCE 303 

to understand that I do not in the least envy the 
sights which you have seen, nor do I need to go 
elsewhere to see nobler and more wonderfiil things, 
since, without leaving home. Heaven has granted 
me these rare favours. Nor do I intend to take any 
more journeys, unless it is to see and enjoy the com- 
pany of Your Signory, which I shall always count 
the greatest of all pleasures. Mid which I desire above 
all things, both for the sake of embracing you and 
enjoying your presence, and because I have so many 
things to discuss with you that, without the help of 
Madonna Emilia, five days of uninterrupted talking 
would hardly satisiy me. I hear that Your Signory 
has made a vow to visit Loreto and exhort you to 
fulfil this vow soon, after which I intend to lay such 
snares for you that, whether willingly or by force, 
you will find yourself in my power I My loni Duke 
has recovered from his indisposition. I am well and 
hope to hear the same of you, Sic. — Your sister, 
Elisabetta, Duchess of Urbino.'" Urbino, Sept. 7, 
1507. 

When Elisabetta's letter reached Isabella she had 
just received an unexpected invitation fit)m Louis 
XII. and Anne of Brittany to visit the French 
court, and accept the office of godmother to the 
babe whose birth was hourly expected, and who, 
it was confidently hoped, would this time prove a 
Dauphin. The Marchesa was oveijoyed at the pros- 
pect, and wrote triumphantly to tell the Duchess of 
this new and unexpected honour, and to express her 
delight at the prospect of a journey beside which 
the glories of her pilgrimages to Rome, and papal 
and royal visits, grew pale. 

" I made the sign of the Cross at the si^t of a 



^dbyGoogle 



304 HER JOY AT THE PROSPECT 

letter of Your Signory's which was more than six 
lines in length, and felt so much pleasure at the 
sight that I read it with greater care and attention 
than the short ones which I usually receive. Your 
Excellency, I feel, here tacitly confesses that she 
prefers the style which I have acquired on my 
journeys to that which she has learnt hy going <Hily 
to Rome I And since you are under this obligation 
to me, 1 will not this time thank you for your long 
and affectionate letter. Neither will I promise to 
write more often, as you ask, because, if you look, 
you will find that you have many more of my 
letters in your file than you can raster of your 
own. But, in accusing me of neglect, Your High- 
ness was evidently anxious to forestall my chatges, 
knowing well that neither the pleasures and good time 
which I enjoy here, nor the pressure of overwheJming 
business, ever prevent me remembering one whom I 
love as my own soul. In reply, I must say that 
you have indeed beheld great things in Rome and at 
Urbino, and that you hoped to have seen more if the 
Catholic King had come to visit you or if the Most 
Serene King of the Romans had been able to under- 
take his journey to Italy, and the Diets had not 
determined otherwise. But how can these things 
in any way compare with my prospects in the near 
future, putting aside all that I have seen and done 
in the past, as is well known to Your Signory ? The 
Most Christian King thinks that the Queen cannot 
bear a son unless I am present, and he has therefore 
begged me earnestly to stay with her for this event, 
in order that I may both honour the birth with my 
presence, and hold the infant at the sacred font. 
What greater honour could there be in this world 



^dbyGoogle 



OF SEEING PARIS 805 

than to be gossip and sponsor to a King of France I 

what splendour, pomp, and glory will be mine I I 
shall not only visit Paris, the most flourishing Uni- 
versity and populous city of the universe, but the 
whole of France, Burgundy and Flanders, and may 
perhaps reach Sant' lago of Galicia. O how many 
new lands and royal sights I shall see on this journey t 
Your Signory and Madonna Emilia, who know so 
much of the country and its customs, will be able to 
imagine these. But what if my journey to France 
takes place, and the coming of tiie Emperor to Italy, 
which had been overruled by so many Diets, should 
be abandoned ? In this case, the glory which you 
love will return to me, and the Germans, I think, 
may give up Diets in future, and eat and drink to 
their hearts' desire I I do not know if after this 
you can claim to be my equal, and if it will be pos- 
sible for me to accept your invitation to Urbino so 
easily 1 When I return to Italy I be^in to wonder 
if this earth will be worthy to bear me, if carpets 
will not have to be spread imder my feet, and a 
baldacchino sent to meet me wherever I go I But, 
joking apart, I really hope to start for France in a 
few days, and am busy making preparations. When 

1 return we must think of meeting, for I am as 
anxious about this as Your Highness can be."' 
Mantua, 25th September 1507. 

Whatever her moods may be — ^grave or gay, im- 
patient or gentle, stem or gracious — Isabella always 
interests and attracts us ; but Isabella in high spirits, 
intent on some new departure and gaily challenging 

' This and the three preceding letters in the ArcAivio Goazaga 
were first published b; Dr. Ludo in r pamphlet entitled Gara da 
yiaggi. 



^dbyGoogle 



806 DEATH OF GUIDOBALDO 

the world in her buoyant fancy, is altogether irresist- 
ible. Unfortunately she was doomed to disappoint- 
ment, and this journey to France, to which she looked 
forward with so much delight, never took place. 
There were many difficulties in the way. Money, as 
usual, was scarce at Mantua, and the Marquis was 
reluctant to let his wife undertake so long and 
expensive a journey. Her presence was urgently 
required at home during his frequent excursions, and 
the negotiations that were being secretly cturied on 
between the Pope and his allies might, at any moment, 
as Francesco well knew, involve him in war with 
Venice. So Isabella was compelled to put off her 
expedition, and devote herself to her husband and 
children. She could not even visit Ferrara, and 
assist at the splendid fites that were held at her 
brother's court, during the carnival of 1508, when 
an Eclogue composed for the occasion by Ercole 
Pio was represented, in which the shepherds of 
Arcadia paid a glowing tribute to three nymphs 
who dwell on the banks of the Po, the Mincio, and 
the Metauro, and Lucrezia, Isabella, and Elisabetta, 
who were there extolled as the most famous ladies 
of the age. For in January her little girl Livia died, 
and Francesco himself fell seriously ill, and showed 
the first symptoms of that incurable disease which 
eventually ended his life. At the same time, sad 
news came from Urbino. The unusual severity of 
the winter brought on a fresh attack of the gout, 
from which GuiHobaldo had suffered all his life, and 
on the 11th of April 1508 he died. 

The good Duke was only thirty-five years of age, 
but his sufferings had been intense during the last 
weeks of his life, and death came as a welcome 



^dbyGoogle 



DUKE OF URBINO 807 

release. " Why do you envy me so great a blessing ? " 
he said, with a smile, to his heart-broken wife and 
weeping friends ; '* is it not a great good to be freed 
from this terrible burden of pain ? " And a few hours 
later he passed away, repeating a favourite passage 
from Virgil, to Castiglione, who stood at his bedside. 
Elisabetta was inconsolable. She nursed her 
beloved husband with the greatest devotion, and won 
general admiration by the wisdom with which she 
conducted affairs of state, and secured the peaceful 
succession of Guidobaldo's young nephew, Francesco 
Maria dcBa Rovere. "Never was there so prudent 
and wise a Madonna," exclaimed her brother Giovanni 
Gonzaga, who hastened to Urbino to comfort his 
sister; "she is indeed to be commended in all that 
she does." ' Three days after his death, Guidobaldo 
was buried by his father's side, in the little church of 
the Zoccolanti Mars, in the shady gardens which he 
had loved so well, and where, on that fatal night, six 
years before, he had first received the news of Csesar 
Borgia's invasion. On the 2nd of May, a solemn 
requiem mass was held in the Duomo, and was 
attended by many princes and foreign ambassadors. 
A huge catafalque was erected in the nave, decorated 
with the late Duke's arms and banners, and his robes 
as Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter 
were laid on the bier, while his old tutor Odasio 
pronounced a touching and eloquent oration, which, 
Giovanni Gonzaga informed his brother, "was said 
to be very beautiful by persons who understand 
these things better than I do." * Four days later, 
Isabella's faithful secretary, Capilupi, whom she had 

^ Liudo e Renier, Maalova e Urbino, p. 182. 

> Dennuloim, " Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino," ii. 79- 



^dbyGooglc 



808 GRIEF OF ELISABETTA 

sent to express her grief and sympathy with the 
widowed Duchess, reached Urbino, and thus de- 
scribes the gloom and mourning which now reigned 
in the once gay and brilliant palace : — 

'* I found tills illustrious Madomia surrounded by 
her women in a room hung with black, with the 
windows all closed, and only one candle on the floor. 
She was sitting on a mattress spread on the floor, with 
a black veil over her face and a black vest up to her 
throat, and it was so dark I could hardly see, and had 
to be led up to her like a blind man by my cloak. 
She took my hand, and we both began to weep, and 
it was some time before her sobs and my own allowed 
me to speak. I gave her Your Excellency's letter, 
and expressed my sympathy in as few words as pos- 
sible. . . . We spoke of Your Excellencies and your 
children, and of different subjects, and she told me 
the great kindness which His Holiness has shown 
at this time, and I stayed with her more than two 
hours. The new Duke was sitting among the women, 
but when the Duchess called him he rose, and I 
gave him your messages. He replied briefly, but in 
a prudent and sensible manner. He looks to me 
taller and slighter than I expected, but it was too 
dark to judge fairly. The Duchess speaks of him 
very warmly, and he treats her with the reverence of 
a son and a servant. To-day we spent more than 
three hours together, and I induced her to talk of 
other subjects, and even made her laugh, which no 
one had as yet succeeded in doing. I b^^ed her to 
open the shutters, which no one had dared suggest, 
and I think that in two days' time she will consent 
to do this. She still eats her food on the floor. I 
complained of the black veil which displeased Your 



^dbyGoogle 



FRANCESCO MARIA 809 

Highness ; shfe excused herself for wearing it, but had 
not thought of this before Signor Giovanni arrived, 
and could not remove it now with decency, but says 
that when Donna Leonora comes here as a bride, 
she will change it joyfully, and says that if this 
marriage proves as prosperous as she desires, she will 
no longer feel widowed, and that this will be the 
greatest joy that she can ever hope to know on earth. 
. . . The fimeral ceremonies, as Signor Giovanni has 
told you, were sumptuous. There were 825 mourners, 
wearing long cloaks with trains and hoods. All the 
friars and priests of the state and five bishops were 
present, and stood round the cata&lque, with an 
infinite number of lighted torches, but they were 
hardly as numerous or as fine as those at Mantua, 
The universal grief and lamentation here is beyond 
description." ' 

The young Duke, Francesco Maria, now expressed 
a great wish to visit his promised bride. For some 
time past he had been anxious to come to Mantua, 
and his natural eagerness to see his future wife was 
further stimulated by Leonora's uncle, Giovanni 
Gonzaga, who told him that, when he had seen 
Donna Leonora and the Marchese*s famous breed of 
horses, he would have seen the two finest things 
in the world I For, he assured him, there was no 
fairer and sweeter maiden in the whole of Italy, while 
no Christian king or prince had a stud to equal that 
of Mantua. Accordingly, on the 25th of August, 
Francesco Maria made his appearance at Mantua, and 
spent two days with the Marquis and his daughter. 
Isabella herself was absent, having lately given birth to 
another daughter at her summer villa on the heights 
' Lusio e Renier, ManU>va t Urbmo, p. 185. 



^dbyGooglc 



310 VISITS MANTUA 

of Cavnana, and Federico Cattaneo sent her the 
following account of the young suitor's visit : '* Yes- 
terday evening about seven, the Duke of Urbino 
Mxived at the Castello, travelling incognito with only 
four persons, and renudned upstairs with our illustrious 
lord for about half-an-hour. As soon as he arrived, 
our Signor sent for Madonna Laura (the wife of Gio- 
vanni Gonzaga), whose little girl died two days ago. 
She came at once, and with her Madonna Violante, 
Madonna Costanza, Madonna Orsini d^h Uberti, 
and as soon as they were in the Castello they dressed 
Madonna Leonora in white tabby. If Your High- 
ness could have seen the confusion there was at that 
moment I As for me, I very much wished you could 
have been there for many reasons, and many others of 
your servants did the same. The Cardinal then came 
in, took Madonna Leonora by the hand, and led her 
down the little staircase near the Camera Di^nta. 
They entered the Camera of the Sun, and found the 
Duke with our illustrious Signor and many other 
gentlemen. The Duke came to meet Madonna 
Leonora and kissed her. But he did not seem to 
have succeeded very well, and our Cardinal pushed 
him towards her again, and then he threw his arm 
round her head, and kissed her on the mouth. After 
this they sat down together and talked of many 
things, and more especially of pictures. Presently 
my lord called me and bade me fetch the portrait 
of Your Highness by Lorenzo Costa, the Ferrara 
painter, which I had lately placed in its frame. I 
brought it directly, and every one admired it. Then 
we all took our leave. The Duke went to St. 
Sebastian, and every one else to his own house. Of 
Madonna Leonora's modesty and bearing I can only 



^dbyGoogle 



HIS PRESENTS TO ISABELLA 811 

tell Your Signory that she behaved not as a child, 
but as a very prudent lady. The Duke leaves here 
on Monday, and goes to Viterbo." Mantua, 26th 
August 1508. 

The young Duke was eighteen years of age 
and had already distinguished himself as a gallant 
soldier, but gave signs of that violent temper for 
which he was famous in after days. Only a few 
months before, he had stabbed one of Duke Guido- 
baldo's favourite cavaUers with his own.hand, because 
the unfortunate young man aspired to the hand of 
his widowed sister, Maria Varana.' But he always 
behaved with the greatest deference to his widowed 
aunt, and was anxious to acquire the good graces of 
his bride's parents. He sent the Marquis a scimitw 
which had belonged to the lamented King Ferrante 
II. of Naples, and presented Isabella with a set of 
costly trappings for a horse which had been the 
property of Caesar Borgia, saying he knew that she 
was not only fond of driving in a chariot and riding 
mules, but was an excellent horsewoman, and thought 
that she might relish a share " in the spoils of one 
who knew not how to make use of his good fortune." * 
Leonora was by this time a lovely maiden of fourteen 
summers, whose beauty was already the theme of 
cointiers and poets, and whose riper charms Titian's 
brush was to render immortal in years to come. The 
little daughter who was bom to her mother that 
August received the name of Livia Osanna, after her 
lamented Moid the Beata Osanna. The body of this 
holy nun had been taken up a few weeks before, in the 
Marchesa's presence, and after being exposed to the 

' DennJstoun, op. cit., ii. 305. 

* Lusio e Renier, Manlami e Urhino, pp. 186, 187. 



^dbyGooglc 



812 PAOLA GONZAGA 

veneration of the public for a whole day, had been 
solemnly interred in the beautiful Area designed by 
Cristoforo Romano, in San Domenico. This second 
Livia was vowed to the cloister from her infancy, 
and became a Poor Clare in the convent of Santa 
Faola, or Corpus Domenico. Here the Emperor 
Charles V. himself came to see her, and the fame 
of her sanctity attracted many illustrious visitors. 
Sister Paola, which name the princess adopted on 
taking the veil, is mentioned more than once in her 
mother's correspondence, and several letters which 
she herself addressed to her cousin Duke Ercole of 
Ferrara and his wife Ren^ are preserved in the 
Gonzaga archives, and were published by Ferrate. 

In November Isabella went to Ferrara, where she 
still found a warm welcome from her brother Alfonso, 
in spite of the family quarrels which saddened her 
home, and the coolness between her and la Diva 
JSorgia, as Lucrezia was styled by flattering poets 
and courtiers. But two of her oldest friends were 
missing. Ercole Strozzi, the accomplished Latin poet 
and intimate friend of Bembo, whose house was often 
honoured by Isabella's presence, and who himself 
frequently came to Mantua, had been foully mur- 
dered in cold blood one summer day when he left his 
house to take tai early walk and enjoy the morning 
air. His wife, the beautiful Barbara Torelli, had 
only given birth to her first child a fortnight before, 
and now wrote " with streaming tears and broken 
heart " to tell her friends at Mantua the sad news. 
The murdered man was buried with great pomp, and 
the learned humanist, Celio Calcagneni, pronounced an 
eloquent oration over the corpse of his gifted friend. 
" Great is the sorrow we all feel here," wrote Bernardo 



^dbyGoogle 



DEATH OF NICCOLO BA CORREGGIO 818 

dei Prosperi to Isabella — "most of all, because he 
was so rare and excellent a man of letters." Not 
a word was said as to the murderer, but it was 
generally known in Ferrara that Alfonso d'Este had 
long been jealous of Barbara Torelli's preference for 
Ercole, and had secretly planned his destruction. 
Before Strozzi's death, the Marquis of Mantua had 
promised to stand godfather to his new -bom 
daughter, and now sent the poet Tebaldeo to repre- 
sent him at the christening. 

Something of the same mystery overshadowed 
the fate of Isabella's brilliant kinsman, Niccolo da 
Correggio, who died in January 1508, at Ferrara, away 
from his own house — to the bitter grief of his wife, 
Cassandra Colleoni. In her letter of condolence, Isa- 
bella expressed her pity for this poor Madonna, 
and alluded covertly to some love intrigues in 
which her old friend had been unhappily entangled. 
Only a year before, Alfonso had presented Niccolo 
with a fine palace in the Via degli Angeli, which had 
formerly belonged to his unhappy brother Giulio, in 
recognition of his services in discovering that prince's 
plot against the Duke's life. And in February 1507, 
he wrote to the Marchesa in his old strain, telling her 
how eagerly her coming was awaited at Ferrara, and 
how busy he was preparing masquerades for her 
amusement. The Duke, he added, was longing to 
see his sister, and confidently expected her to spend 
the next two months at his court. But soon after 
this the old courtier incurred his lord's displeasure, 
and Bernardo dei Prosperi, in a letter informing 
Isabella that Signor Niccolo was at the pomt of 
death, ascribes his melancholy condition to grief at 
his disgrace. " His case," adds Bernardo, " has been 



^dbyGoogle 



814 ISABELLA ASKS HIS SON 

pronounced hopeless by seven doctors, and in this 
miserable end we must plainly see the judgment of a 
just God."' 

No sooner did Isabella hear of her old Mend's 
death than she wrote to his son Giangaleazzo, desir- 
ing him to send her the MS. volume of poems which 
his father had dedicated to her many years ago. 
Giangale^zo replied courteously, begging for time to 
make certain corrections which his father had been 
unable to finish. Upon this, the Marchesa sent him 
a long letter, couched in her most imperious tones,' 
telling him that she could bring witnesses to prove 
how, at the time of Alfonso's wedding to his first 
wife, Anna Sforza, his fatho* Niccolo, being in the 
room above the court chapel, showed her his book in 
three parts, containing sonnets, captttU, and carusom, 
with an epistle dedicating each in turn to herself. 
" This," she goes on to say, " he confirmed again 
when he was with me in my villa of Sacchetta, at the 
time of Don Giulio's affair, saying that, in asking me 
to be the patroness of his book, he resembled those 
persons who, in order to keep their house clean, 
paint a saint upon the outer walls." Then, lapsing 
into a gentler and more pathetic strain, Isabella 
recalled the long familiarity and friendship which she 
had enjoyed with his father long before he was bom, 
and which dated back to her earUest childhood, and 
ended by desuring him to send the precious MS. 
without delay by the present courier.' 

Giangaleazzo now sent a servant to Mantua with 
&esh excuses and explanations. The MS. which his 

• Luzio e Benier in Giant. Si. d. Lea. It, xsiii. 77. 
' D'Arco, Notisie tTItabella, p. 315. 
' Lusio e Renier, op. di. 79- 



^dbyGoogle 



FOR NICCOLO'S POEMS 815 

father had shown her was, he explained, not worthy 
of her acceptance, being marked in certain places, 
and not as elegantly bound as Niccolo himself would 
have desired, so that he must beg her to wait a 
little longer. To these excuses the Marchesa paid 
little heed, beyond sending the writer a curt note, 
saying that, no doubt, his father being the most 
generous of men, would have wished to adorn the 
book before he presented it to her. Since he was 
unfortunately no more, she must request Giangaleazzo 
to forward the volume, which, as he is evidently 
aware, had been promised to her. 

But the book never came, and in August, Mario 
Equicola, Isabella's confidential servant, wrote from 
Ferrara, telling her that Duchess Lucrezia was going 
to Correggio to obtain Messer Niccolo's caTizoniere, a 
piece of information which roused Isabella's ire to 
the highest pitch. However, Giangaleazzo managed 
to evade Lucrezia's request with equal success, and, as 
the best way out of the difficulty, kept his father's 
canzoTuere in his own hands. We have another 
proof of the rivalry which existed between Isabella 
and her sister-in-law in a letter,' written by "Mxno 
in August 1508, telling her that, in looking over the 
MSS. of his friend Ercole Strozzi, he had discovered 
a Latin epigram, originally written for the Sleeping 
Cupid of Isabella's Grotta, which had been altered 
and adapted to fit a marble Cupid belonging to 
Duchess Lucrezia. " This," he adds, " is in reality 
a very inferior modem work, but her flatterers 
pretend that it is a genuine antique I " In conclusion, 
the excellent secretwy proposes his readiness to go 
to the stake, if need be, in order to maintain the 

1 A. Luzio, / Prtctliori, p. 43. 



^dbyGoOglc 



816 LUCREZIA AND ISABELLA 

truth, and prove to all the world that Ercole Strozzi's 
verses were originally written in honour of the 
Sleeping Cupid in the Isabellian Grotta, and in- 
scribed to his own Madonna Marchesana. So keen 
was the competition of these great ladi^ for the 
tribute paid them by scholars and poets, so highly 
did they prize the honour of seeing their own names 
linked with these Latin verses which were to 
perpetuate their fame for all time. Tantum possunt 
camaerue. " Such power have the Muses ! " 



:dbv Google 



CHAPTER XVIII 

1500—1506 

Isabella's relations with painters during the early yean of the 
sixteenth century — Her letters to Leonanlo da Vinci — Corre- 
spondence with Fra Pietro da Novellara, Angelo del Tovaglia, 
Manfredi, and Amadori — She asks Penigino for a painting for 
her studio — Description of the Triumph of Chastity composed 
by Paride da Ceresara — Perugino's delays — Correspondence 
with MaUtesta, Tovaglia, Ac. 

We have seen how, in the closing years of the fifteenth 
century, Isabella founded her famous studio of the 
Grotta, in the ancient portion of the Castello known 
as the Corte Vecchia, and began to collect works of 
art for its adornment. In spite of the many distrac- 
tions which occupied her time and thoughts, in spite 
of her husband's absence, and the active part which 
she took in public afiairs, she pursued this object 
with unremitting energy and perseverance. 

Never at any period of her life were her relations 
with artists more frequent and more full of interest 
than in these first ten years of the new century. 
Andrea Mantegna, the court painter of the Gonzagas, 
as we have already said, executed the first pictures for 
the decoration of her new studio. And naturally 
enough the great Florentine master who had visited 
Mantua at the close of 1499, and drawn her portrait, 
was one of the next artists to whom she applied. 
After Leonardo's return to Florence in April 1500, 
he sent the Marquis a sketch of the house of Angelo 



:dbv Google 



818 ISABELLA'S CORRESPONDENCE 

del Tovaglla, a wealthy merchant whom Francesco 
often employed on business matters, and which he 
had greatly admired on a visit which he paid to 
Florence that spring. 

" I send you," wrote the Mantuan agent, Francesco 
Malatesta, in August, " a drawing of the house of 
Angelo Tovaglia, by the hand of your servant 
Leonardo Vinci, who desires to be commoided both 
to you and to Madonna. But he said that to make 
the house perfect, and satisfy your idea, you would 
have to transport the site of Messer An^o's house 
to the spot where you intend to build. The drawing 
has not been coloured, nor have I thought it necessary 
to put in the evergreens, ivy, box, cypresses and laurels 
of the garden, but if you wish it, the said Leonardo 
offers to said you a painting as well as a model of 
the viUa."' 

The birth of Isabella's son, and the political 
troubles of that anxious year, prevented her from 
availing herself of Leonardo's offers of service at the 
time, but in the following March she wrote the follow- 
ing letter to the cultured ecclesiastic, Fra Pietro da 
Novellara, who was at the time preaching a course 
of Lent sermons in Santa Croce of Florence : — 

" Most Reverend Father in God, — If Leonardo, 
the Florentine painter, is now in Florence, we b^ 
you will inform us what kind of life he Is leading, 
that is to say if he has begun any work, as we have 
been told, and what this work is, and if you think 
that he will remedn for the present in Florence. 
Your Reverence might find out if he would under- 
take to paint a picture for our studio. If he consents, 
we would leave the subject and the time to him ; but 

> Lusio in En^xtrium, 1900, p. 353. 



^dbyGoogle 



WITH LEONARDO DA VINCI 819 

if he declines, you might at least induce him to paint 
us a little picture of the Madonna, as sweet and holy 
as his own nature. Will you also beg him to send 
us another drawing of our portrait, since our illustrious 
lord has given away the one which he left here ? For 
all of which we shall be no less grateful to you than 
to Leonardo." Mantua, March 27, 1501. 

TheCarmelite Vicar-General replied without delay : 
" Most illustrious and excellent Lady, — I have 
just received Your Excellency's letter, and will obey 
your orders with the utmost speed and diligence. But, 
irom what I hear, Leonardo's manner of life is very 
changeable and uncertain, so that he seems to live for 
the day only. Since he has been in Florence, he has 
only made one sketch — a cartoon of a child Christ, 
about a year old, almost jumping out of his mother's 
arms to seize hold of a lamb. The mother is in the 
act of lising from S. Anna's lap, and holds back the 
child from the lamb, an innocent creature, which is a 
symbol of the Passion, while S. Anna, partly rising 
frt)m her seat, seems anxious to restrain her daughter, 
which may be a type of the Church, who would not 
hinder the Passion of Christ. These figures are as 
large as life, but are drawn on a small cartoon, because 
they are represented either seated or bending down, 
and one stands a little in front of the other, towards 
the left And this sketch is not yet finished. He 
has done nothing else, excepting that two of his 
apprentices are painting portraits to which he some- 
times adds a few touches. He is working hard at 
geometry, and is quite tired of painting. I only write 
this that Your Excellency may know I have re- 
ceived your letters. I will do your commission, and 
let you know the result very soon, and may God 



^dbyGoogle 



820 CARTOON FOR THE SERVI 

keep you in His grace. — Your obedient servant, Fr. 
Petrus Novellara, Carm. Vic. -Gen."* Florence, 
April 8, 1501. 

The letter is of great importance, both as showing 
Leonardo's absorption in geometrical studies, and 
giving a description of the funous cartoon which 
he drew for the Servi firiars, and which not only 
filled all die artists with admiration, but brought 
crowds of men and women to the convent hall, 
where this masterpiece was exhibited during two 
days. "The whole city was stin^," wrote Vasari, 
"and you might have fancied that you saw a pro- 
cession on some solemn feast day." And Girolamo 
da Casio, the Rologna poet, with whom Isabella was 
in constant correspondence, wrote a sonnet on the 
,cartooa which had moved all Florence to wonder. 

Ten dajrs later the Carmelite friar wrote again to 
tell Isabella the result of his efforts : — 

"This Holy Week I have succeeded in learning 
the painter Leonardo's intentions by means of his 
pupil, Salai', and some of his other friends, who, to 
make them more fuUy known to me, took me to 
see him on Wednesday in Holy Week. In truth, 
his mathematical experiments have absorbed his 
thoughts so entirely that he cannot bear the sight 
of a paint-brush. But I endeavoured as skilfully 
as I could to inform him of Your Excellency's wish. 
Then, finding him well disposed to gratiiy you, I 
spoke irankly to him on the subject, and we came 
to this conclusion : if he can, as he hopes, end his 
engagement witii the King of France without dis- 
pleasing him by the end of a month at latest, he 
would rather serve Your Excellency than any other 
' Luzio, / Prtcetion, App. 



^dbyGoogle 



LEONARDO'S MADONNA 821 

person in the world. But, in any case, as soon as 
he has finished a little picture which he is painting 
for a certain Robertet, a favourite of the King of 
France, he will do your portrait immediately and 
send it to you. I left two good petitioners with him. 
The little picture which he is painting is a Madonna, 
seated as if at work with her spindle, while the Child, 
with His foot on the basket of spindles, has taken up 
the winder, and looks attentively on the four rays 
in the shape of a cross, as if wishing for the cross, 
and holds it tight, laughing, and refusing to give 
it to His mother, who tries in vain to take it from 
Him. This is aU I have been able to settle with the 
master. I preached my sermon yesterday. God grant 
it may bring forth much fruit, for the hearers were 
numerous. I commend myself to Your Excellency. 
— Frater Petrus de Novellara." Florence, April 
14, 1501.' 

Leonardo's promises, however, remained as usual 
unfrilfilled, uid hearing no more of her Madonna, or 
portrait, in July Isabella wrote to Manfrcdo de 
Manfredi, her father's envoy at Florence, begging 
him to deliver a letter which she had written into 
the master's own hands. 

On the 80th, Manfredi replied : — 

" I have given Your Excellency's letter to Leo- 
nardo, the Florentine. I delivered it myself into his 
own hands, telling him that I would take charge of 

* This letter is quoted by M, Muntz, " Leonardo da Vinci," ii. 
121 ; but the date of April 10, 1503, which he borrows from Cnlvi'a 
life of the master, is clearly wrong. D. Richter and Signor Solmi 
give April 4, 1501, as the correct date ; but since Easter Day fell 
on the nth of April in that year, Wednesday in Holy Week 
must have been the 7th, and the letter was probably written on 
the 14th. 

VOL. I. X 



^dbyGoogle 



822 LORENZO DEI MEDICI'S VASES 

any letter which he might wish to send in answer, 
and would see that it was faithfully delivered to you. 
Leonardo replied that he would send an answer 
shortly, and hoped to be able to oblige Your Ex- 
cellency. But, since no letter came, I sent again 
to ask his intentions, and he rephed that all he 
could say for the moment was that I might send 
you word that he had begun to do what Your 
Highness desired. This is all that I have been able 
to obtain from the said Leonardo." 

A few months later, on the 8rd of May 1502, 
Isabella, hearing that certain vases which had be- 
longed to Lorenzo dei Medici were for srfeH wrote 
to her agent, Francesco Malatesta, desiring him to 
show these vases to some competent person, "such, 
for instance, as Leonardo, the painter, who used to 
live at Milan, and is a Mend of ours, if he is in 
Florence, and consult him as to their beauty and 
quahty." This was a task quite to Leonardo's taste, 
and he did not hesitate to give the Marchesa the 
benefit of his opinion on the precious vases. 

" I have shown them to Leonardo Vinci, the 
painter," wrote Malatesta on the 12th of May, "as 
Your Highness desired. He praises all of them, but 
especially the crystal vase, which is all of one piece 
and very fine, and has a silver-gilt stand and cover ; 
and Leonardo says that he never saw a finer thing. 
The agate one also pleases him, because it is 
a rare thing and of large size, and is all in one 
piece, excepting the stand and cover, which are 
silver-gilt ; but it is cracked. That of amethyst, or, 
as Leonardo calls it, of jasper, is transparent and 
of variegated colours, and has a massive gold stand, 
studded with so many pearls and rubies that they 



^dbyGoogle 



PRAISED BY LEONARDO 828 

are valued at 150 ducats. This greatly pleased Leo- 
nardo, as being something quite new, and exquisite 
in colour. All four have Lorenzo Medici's name 
engraved in Roman letters on the body of the vase, 
and are valued at a very high price : the crystal 
vase, at 850 ducats ; the jasper vase, set with gems, 
at 240 ducats ; the agate vase, at 200 ducats ; and the 
jasper vase, on a plain silver stand, at 150 ducats."* 

At the same time Malatesta enclosed coloured 
drawings of the four vases, in order that Isabella 
might make her choice, only regretting that it was 
impossible for any painter to reproduce the beautiful 
lustre which charmed the eyes of Leonardo. 

The prices of those rare works of art were 
probably beyond the Marchesa's means in this ex- 
pensive year, when Lucrezia Borgia's wedding and 
her visit to Venice had exhausted her treasury, but 
Leonardo's praises must have filled her with longing 
to add them to her collection. She had not yet 
given up all hope of obtaining a picture from the 
Florentine master, and two years ^erwards, when 
Leonardo was at work on the cartoon of the Battle 
of Anghian for the Council Hall in the Palazzo 
Pubblico, this indefatigable princess once more re- 
turned to the charge. This time she wrote a 
charming letter to Leonardo, which she sent to the 
merchant Angelo del Tovaglia, whose villa had 
excited the envy of the Marquis some years before, 
and who was now engaged in conducting negotiations 
on her part widi Perugino. 

"Since we desire exceedingly," she wrote to 
Angelo on the 14th of May lj!i04, "to have some 
work by the hand of Leonardo Vinci, whom we 
> Lusio, Arch. Star, dell' Arte, i. 181. 



^dbyGoogle 



824 ISABELLA'S EFFORTS 

know both by reputation and by personal experience 
to be a most excellent painter, we have asked him, 
in the enclosed letter, to paint us a youthful Christ 
of about twelve years old. Do not scruple to present 
this letter to him, adding whatever words may seem 
to you most suitable, so as to persuade him to serve 
us ; and let him know that he shall be well rewarded. 
If he excuses himself and says that he has not time, 
owing to the work which he has begun for that most 
excellent Signoiy, you can tell him that this will be 
a means of recreation and pleasure when he is tired 
of historical painting, and that for the rest he can take 
his own time, and work at leisure." 

The letter which Isabella sent to Leonardo was 
as follows: — 

"To Master Leonardo Vinci, the painter. M. 
Leonardo, — Hearing that you are settled at Flor- 
ence, we have begun to hope that our cherished desire 
to obtain a work by your hand may be at length 
realised. When you were in this city, and drew our 
portrait in carbon, you promised us that you would 
some day paint it in colours. But because this would 
be almost impossible, since you are unable to come 
here, we beg you to keep your promise by converting 
our portrait into another figure, which would be still 
more acceptable to us ; that is to say, a youthful 
Christ of about twelve years, which would be the 
age He had attained when He disputed with the 
doctors in the temple, executed with all that sweet- 
ness and charm of atmosphere which is the peculiar 
excellence of your art If you will consent to gratify 
this our great desire, remember that apart from the 
payment, which you shall fix yourself, we shall remain 
so deeply obliged to you that our sole desire will be to 



^dbyGoogle 



TO OBTAIN A PICTURE 825 

do what you wish, and from this time forth we are ready 
to do your service and pleasure, hoping to receive an 
answer in the affirmative." Mantua, May 14, 1504. 

On the 27th of May, Angelo del Tovaglia 
replied : — 

" I received the letter of Your Highness, to- 
gether with the one for Leonardo da Vinci, to 
whom I presented it, and at the same time tried to 
persuade and induce him, with powerful reasons, to 
obUge Your Excellency by painting the little figure 
of Christ, according to your request. He has 
promised me without fail to punt it in such times 
and hours as he can snatch from the work on which 
he is engaged for tills Signory. I will not fail to 
entreat Leonardo, and also Perugino, as to the other 
subject. Both make liberal promises, and seem to 
have the greatest wish to serve Your Highness. 
Nevertheless, I think it will be a race between 
them which is the slower I I hardly know which 
of the two is likely to win, but expect Leonardo 
will be the conqueror. All the same, I will do my 
utmost." 

Angelo's prophecy was destined to be fulfilled to 
the letter. More than a year passed away before 
Perugino's picture found its way to Mantua, while 
neither the honest merchant's entreaties nor the 
charming Marchesa's honeyed words were able to 
move Leonardo to action. Once more, on the 80th 
of October, Isabella wrote to Angelo, with a second 
letter to Leonardo, gently reminding him of his 
promise. 

"You sent me word by Messer Angelo some 
time ago that you would gladly satisfy my great 
desire. But the large number of orders which you 



^dbyGoogle 



826 FROM LEONARDO 

receive make me fear lest you have forgotten mine. 
I have, therefore, thought it well to write these few 
words, beg^ng you to paint this little figure by 
way of recreation when you are tired of Florentine 
history." 

Still the master, intent as he was on painting his 
great picture on the wall of the Council Hall, gave 
no sign of life. But in January his favourite pupil, 
Salai, offered his services to the Marchesa, and pro- 
fessed his readiness to paint some cosa galante for 
Her Excellency. His offer was not accepted, but a 
few months later Isabella desired Angelo del Tovaglia 
to send Salai' to judge of the merits of the picture 
which Perugino had at length finished for her studio, 
and, if necessary, surest alterations. 

In March 1506, Isabella herself came to Florence, 
as we have seen, and spent the Feast of the An- 
nunciation in the city of flowers. She did not see 
her friend Leonardo, who was studying the cause of 
rivers and the flight of birds in his coimtry retreat at 
Fiesole. But she met his uncle, Alessandro Amadori, 
the Canon of Fiesole, with whom so much of his 
time was spent, and for whom he cherished a deep 
and lasting affection. To this courteous ecclesiastic 
the Marchesa confided her great wish to obtain a 
little picture from the hand of the famous master, 
and he promised to use all his influence to induce 
his nephew to satisfy her ardent desire. On the 
8rd of May, a week or two after she had returned 
to Mantua, Alessandro wrote to her as follows : — 

" Here, in Florence, I act at all hours as the 
representative of Your Excellency, with Leonardo 
da Vinci, my nephew, and I do not cease to urge 
him by every argument in my power to satisfy the 



^dbyGoogle 



HIS UNCLE'S LETTERS 827 

desire of Your Excellency, and paint the figure for 
which you asked him, and which he promised you 
several months ago, in the letter that I showed Your 
Excellency. This time he has really promised me 
that he will soon begin the work and satisfy your 
wish, and desires me to commend him to your 
favour. And if, before I leave Florence, you will 
tell me whether you prefer any especial iigure, I will 
take care that Leonardo satisfies Your Highness, 
whom it is my greatest wish to oblige. I visited 
Madonna Argentina Soderini this i^temoon, and she 
was glad to hear from me that Your Highness had 
reached Mantua safely. I gave her Your Highness's 
messages, and she sends the enclosed note in return. 
May God prosper Your Excellency." ' 

The Marchesa wrote back gratefully on the 12th 
of May from Sacchetta, where she had been driven 
by the sudden outbreak of the plague in Mantua : — 

" We were very grateful for your letter of the 8rd, 
telling us that you had conveyed our inquiries to the 
Signora Gonfalionera, as we learn by a letter from 
Her Highness ; neither are we less pleased with the 
dexterity which you have shown in dealing with 
Leonardo Vinci, in order to induce him to satisfy 
us and paint that figure for which we asked. We 
thank you for all your trouble, and beg you to 
persevere in your kind efibrts on our behalf."* 

But before the end of May, Leonardo left 
Florence to enter the service of Chwles d'Amboise, 
the French Governor of Milan, and spent over a year 
in that city, at the express request of King Louis, 

' Luzio in Jrch. Slor. deU Arte, \. 181-18*. 

*Yriarte, GaaeOe d. B. Arts, 1888; Muotz, "Leonardo da 
Vind," ii. 113 j Solmi, " Leonardo," p. 159. 



^dbyGooglc 



828 HER CORRESPONDENCE 

who himself came to Milan for six weeks in 1508, 
and begged that Twtre chier et bien am^ Leo-nard de 
Vinces should be allowed to remain at his court. 
There Isabella probably met him when she spent that 
joyous fortnight at Milan, and renewed her acquaint- 
ance with so many of her old friends. But he never 
painted her picture, and the only work by Leonardo's 
hand in the Gonzaga collection was a small painting 
afterwards given to her son Federico by Count 
Niccolo Maffei, after his return from France. This 
work is described in the inventory of 1627 as " a 
woman's head, with dishevelled hair," valued at 180 
ducats, and hung in a passage leading to the Studio 
of the Grotta.' 

Isabella was more fortunate in her deaUngs with 
other painters, and ultimately succeeded in obtaining 
a picture for her studio from Perugino, although 
this artist's delays and prevarications provoked her 
sorely. The Umbrian master enjoyed a great 
reputation in North Italy at the close of the 
fifteenth century. He had painted noble altar- 
pieces at Cremona and the Certosa of Pavia, and 
Duke Lodovico Sforza had repeatedly invited him to 
enter his service, and decorate his rooms in the 
Castello of Milan. Perugino was well known at the 
court of Mantua, since his young wife, Chiara, was 
a daughter of Luca Fancelli, the well-known archi- 
tect, who had spent forty years in the service of the 
Gonzagas. When the painter was at Venice in 
1496, Isabella asked him, through his friend, Lor- 
enzo da Pavia, to paint a picture for her studio. 
But her request came too late, for by this 
time Perugino had left Venice, and was busily 

1 D'Arco, ArU e Ariefid, ii. l6l. 



^dbyGoOgle 



WITH PERUGINO 829 

engaged in painting his great altar-pieces at Florence 
and Perugia. Accordingly, in 1500, Isabella wrote 
to Giovanna della Revere, the sister of Duke Guido- 
baldo of Urbino, and mother of her future son-in- 
law, Francesco Maiia, saying how much she desired 
to obtain a poesia for her studio team Perugino, and 
begging this lady to use her influence with the painter. 
The Prefettessa, however, was not encouraging. 
Perugino, it was true, had lately painted a series of 
frescoes at Sinigaglia, but was reluctant to accept 
orders, and very slow in executing them. Moreover, 
he would be sure to raise difficulties as to the subject 
of the picture, and did not care to paint compositions 
of this kind. The issue proved Giovanna to have 
been right, but Isabella was not easily discouraged, 
and two years and a half later she wrote to Francesco 
Malatesta, desiring him to approach Perugino on the 
subject.^ 

" Since we desire," she wrote in September 1502, 
"to have in our camerino paintings of allegorical 
subjects by the best painters in Italy, among whom 
II Perugino is famous, we beg you to see him and 
find out, through the intervention of some friend, if 
he is willing to accept the task of painting a picture 
on a storia or invention which we will give him, with 
small-sized figures, such as those which you have 
seen in our camerino. You will find out what 
payment he requires, and if he can set to work soon, 
in which case we will send him the measurements of 
the picture with out fantasia. And be sure to send 
me a prompt answer." 

* W. BraghiroUi, No&de e document iaediti intonm a P. Vati' 
nuechi, from the Archivio Gomaga ; and C. Ymrte, Gazette da Beaux 
ArU, 1695. 



^dbyGoOgle 



880 PERUGINO'S PROMISES 

At first Malatesta gave the Marchesa bttle hope of 
success. Perugino, he told her, was a man fertile in 
excuses and difficult to deal with, and he advised her 
to employ Filippino Lippi or Sandro Botticelli in his 
stead. But Isabella insisted that he should begin by 
approaching Perugino. The first interview proved 
satisfactory, and Perugino, tempted by the Marchesa's 
liberal offer of 100 ducats, promised to paint a 
fantasia for her studio, within the next few months, 
on any subject that she liked to choose. Two months 
afterwards Capilupi sent a letter to another agent in 
Florence, Vincenzo Bolzano, desiring him to give 
Perugino a paper with full details of the subject, 
drawn up by Isabella's favourite humanist, Paride da 
Ceresara, and at the same time obtain his formal 
agreement to the contract. If the painter agreed to 
Isabella's conditions, the size of the picture and a 
sketch of the composition were to be given -Tiim, 
and 20 ducats were to be paid in advance. "The 
Marchesa," adds the secretary, "desires that the 
picture should be painted on canvas, like Mant^na's 
compositions, and recommends the master to use the 
greatest care and diligence, but this, no doubt, will 
be superfluous, since Her Excellency feels certain 
that Perugino will not wish his work to be unworthy 
of his fame, especially as it will have to bear com- 
parison with Mantegna's paintings." 

The contract was duly signed, the money paid 
down, and the Marchesa's programme handed to the 
painter. This curious document, which both M. 
Muntz ' and M. Yriarte * reproduce in full, shows how 
minute were the directions which painters received 

' Hutoirt de tArt pendant la Rettaitsance, it 6S. 
» GaeetU d. B. ArU, 1895. 



^dbyGoOgle 



ISABELLA'S ORDERS 881 

from the poets and humanists of the day, and how 
little freedom in the choice of subject was allowed 
them by their patrons. Isabella, no doubt, went too 
far in this direction, and the best painters felt their 
imagination cramped by her minute instructions. 
Mantegna, whose genius overcame all difficulties, pro- 
bably moulded the material to suit his fancy, and 
certainly succeeded best in the paintings which he 
executed for her studio. Giovanni Bellini, as we 
shall see, quite refused to paint the subject assigned 
to him, and Perugino found the theme little suited 
to his art, and failed to satisfy her. Nor is his failure 
surprising when we read her directions. 

*' My poetic invention, which I wish to see you 
paint, is tiie Battle of Love and Chastity — that is to 
say, Pallas and Diana fighting against Venus and 
Love. Pallas must appear to have almost vanquished 
Love. After breaking his golden arrow and silver 
bow, and flinging them at her feet, she holds the blind- 
fold boy with one hand by the handkerchief which he 
wears over his eyes, and lifts her lance to strike him 
with the other. The issue of the conflict between 
Diana and Venus must appear more doubtful. Venus's 
crown, garland and veil will only have been slightly 
damaged, while Diana's raiment will have been singed 
by the torch of Venus, but neither of the goddesses 
will have received any wound. Behind these four 
divinities, the chaste nymphs in the train of Pallas 
and Diana will be seen engaged in a fierce conflict — 
in such ways as you can best imagine — with the 
lascivious troop of fauns, satyrs, and thousands of 
little loves. These last will be smaller than the 
god Cupid, and will carry neither gold bows nor 
silver arrows, but darts of some baser material — 



^dbyGoogle 



832 DESIGN FOR A FANTASIA 

either wood or iron, as you please. In order to give 
full expression to the fable and adom the scene, 
the olive tree sacred to Pallas will rise out of the 
ground at her side, with a shield bearing the head of 
Medusa, and the owl, which is her emblem, will be 
seen in the branches of the tree. At the side of 
Venus, her favourite myrtle tree will flower, and 
to heighten the beauty of the picture, a landscape 
should be introduced with a river or the sea in 
the distance. Fauns, satyrs, and loves will be seen 
hastening to the help of Cupid — some flying through 
the air, others swimming on the waves or borne on 
the wings of white swans, but all alike eager to take 
part in the Battle of Love. On the banks of the 
river, or on the shore of the sea, Jupiter will be seen 
in his character as the enemy of Chastity, changed 
into the bull that carries off the fair Europa. Among 
the gods attending on him, Merciuy will appear 
flying like an eagle over Glaucera, the nymph of 
Pallas, who will bear a small cistus engraved with 
the attributes of the goddess ; Polj^hemus, tlie one- 
eyed Cyclops, will be seen chasing Galatea ; Phoebus 
in pursuit of Daphne, who is already changing into 
a laurel ; Pluto carrying off Persephone to the infernal 
realm, and Neptune about to seize Coronis at the 
moment she is metamorphosed into a raven. I send 
you all these incidents, in a small drawing, which 
may help you to understand my explanations. If 
you think there are too many figiues, you can reduce 
the number, as long as the chief ones remain — I mean 
Pallas, Diana, Venus, and Love — but you are for- 
bidden to introduce anything of your own invention." 
This was the elaborate and intricate composition 
which Perugino, the painter of Madonnas and Saints 



^dbyGoogle 



DETAILS OF THE COMPOSITION 883 

with angelic faces and seraphic expression, was now 
required to pmnt. Anjrthing less suited to his genius 
it would have been hard to find. The subjects which 
he generally refvesented were of the simplest kind ; 
the figures were few and for the most part in repose. 
He could paint a sweet-faced Madonna looking down 
on her Babe, a Saint with uptmned eyes and rapt 
expression standing at the foot of the Cross, even 
a nude Apollo serenely confident of victory, but this 
crowded canvas, with its multitude of figures, fighting 
and chasing each other, was altogether beyond his 
powers. We can hardly wonder that he showed 
considerable reluctance to attack the subject. First 
one excuse was suggested, then another, to account 
for his protracted delays. But every letter which 
Isabella received from her different agents in Florence 
told the same tale. Perugino had not even attempted 
to begin a sketch of the composition. At length 
even the Marchesa's patience became exhausted, and 
she sent Angelo del Tovaglia to demand an explanation 
from the painter. Upon which Perugino declared 
that he was doubtAil as to the size of the figures, and 
begged for exact measurements of the personages 
in the foreground of Mant^;na's picture. These 
Isabella sent him, with the following note, on the 
12th of January 1504 : — 

"Excellent Friend, — The enclosed paper, vnth 
the thread wound round it, gives the length of the 
biggest figure on M. Andrea Mant^na's pictures, 
close to which your own will hang. The other 
figures behind can be of any size that you like. You 
will know now how to act Above all, we beg you 
to be quick with the work, for the sooner we can 
have it, the better we shall be pleased." 



^dbyGoogle 



884 PERUGINO'S DELAYS 

Five weeks later, some alterations having been 
made in the lighting and arrangement of the studio, 
Isabella sent firesh directions for the painter's benefit. 
Still Angelo was unable to report progress, and in 
April, Isabella wrote indignantly, demanding Ferugino 
to restore her twenty ducats, if his picture were not 
ready in a month's time, and telling Tovaglia to appeal 
to the Gonfaloniere in case of the master's refusal to 
refund the money. After writing this angry letter, 
the Marchesa apparently thought better of it, and 
sent a young Mantuan painter, Lorenzo Leombnmo, 
to Florence, with a letter of recommendation to 
Perugtno, desiring him to report on the state of the 
picture, and, if it were not yet begun, to claim her 
ducats. But when Leombruno reached Florence, at 
the end of April, Ferugino had gone to Umbria, and 
did not return tiU the following autumn. Then, 
however, he professed the greatest anxiety to fiilfil 
his obligations to the Marchesa, and Isabella sent him 
the following letter on the 81st of October, the same 
day on which she wrote to Leonardo asking him to 
paint a Christ : — 

" Perudno, — We have seen, by two letters which 
you wrote to M. Angelo Tovaglia, that you hope 
soon to finish our Storia, which g^ves us great plea- 
sure. But, as we feel the greatest impatience in the 
world to see it, we beg that you will finish it and let 
us have it as soon as possible. Farewell." 

In point of fact, the picture had only just been 
sketched out on the canvas, as we learn from Agostino 
Strozza, the cultured Abbot of Fiesole, who, at 
TovagUa's su^festion, visited Perugino's shop, and 
sent his report to Isabella early in November. Yet 
another agent was employed by the impatient 



^dbyGoogle 



ABBOT STROZZA CALLED IN 885 

Marchesa, in the person of Liiigi Ciocca, who pro- 
mised Isabella to pay the patriarch, as he called 
him, frequent visits, and accepted the commission 
the more readily because of the lovely maidens 
whom he found sitting as models to the painter. 
Perugino now pleaded poverty in excuse for his 
delays, saying that he lived firom hand to mouth, 
and was compelled to do work which brought him 
ready money, and put off other commissions, but 
promised to finish the Marchesa's picture by Easter. 
When, however, Ciocca ventured to criticise the 
drawing of certain fauns in the picture, Perugino 
replied with so much arrogance that Ciocca's anger 
was roused, and he would have given him a rude 
answer if it had not been for the presence of the 
maidens. This remark alarmed Isabella, who wrote 
at once to Abbot Strozza, upon whose judgment in 
artistic matters she could rely, begging him to in- 
spect Peru^o's drawing, as she would rather give 
up the picture than have one which neither did her 
nor the painter honour. Leonardo's pupil, Salai, was 
now called in to give his opinion, as Ciocca explains 
in the following letter : — 

"Most illustrious Madonna, — To-day the Reve- 
rend Abbot of Fiesole and I spent some time with 
Perugino, and told him our opinion of the work, 
and succeeded in persuading him to cany it swiftly 
to perfection, so much so that he has promised to use 
the greatest art, diligence, and attention to satisfy 
his honour and duty, and meet your wishes. I am 
also glad to tell you that a pupil of Leonardo Vinci, 
SaUu by name, young in years but very talented, 
whom I sent to Perugino, praises the fantasia 
greatly, and has corrected some of the small defects 



^dbyGooglc 



886 SALAI OFFERS HIS SERVICES 

which the abbot and I had pointed out. We will 
continue to do our utmost, in order that Your Ex- 
cellency may be satisfied. This Salai has a great 
wish to do some gallant thing for Your Excellency 
himself, so if you desire a little picture, or anything 
else from him, you have only to tell me the price 
you are ready to give, and I will see that you are 
pleased. — Your servant, Aloisius Ciocca."* Flo- 
rence, Jan. 22, 1505. 

At Salafs suggestion the artist rectified certain 
errors of drawing which satisfied Ciocca, who told 
the abbot that he thought the picture was as good as 
could be expected from Perugino, who excelled in 
the treatment of larger forms, but had little ex- 
perience in handling small-sized figures and crowded 
compositions. Another point which disturbed Isa- 
bella considerably was that she heard Perugino had 
represented Venus as a nude figure, contrary to her 
express directions. This, she told the abbot, must 
not be allowed, since, if one single figure were altered, 
the whole meaning of the fable would be ruined.* 

When the Marchesa's letter reached Fiesole, the 
abbot hastened to Perugino's shop, but it was only 
to find that the punter had left Florence. " I can- 
not understand the man's behaviour," he wrote to 
Isabella on the 22nd of February 1505, "and begin 
to fear he will prove me to be a liar. I find it is 
already a fortnight since he left Florence, and I 
cannot discover where he has hidden himself, and 
when he is likely to return. His wife and friends 
either do not know where he is or else they are 
hiding it from me, probably because, contrary to all 
his promises, he has undertaken some other work. 
' Braghirolli, op.cU. * Yriute, op. est. 



^dbyGoogle 



PERUGINO LEAVES FLORENCE 837 

Not a day passes without my sending to inquire of 
him, and as long as he was working at the picture 
I called at least once a week. Perhaps a fresh ad- 
vance of money might fire his zeal ; but he is an 
unaccountable fellow, who does not seem to see any 
diiFerence between one person and another. 1 never 
met a man in whom art can accomplish such great 
things, where nature has done so little." This con- 
trast between the ideal beauty of Perugino's creations 
and the baseness of his conduct, his unscrupulous 
behaviour and greed for money, seems to have been 
felt by all who came in contact with the great Um- 
brian master, and agrees with Vasari's unfavourable 
estimate of his character. 

A month later the abbot told Isabella that Feru- 
gino was still absent, but that, as he now discovered, 
he had gone to Perugia, and was detained there by a 
lawsuit on behalf of a friend. In reality the master 
had accepted a commission to paint a iresco at his 
native town of Citta della Pieve, which, after much 
bargaining, he executed in March 1505 (O.S. 1504). 
He went on to paint a S. Sebastian at the neigh- 
bouring town of Panicale, and did not return to 
Florence until the beginning of May, when Ciocca 
upbraided him with the shameful way in which he 
had treated the Marchesa. " Upon which," writes 
Ciocca, "he declared, as usual, that he was sorely 
pressed for money, and muttered between his teeth 
that he knew he should be left with the picture on 
his back, and have to wait for his ducats. I told 
him to remember that he was not dealing with men 
of Spoleto or the March, but with a Marchioness 
of Mantua, a generous lady, who showed the highest 
appreciation of all that was good and beautiful, and, 
VOL. I. y 



^dbyGoogle 



888 THE TRIUMPH OF CHASTITY 

above all, of works of art. Let him only fini^ his 
picture, and make it as perfect as possible, and Her 
Highness will show him that she keeps her engage- 
ments in a very different manner 1 " Once more the 
painter promised, for the hundredth time, to finish 
the picture in a fortnight, and, " strange as it seems," 
wrote Ciocca, " this time he has really kept his word I "' 

On the 7th of June, Isabella wrote to the painter 
herself, addressing him as her very dear and famous 
friend, and sending him the eighty ducats that were 
still due to him. Before her letter reached Florence 
the picture had been sent to Mantua, and on the 
14th Perug^o composed a letter, with the help of 
a less illiterate friend, thanking the Marchesa fcnr 
the money, and saying that he hopes his work will 
satisfy her wishes and his reputation, since he, as 
is well known, has never failed to prefer honour 
to gain. He frirther explained that he had painted 
the picture in tempera, because Leombruno had told 
him that Messer Andrea Mantegna's pictures in the 
Marchesa's studio were executed in this medium. 

On the 80th of June, Isabella wrote : " The pic- 
ture has reached me safely, and pleases me, as it 
is well drawn and coloured ; but, if it had been 
more carefully finished, it would have been more 
to your honour and to our satisfaction, since it is to 
hang near those of Mantegna, which are painted 
with rare delicacy. I am sorry that the painter 
Lorenzo of Mantua advised you not to employ oils, 
for I should have preferred this method, as it is 
more effective. None the less, I am, as I said before, 
well satisfied, and remain kindly disposed towards 
you."* 

1 BrAghjrolli, op. cii. 



:dbv Google 



ITS DEFECTS 886 

Perugino replied on the 10th of August, express- 
ing his regret that he had not known the medium 
employed by Mantegna, and saying that he would 
have greatly preferred to use oils rather than tempera, 
which did not suit the texture of his canvas, but hoped 
some day to be allowed to paint the Marchesa another 
more ddicately finished picture. Isabella, however, 
was not sufficiently pleased with the Triumph of 
Chastity to order a second painting for her studio, 
and when, after Ferugino's death, his widow, Chiara 
Fancelli, offered her a picture of Mars and Venus 
surprised by Vulcan, which the artist had intended 
for the Marchesa, she declined to purchase the 
painting.' The correctness of Isabella's judgment 
is confirmed by the sight of Ferugino's picture, which 
hangs in the Louvre to-day, side by side with the 
works which Mantegna and Lorenzo Costa executed 
for the Marchesa's Grotta. The Triumph of Chastity 
is the feeblest and least satisfactory of the series, and 
lacks the charm of the Ferrarese artist's grace&l com- 
positions, while it sinks far below the level of the 
great Faduan master's conceptions. Both in style 
and subject Isabella's poesia was ill-adapted to Feru- 
gino's art, and had, it is plain, inspired him with little 
interest The composition is crowded and confused, 
without Ufe or unity ; the execution is poor and 
flimsy, and the figures and trees are curiously out of 
proportion. Th6 chief beauty of the picture lies in 
the clear Umbrian sky, in the lovely landscape of 
blue hUls and river, and in the laughing feces and 
gambols of the countless loves who are sporting on 
the grass. Venus, we note, does not wear either 
the crown, veil or garland prescribed by Isabella, and 
' BraghiroUi, op. at. 



^dbyGoogle 



840 ISABELLA'S CRITICISM 

the Marchesa must have recognised that in this in- 
stance at least the pwiter was ri^t. But, as she 
said herself, the Triumph of Chastity was hardly 
worthy of the place of honour which it occupied 
in her studio, or of the painter's great name and 
reputation. 



^dbyGoogle 



CHAPTER XIX 

1501—1507 

Isabella asks Giovanni Bellini for a picture — Her correspondence 
with Lorenzo da Pavia and Michele Vianello — The subject 
changed to a Nativity — Delays of the painter — Isabella calls in 
Alvise Marcello — Asks for her money to be returned — The 
picture is completed and sent to Mantua in 1 304— -Isabella's 
negotiations with Giovanni Bellini through Pietro Bembo for 
another picture, which is never painted. 

Giovanni Bellini had naturally been one of the 
first painters to whom Isabella d'Este applied when 
she began to adorn her new studio. His father, 
Jacopo, had frequently visited Ferrara and worked 
for the Este princes, and Francesco G^nzaga often 
met both the brothers Giovanni and Gentile during 
the years that he spent in the service of the Venetian 
Signory. Isabella herself admired Giovanni's paint- 
ings in the Council Hall on her first visit to Venice 
in 1498, and three years afterwards asked the great 
master to paint a picture for her Camerino. In 1498, 
we know that she had been interested in comparing 
certain paintings by Giovanni with Leonardo's por- 
trait of the youthful Cecilia Gallerani,^ and the excel- 
lence of his art was well known to her through his 
personal friends, Lorenzo da Pavia, Aldo Manuzio, the 
great printer, and other cultured Venetians, with 
whom she was in constant communication. Elarly 
in March 1501, Michele Vianello, a distinguished con- 
noisseur, who, according to Messer Lorenzo, had the 
^ " Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Milan," p. 53. 



^dbyGoogle 



842 CORRESPONDENCE WITH 

finest collection of works of art in Venice, and who 
was on intimate terms both with the painter and the 
master of oi^ns, spent a few days at Hantua, and 
promised the Marchesa to induce Giovanni to paint a 
Jantasia to match the all^ories of Mantegna.^ 

" On my arrival here," he wrote, March 5, " I went 
to see Zuan BeUini, to execute the commission given 
me by Your Signory before I left, and told him your 
wish, and the Storia which you desire him to p^nt. 
Zuan Bellini replied that he was obliged to work for 
this Signory in the Palace, and could never get away 
from early morning till after dinner, but that be 
would manage to find or rob time in which to serve 
you, both for your sake and for love of me. But I 
must warn you that the said Zuan has many other 
works on hand, so that it will be impossible for you 
to have your picture as soon as you wish. I think it 
will be a year and a half before it is finished. As to 
^ the price, he asks 150 ducats, but may reduce it to 
100. This is all I can do." 

Isabella lost no time in clenching the bargain, and 
on the 1st of April, Michele wrote again: " I have 
seen Zuan BeUini several times, and told him Your 
Excellency's wishes, and he has agreed to do the work 
for 100 ducats in a year's time. He will set to work 
as soon as possible, and I hope that you may have 
the picture in a little over a year. He promises to 
take the greatest puns, and begs you to send him 
25 ducats, and hopes to begin the work directly ^er 
the hohdays. — Your servant, M. Vianello." 

On the 4th of April, Isabella wrote: "Messer 
Michele, — 1 am glad to hear that you have induced 

> W. Braghirolli, Aniuvio Veneto, voL adU. ; C. Yriarte, GaettU 
d. B. Arts, 1S96. 



^dbyGoogle 



GIOVANNI BELLINI 848 

Zuan Bellini to do the picture, and in order that he 
may set to work with the more courage after Easter, 
I send him the 25 ducats as agreed." The money, 
however, was not sent till the 25th of June, when 
Michele acknowledged its receipt, and promised to 
give it to Bellini as soon as he returned ftom the 
coimtry, where he was spending a few days at his 
villa. " I have," he continued, " already spoken to 
him several times about your picture. He seems 
most anxious to serve Your Signory, but does not 
like the idea of the Storia you propose, and is un- 
willing to paint this, because, if tiiis picture is to be 
a crnnpanion to M. Andrea's work, he would like to 
do his best, and is sure that he cannot make anything 
good out of such a subject He seems so reluctant 
to undertake this Storia that I doubt if Your Ex- 
cellency would be satisfied, and it would, I think, be 
better to let him do as he pleases, for in that case 
I am certain you would be better served. But he 
will do nothing without your orders." 

Isabella knew Bellini too well to insist further, 
and on the 28th of June, she wrote to Michele as 
follows : " If Zuan Bellini objects so much to this 
Storia, I am content to leave the subject to his judg- 
ment, as long as he paints a story or fable of his own 
invention, representing something antique, which has 
a fine meaning. I should be very glad if he would 
begin the work at once, so that it may be finished 
within the year, or even sooner, if possible. The 
size of the picture has not been altered since you were 
here Mid saw the place that it was to occupy in the 
studio, but for greater safety I will send you the 
correct measuremek % and will tell our sculptor, 
Zoanne Cristoforo, co write to you on this matter." 



^dbyGooglc 



844 LORENZO DA PAVIA'S EFFORTS 

The next mention we find of Giovanni's picture is 
in a letter of the 27th of August from Lorenzo da 
Pavia, who, writing on the 26th of July, tells the 
Marchesa that Vianello is doing his best to make 
Giovanni Bellini paint her picture. A month later 
he sends her some rosaries of the finest ebony, and a 
Virgil and Petrarch lately issued by the Aldlne 
press, and after expressing his joy that she has 
obtained possession of the clavichord which he had 
made for her dead sister. Duchess Beatrice, adds 
significantly : " Giovanni Bellini is going to pmnt you 
a heauti£\ii Jantasia, but he has not yet set to work. 
He is a slow man, and excuses himself because he is 
still engaged in the Palace, but promises to do both 
things." And he ends by advising his mistress to 
apply to Perugino, a recommendation which she 
promptly followed, to her cost 

But the months went by, and Isabella, hearing no 
more of her pictxure, wrote on the 20th of December 
to ask Messer Michele what the painter was about. 
" After we sent you the 25 ducats for Zuan 
BeUini, we never heard if he had begun our picture. 
If it is to be finished in a year, he ou^t already to 
have done a great part of the work So please see 
him, and tell me the exact state of the picture, and 
beg him to persevere, so that we may have it at the 
promised time. But if he has not begun the work, 
and you know that he will not or cannot keep his 
promise, you will see that he returns our money, 
so that we may employ another master, since we 
desire, above all things, to see the decoration of our 
Camerino completed." ' 

Michele wrote in reply, on the 12th of January 
' Bmghirollij op. cU. 



^dbyGooglc 



\ 



TO OBTAIN BELLINI'S PICTURE 845 

1502, that the painter had been ill for some time, 
and had more work than he could do, but that 
he promised to finish the picture by the end of 
September, if the Marchesa would consent to wait so 
long. Then an interval of eight months elapsed, 
during which Isabella went to Ferrara for Lucrezia 
Borgia's wedding, and afterwards came herself to 
Venice, where she no doubt saw Lorenzo da Pavia 
and Messer Michele, and probably received Bellini's 
excuses and assuruices of his readiness to serve her 
in person. But when, at the end of August, she 
asked Lorenzo for news of her picture, he replied : — 

" Giovanni Bellini has never done anjiliing I not 
indeed for want of constant entreaties both on my 
part and on that of Messer Michele, but I always 
thought, as I told Your Highness, that he would 
never paint this picture. He is not the man for 
these subjects {hzstorie). He says that he will do 
them, but he never does I By way of helping on 
matters, I asked one of my friends, a poet of talent, 
to invent a very simple theme which could be easily 
painted, and which I now enclose, but even thus, I 
fear, he will never undertake the work, and M. Michele 
will therefore ask him to return the 25 ducats." 

This, however, proved to be less easy than Lorenzo 
supposed, and on the 10th of September, he wrote; 
" As for the money, Your Highness must understand 
that it is difficult to make the painter give back the 
ducats. Now he pretends that he will paint you a 
charming Jiintasia after his own fashion, which is, it 
must be confessed, a rather lengthy fashion I M. 
Michele b^p you to write him a letter which he can 
show the painter, and will compel him to restore the 
mon^." 



^dbyGoogle 



-1^ 



ISABELLA'S ANGER 



Isabella now determined to give up the idea of a 
painting for her studio, and to ask Bellini for one of 
those sacred subjects in which he excelled. On the 
I5th of September, she wrote to Vianello: "M. 
Michele, — You may remember that many months 
ago we gave Zuan Bellini a commission to paint a 
picture for the decoration of our studio, and when it 
ought to have been finished we found that it was not 
yet begun. Since it seemed clear that we shoidd 
never obtain what we desired, we told him to abandon 
the work and give you back the 26 ducats which 
we had sent him before, but now he begs us to leave 
him the work, and promises to finish it soon. As 
till now he has given us nothing but words, we beg 
you will tell him in our name that we no longer care 
to have the picture, but that if in its stead he would 
paint a Nativity (iVesepio-manger) we should be 
well content, as long as he does not keep us waiting 
any longer, and will count tJie 25 ducats which he 
has already received as half payment. This, it 
appears to us, is really more Uian he deserves, but 
we are content to leave this to your judgment. We 
desire this Nativity should contain the Madonna and 
Our Lord God and St. Joseph, together with a St. 
John Baptist and the usual animals. If he refuses 
to agree to this, you will ask him to return the 
25 ducats, and if he will not give back the money 
you will take proceedings through the Via deUa 
Ragwne" (a Venetian Court of Justice). When this 
letter reached Venice the painter was absent, but as 
soon as he returned Vianello made him Isabella's 
offer, which he accepted gladly, promising to do a 
most excellent thing for the Marchesa, and only 
stipulating that the price should be 100 ducats, the 



^dbyGoogle 



\ 



WITH THE PAINTER 847 

same which he was to receive for the Storia. This, 
however, Isabella refused to give, saying that 50 ducats 
was sufficient, since the Nativity must be of a smaller 
size, and could not be placed in her Camerino, but 
should be hung in a bedroom. The exact dimensions 
of the new picture were sent to Venice by Francesco 
Gonzaga's secretary, Battista Scalona, and Vianello 
acknowledged the receipt of the measurements, and 
told Isabella that Bellini agreed to paint the Presepio 
and to introduce " the Child and St. John Baptist, 
with a distant landscape and other inventions, if this 
is agreeable to Your Highness. As to the price, he 
agreed to take 50 ducats, and anything more which 
may seem good to Your Excellency. So I ordered the 
canvas to be prepared with gesso, and he promised to 
begin at once." ' 

Isabella now suggested the addition of a St. Jerome 
to the group, but the painter demurred to this, and 
the Marchesa was compelled to yield. *' Apparently," 
she wrote to Vianello on the 25th of November, 
*• Bellini will not hear of St. Jerome being introduced 
in my Nativity ; but I did not choose the subject, 
and it is he who seems to be reluctant to paint the 
picture at all, so let him do as he pleases. I am will- 
ing to have the Presepio, as long as it is worthy of 
his reputation. As for the medium and material, 
canvas or panel, he may do as he likes, as long as he 
keeps to the measurements supplied."* 

A whole year went by, and, hearing no more of ho* 
picture, Isabella once more desired Lorenzo da Pavia 
to inquire if Giovanni Bellini were alive or dead I On 
the 6th of October 1508, Lorenzo wrote: " I have 
been to see Zuan Bellini, who declares the canvas 
^ BnghiroUi, op. at. * YrUrte, op. cit. 



^dbyGoogle 



848 ASKS FOR RETURN OF MONEY 

will be ready in six weeks." But on the 3rd of 
January, after repeated visits to the old master's 
shop, he writes : '* I am always seeing Zuan Bellini. 
He is working at the picture, but very slowly, and 
asks for another six weeks' respite, pretending that 
the colour will not dry fast enough in winter." 

By this time Isabella's patience was fairly at an 
end, and on the 10th of April 1504, she addressed 
the following letter to her long-suffering agent : 
" Lorenzo, — We can no longer endure such villainy 
as Giovanni Bellini has shown us regarding this 
picture or panel of the Nativity which he agreed to 
paint for us, and we have decided to recover our 
money, even if the picture is finished, which we do 
not believe. I have written to the Magnifico Messer 
Alvise Marcello, our compatre, begging him to claim 
the money, and if Bellini refuses to return it, compel 
him to do so by the command and authority of His 
Most Serene Highness the Prince [the Doge, Leonardo 
Loredano]. You will therefore beg His Magnificence 
to do this office, in order that we may get out of the 
hands of this ungrateful man." 

On the same day ^e indignant Princess addressed 
the following letter to Alvise Marcello, a patrician of 
high rank, who, in his capacity of Venetian ambas- 
sador at Mantua, had been godfather to one of her 
children, and who had paid her special attention when 
she had lately visited Venice : " Three years ago I 
gave Giovanni Bellini, the painter, 25 ducats as part 
payment of a subject which he had promised to do for 
my studio. Afterwards, since he declined to paint 
this Storia, he agreed to execute a Nativity of Our 
Lord for the said sum, as Michele Viimello and 
Lorenzo da Pavia are aww«. The master has never 



^dbyGooglc 



ALVISE MARCELLO'S ADVICE 349 

kept any of his promises, and does not, it is plain, 
intend to keep them. We hardly know what steps 
to take next, but we see clearly how little is the 
respect which the painter has shown us. Bellini has 
never considered his obligations to us, and we are 
determined to have our money back. As there is no 
one in Venice whom we trust more than Your Mag- 
nificence, we have thought it best to ask you to desire 
Bellini to return our 25 ducats, without accepting 
either excuses or promises, for we will have no more 
of his work. If he refuses, I beg of you not to shrink 
in this extremity from saying words to the Prince, or 
to any magistrate who can order an execution, so that 
he may not be allowed to insult us in this fashion. If 
he reftises to give back the money, which we can 
hardly believe, you might appeal to Michele VianeUo 
or Lorenzo da Pavia; and Your Magnificence may 
rest assured that you can do us no greater service 
than to recover our money, and, what is of for more 
importance, prevent Bellini from doing us so great 
an injury."* 

Even the noble Venetian Senator, however, hesi- 
tated to take strong measures against the great 
master, who stood so high in the public estimation, 
and who was already seventy-seven years of age. All 
he did was to send Lorenzo da Pavia once more to try 
to bring the old man to reason. This time Belhni de- 
clared that he had been overwhelmed with work, and 
obliged to paint a picture for the Doge — probably the 
noble portrait of Loredano in the white peaked cap, 
which is now in the National Gallery. But when it 
came to returning the money he stoutly reftised, and 
produced the picture, which was three-parts finished. 
' Yriarte, op. at. 



^dbyGooglc 



850 BELLINI'S APOLOGY 

" He will certainly finish it now," wrote Alvise to the 
Marchesa, " because of his great poverty— ^wr essere 
lui miserrivw" a strange statement on the part of so 
renowned and industrious a painter, who was, more- 
over, in receipt of a considerable pension from the 
State. However, Messer Alvise's courteous phrases, 
and, yet more, the prospect of having her picture, 
produced a softening effect on die Marehesa's temper, 
and a humble letter which Giovanni himself sent her 
on the 2nd of July, satisfied her oiFended dignity, and 
induced her to overlook the past : — 

" Most illustrious Excellency, — If I have been 
slow to satisfy the wish of Your Highness, which 
was no less my own, and you have found it tedious 
to wait so long for the promised picture, I b^ your 
pardon on bended knees, praying you of your wonted 
kindness to attribute this delay to my innumerable 
occupations, and not to any forgetfulness of Your 
Excellency's orders, which are graven in my heart 
continually, since I am your most devoted servant ; 
and I pray God that if I have not satisfied Your 
Highness in point of time, you may at least be con- 
tent with the work, and if this does not satisfy your 
great wisdom and experience, you will ascribe my 
failure to the weakness of my own poor powers. — 
Humbly commending myself to Your Excellency, 
your most humble servant, Johannes Bellinus, 
pictor"^ Venice, July 2, 1504. 

Four days afterwards, Lorenzo da Pavia was able 
to inform his mistress that the picture was at lengUi 
completed, and, better still, that it was a beautiAil 
work of art, fully worthy of the grand old master's 
&me. 

1 BraghiroUi, op. eti. 



^dbyGoogle 



THE PRESEPIO FINISHED 851 

" Most illustrious and excellent Madonna, — I have 
been to Zuan Bellini several times with the Magnifico 
Alvise Marcello to ask for the return of the money 
without being able to effect anything, but this 
morning I went back and saw the picture, which is 
really finished and wants nothing. And it is indeed 
a beautiful thing, even finer than I could have ex-, 
pected, and will, I am sure, please Your Excellency. 
The painter has made a great effort to do himself 
honour, chiefly out of respect to M. Andrea 
Mantegna, and although it is true that in point of 
invention it cannot compare with the work of 
Messer Andrea, that most excellent master, I pray 
Your Excellency to take the picture, both for yoiu- 
own honour and also because of the merit of the 
work. He need not lose his money, in any case, for 
I have found a purchaser who will ^ve me the money 
for you, but I will do nothing until 1 hear from you, 
and perhaps it may not come to anything. Although 
the said Zuan Bellini has behaved so badly that he 
could not possibly have acted worse, his excuses are 
not altogether without reason, and Your Highness 
must accept his excellence and forget his iU conduct 
And I say this because his works are among the 
finest in Italy, and all the more because he is growing 
old and will only become feebler. If you wish it, 
he will have a most beautiiiil frame made for the 
picture, and take its measurements before we send 
it to yoa — Your Lobenzo da Pa via." ^ Venice, 
July 6. 

No sooner did Isabella receive Lorenzo's letter 
than, frill of joy at the prospect of receiving her 
picture, she wrote off to the old painter, graciously 

' Braghirolli, op. cit. 



EiibyGoOglc 



852 LORENZO'S OPINION OF BELLINI 

assuring him of her willingness to forgive the past imd 
accept his work. 

" Messer Zuan Bellini, — If the picture which you 
have painted for us agrees, as we beUeve and hope, 
with your &me, we shall be satisfied, and are ready to 
foi^ve you the wrong which your long delays have 
caused us. Therefore, I beg you to give the canvas 
to Lorenzo da Pavia, who wiU pay you the 23 
ducats that are still owing, and we pray you to pack 
it in such a manner that it may be brought here 
conveniently, and without risk. If we can oblige 
you in any way we will do so gladly, when we 
have seen if you have served us welL" Mantua, 
July 9, 1504. 

At the same time she sent these few lines 
to Lorenzo : " Since Zuan Bellini has finished 
the picture, and it is as beautiful as you tell 
us, we are willing to take it and send you the 
25 ducats remaining to complete the payment, 
by our secretary, Battista Scalona. Please have 
it packed so that it can travel safely, and give it to 
Scalona." ^ 

The faithful Lorenzo sent off the picture with a 
deep sense of relief, but not without some feeling of 
alarm. "It seems to me," he wrote on the 16th of 
July, " that a thousand years will elapse before I hear 
how you like this picture. Certainly it is a beautiful 
work, although I confess, if I had ordered it, I should 
have preferred the figures to have been larger. And, 
as I said before, in point of invention no one can 
rival Andrea Mantegna, who is indeed a most 
excellent painter, the foremost of our age. But 
Zuan Bellini excels in colouring, and all who have 
' Br«ghirolIi, op. ciL 



^dbyGoogle 



ISABELLA SATISFIED 858 

seen this little picture think it admirable ; and it is 
very highly finished, and will bear close inspection." 
But his fears proved groundless, and Isabella ex- 
pressed the greatest delight and admiration for the 
picture. *' I am indeed glad," wrote Lorenzo, " that 
the painting pleases Your Excellency, and this news 
has given me the most lively pleasure. It is a very 
fine work, but 1 still think the figures are too small. 
The mistake lay in not asking the painter for two or 
three drawings or sketches from which a choice could 
be made. But no one ever mentioned this to me, 
and Bellini would never let me see his work, or I 
might have made some objection to the size. If 
the picture could speak, it might complain of being 
painted in so narrow a space."* 

Isabella, however, had no fault to find, and 
kept Giovanni Bellini's Nativity to her dying day 
among her most cherished treasures. But it dis- 
appeared with so many other precious works after 
the sack of Mantua, and the last mention we find of 
it is in the inventory of 1627, where it is described 
as — "A picture of about three bracda long, by 
Giovanni Bellini, with a Blessed Virgin, the Child, 
St. John the Baptist, St. Jerome, and St. Katherine, 
on panel." * 

The best proof that we have of Isabella's satisfac- 
tion with Bellini's painting is the fact that before 
a year was over she once more renewed her request 
that he would paint a Storia for her Camerino. 
This time she had recourse to a powerful ally in 
the person of Pietro Bembo, who, as we have already 
seen, paid a visit to Mantua in June 1505, and 

• Yriarte, op. cii. 

* D'Afco, AtU e Ari^d di Mantova, ii. 188. 
VOL. I. Z 



^dbyGoogle 



854 BEMBO INDUCES BELLINI 

promised to use his influence with Bellini to induce 
him to paint a Storia to match the paintings of 
the Grotta, by Mantegna and Penigino. The ac- 
complished scholar was intimate with the grand old 
master, who had lately painted a beautiful portrait of 
his mistress, and on his return to Venice lost no 
time in fiitiilling his errand. On the 27th of August, 
he wrote to Isabella : — 

" I send Your Illustrious Signory many thanks 
for your messages to me by M. Zuan Francesco 
Valerio, which show me — what is more precious to 
me than anything else in the world — that you 
remember 1 am your good servant. I have not 
forgotten that I promised, if possible, to induce 
Zuan Bellini to paint a picture for your Camerino, 
in which matter I have been greatly helped hf M. 
Paolo Zoppo, a loyal servant of Your Highness, and 
a dear friend of Bellini. In fact, we have stormed 
the castle with so much vigour that I believe it will 
shortly surrender. All that we now require to make 
the victory complete is tiiat Your Excellency should 
write a warm letter to the master, begging him to 
oblige you, and if you send it to me, you may be sure 
it will not have been written in vain. Since I left 
you, I have been so busy that I have nothing new 
to send, so you must pardon me if this letter is 
empty. I kiss your hands and commend myself to 
my honoured lady, Alda Boiarda. — Your servant, 

PlETRO BeMBO."' 

Isabella was ill with fever when this letter reached 
her, but as soon as she recovered she employed 
Capilupi to write the following letter to Bellini : — 

" Messer Joanne, — You will no doubt remember 
' Gaye, CarUgffo, ii. 76. 



^dbyGoogle 



TO PAINT A STORIA 855 

how greatly we desired to have a painted Storia from 
your hand to hang near those of your brother-in-law, 
Mantegna, and how earnestly we formerly begged 
you to gratify our wish. But since, by reason of 
your numerous engagements, you were unable to 
gratify us, we were content to accept, instead of the 
Storia, a Nativity, which pleased us greatly, and is 
as dear to us as any picture we possess. But the 
Magnifico Pietro Bembo, when he was here a few 
months ago, heard of this our great desire, and gave 
us hopes that it might be gratified, since he believed 
that many of the works upon which you were en- 
gaged are now finished, and, knowing the sweetness 
of your nature and your readiness to oblige all men, 
more especially persons in authority, he assured us 
that you might be willing to satisfy us. Since then, 
however, we have been constantly ill with fever, and 
unable to attend to business, but now that we are in 
better health we write to ask if you will paint this 
picture, and choose the poetic invention yourself, if 
you do not wish us to give it to you. And, besides 
giWng you full and honourable payment, we shall 
remain under eternal obligations to you. When 
we hear that you agree to this, we will send you 
the measure of the canvas and the earnest money." 
Mantua, October 19, 1505. 

Bellini replied before long, expressing his readiness 
to undertake the work, and on the 7th of November, 
the Marchesa wrote to thank him : — 

" We are very happy to hear that you are willing 
to satisfy our intense desire, and paint the picture 
about which we wrote lately. Nothing will please 
us more than to have a work from your hand. We 
will have the measurements taken, and will send you 



^dbyGoogle 



856 FOR THE GROTTA 

particulars of the lighting, according to the place 
where the picture is to hang. And since the 
Magnifico Pietro Bembo is soon returning to Venice, 
and has seen the pictures in our Grotta, he will be 
able to decide on the subject with you. We will 
then send you the earnest money, and beg you to 
persevere in your present kindly intention towards 
us. Meanwhile, farewell."^ 

On the 20th, Bembo, who had been absent from 
Venice for some weeks, wrote to the Marchesa: 
" Having just returned from the March, where I 
spent some time, I find Your Signory's letters on 
the subject of BeUmi's picture, in answer to mine, 
which are tdready old. And I also hear that M. 
Paolo Zoppo and M. Lorenzo da Pavia, both of 
them good servants of Your Highness, have been 
diligent in my absence. But to-day I have been to 
see Zuan Bellini, and find that he has firmly resolved 
to gratify your wish, which I am siu« he will do 
admirably. He only awaits your answer as to the 
size and lighting of the picture." 

Lorenzo, who now appears on the scene again, 
had lately returned from a visit to the Court of 
Urbino, where the good Duchess Elisabetta had 
given him a warm welcome, and had shown him the 
beauties and treasures of the ducal palace. But the 
negotiations with Giovanni Bellini, far from bein^ 
ended, were, as he knew by experience, only just 
beginning. Meanwhile, news reached Venice of 
Isabella's illness, and of the birth of her son Ereole, 
and Bembo hastened to send the illustrious lady 
condolences on her prolonged sickness and congratu- 
lations on her happy deliverance. 

> Gaye, op. cit., p. 80, && ; C Yriarte, GasdU, 8ic, 189& 



^dbyGoogle 



CHOICE OF A SUBJECT 857 

On the 2nd of December, the Marchesa dictated 
the following letter to her secretary, Capilupi : — 

" Magnifico Messer Pietro, — We were glad to hear 
from the letter of Your Magniiicence that you had 
reached Venice safely, and feel sure that, as you 
grieved over our sickness, so you will have rejoiced 
over the fortunate birth of our son, since we are 
persuaded that you love us with the same fraternal 
affection that we feel for you. We thank you 
sincerely for your good offices with Bellini, and beg 
you to keep an eye upon him until we are able to 
leave our bed, and send him the necessary directions 
for the size and lighting of the picture. At present 
you might remind him to finish any other works 
upon which he is engaged, in order that, after the 
Christmas festival, he may be able to attend to our 
affairs without distraction. I hope Your Magni- 
ficence will not object to choosing the subject of a 
fantasia which may satisfy Bellini Since you have 
seen the other pictures in our Camerino, you will 
know what is most appropriate, and will be able to 
choose a graceful theme of new and different mean- 
ing. You can, we repeat, do us no greater pleasure 
than this, of which we shall ever remain mindful, and, 
as before, most ready to serve you."' 

On the 1st of January 1506,* Bembo replied: 
" Bellini, whom I have seen several times of late, is 
excellently disposed towards Your Excellency, and 
is only awaiting the measurements of the canvas to 
begin work. But the invention, which you tell me 
I am to choose for the picture, must be adapted to 

> V. CiMi, Un Decamio neUa Vita di P. Bmbo, p. 218. 
* This letter U dated 1505 in D'Arco and Gaye. It should be 
1505 O.S., ie- 1506- 



^dbyGoogle 



858 CORNELIO'S TRIUMPH OF SCIPIO 

Uie painter's fancy. He does not care to have his 
imagination fettered by innumerable instructions, 
but prefers to arrange his composition according to 
his own ideas, being confident that in this way he 
can produce the best effect. All the same, I will 
endeavour to meet your wishes as well as his own." 
In return, Pietro begs this gracious lady to do him 
a great favour. A certain kinsman and very dear 
friend of his, a man of great parts and excellent 
learning, Messer Francesco Comaro (or, as he chose 
to Latinise his name, Comelio), " being, Uke all noble 
and gentle souls, passionately fond of rare things," had 
engaged Messer Andrea Mantegna to paint some 
canvases for him, at the price of 150 ducats, 25 of 
which he paid down when he sent the measurements. 
*'Now he tells me," continued Bembo, "that M. 
Andrea refuses to go on with the work without 
asking a much larger sum, which seems to M. 
Francesco the strangest thing in the world, especially 
as he possesses letters from M. Andrea in which he 
himself fixed this price. I therefore beg and implore 
Your Signory to persuade M. Andrea to keep futh 
with M. Francesco, and begin his pictures, since he 
who is called the Mantegna of the world ought above 
all men to keep {manienere) his promises. . . . M. 
Francesco does not care about one or two hundred 
ducats — thank God, he has them in abundance ; but 
he does not like to be lightly esteemed and mocked 
at, and, if Your Excellency thinks Mantegna's work 
is deserving of a higher reward, is perfectly ready to 
accept your decision. ... I hope also that Messer 
Andrea's well-known courtesy and gentilezza wiU 
not render Your Excellency's task difficult, and I 
promise you that M. Francesco will gratefully repay 



^dbyGoogle 



MANTEGNA'S ILLNESS 859 

all that you do for him with M. Andrea, by helping 
on your business with M. Zuan Bellini, over whom 
he has great influence, and will, as well as myself, 
remain most deeply obliged to Your Most Illus- 
trious ExeeUency." ' 

The picture in question was the noble Triumph of 
Scipio, now in the National Gallery, which was still 
in Mant^;na's shop at the time of his death, eight 
months later. 

Isabella repUed to this letter of Bembo on the 
81st of January ; " We are delighted to hear that 
Bellini is going to do the picture, and recognise 
that this is owing to Your Magnificence. We will 
And out the particulars of the size and the lighting, 
and will send them to you, together with the earnest 
money. Meanwhile we beg you earnestly to settle 
the subject with the painter. M. Andrea Mantegna 
has been very dangerously ill these last days. He is 
very near his end, and although just now he is a little 
better, it is impossible to speak to him of pictures, or 
of anything but his health. If he recovers we will 
see that the Magnificent Francesco Comelio receives 
satisfaction." * 

But a series of unexpected interruptions interfered 
with the execution of Isabella's plans. In March, she 
paid her first visit to Florence, and the sudden out- 
break of plague cm her return compelled her to leave 
Mantua in haste and take refuge with her children 
and servants in her villa of Sacchetta. On the 11th 
of May,' she wrote to Bembo, regretting that owing 
to her hurried depu-ture from the Castello, and the 
disturbance caused by this terrible visitation, she had 

' Gaye, op. at., pp. 71-73. ^ Yriarte, op. di. 

* V. Cian in Giom. Si. d. Ltll, IL, vol. ix. 



^dbyGooglc 



860 VIANELLO'S SALE 

been unable to send the measurements of Bellini's 
picture, but hoped to do this as soon as the pla^e 
abated, and begged him in the meantime to compose 
the poesia and keep the painter in the same excellent 
dispositions. Meanwhile, she had heard from Lorenzo 
da Favia of the death of his friend, the accomplished 
Michele Vianello, who had served her so loyally and 
well in her former n^otiations with Bellini. The 
cabinetto of this refined collector, with all its priceless 
contents, was shortly to be sold by auction, and 
Isabella was especi^y anxious to acquire a rare agate 
vase, and a picture of the Passage of the Red Sea 
and the Destruction of Phwwsh, by the Flemish 
artist Van Eyck, or, as she calls him, John of Bruges. 
She lost no time in acquainting Bembo with her 
wishes, and once more begged his assistance. " I 
have reverently received Your Most Illustrious 
Excellency's letter," wrote Messer Pietro on the 
18th of May, " and understand that you wish to 
buy the agate vase and Destruction of Pharaoh 
which belonged to Vianello. I will see Taddeo 
Albano and Lorenzo da Pavia, and will endeavour 
to satisfy Your Excellency, as is my bounden duty. 
As for BeUini, I will not fail to obey you. I was 
very sorry to hear of the plague at Mantua, which 
deprived me of the pleasure of paying my respects 
to Your Highness this Easter, which was, I confess, 
the chief object of my journey." ' 

A prolonged correspondence on the subject of 
Vianello's sale took place between the Marchesa and 
Lorenzo da Pavia, and Isabella sought the help of 
all her friends in Venice to attain the desired end. 
On the day of the sale, Messer Michele's palace was 

' Gaye, op. cU., p. 82. 



^dbyGoOgle 



VAN EYCK'S PICTURE 861 

crowded with the most distinguished collectors in 
Venice, and the utmost excitement prevailed when, 
after a fierce struggle with Messer Andrea Loredano, 
the picture by John of Bruges was knocked down to 
Lorenzo da Pavia for the large sum of 115 ducats. 
" I was in an agony of fear," writes the excellent 
Lorenzo, " and should have felt happier if it had been 
a little less." ' Money was very scarce, as he knew, 
just then at Mantua. All Isabella's jewels were 
pledged, and she found it difficult to meet her 
current expenses, but she managed to borrow the 
money from her good friend, the banker Albano, 
and wrote joyously to tell her favourite sculptor, 
Cristoforo Romano, of the new treasures which she 
had secured.' 

Soon afterwards Pietro Bembo left Venice for 
Urbino, and we hear no more of his poesia or of Zuan 
Bellini's picture. Only in a letter of the 9th of 
January 1507,' Lorenzo da Pavia remarks : " I learn 
by Your Signory's letter that you are very impatient 
to have the viol of ebony and sandal-wood, and feel 
quite ashamed by my own delays. I seem to have 
caught Messer Zuan Bellini's malady ! " But, in his 
defence, let it be remembered that the old painter 
was over eighty years of age. 

1 A. Baschet, Aide Mmuce. 

* A. Venturi, Criitoforo Romano, AtvUvio delT Arte, i. 151, 

> C. Yriarte, Gtaetit d. B. Artt, 1896. 



^dbyGoogle 



CHAPTER XX 

150*-1612 

MantegDA's last works for Isabella d'Este — His illness and debts 
— He appeals to Isabella for help, and sells her his antique 
bust of Faustina — Calandra's description of Comus — Death of 
Mantegna and tribute of Lorenzo da Pavia — Pictures in 
Andrea's workshop — The Comus linished bj Lorenio Costa — 
Letters of Antonio Galeazso Bentivoglio to Isabella — The 
Triumph of Poetry or Court of Isabella — Costa's portrait of 
the Marchesa — Francia paints the portrait of her son Federico 
and her own — Correspondence on the subject with Casio and 
Lucreda Bentivoglio — Death of Giorgione. 

The year in which Isabella d'Este made a last attempt 
to obtain a picture for her studio from the aged 
Bellini was also that of Mantegna's death. His 
health had long been failing, and when, in April 
1505, he implored Isabella's good offices on behalf of 
his son, who had incurred the Marquis's displeasure, 
and been banished from Mantua, his feeble state of 
mind excited the Marchesa's deepest compassion. 

"M. Andrea Mantegna came to recommend his 
son to me," she wrote to her lord on the 1st of April, 
" looking aH tearful and agitated, and with so sunken 
a &ce that he seemed to me more dead than ahve. 
The sight filled me with so much compassion that I 
could not refuse to beg Your Excellency to restore 
his son to him with your usual goodness, for, gravely 
as he has sinned against you, the long service, incom- 
parable excellence, and rare merits of M. Andrea 



^dbyGoogle 



idb,Googlc 



idb,Googlc 



MANTEGNA'S ILLNESS 868 

claim this favour on behalf of his rebellious son. If 
we wish him to live and to finish our work Your 
Excellency must gratify him, or else we shall soon lose 
him, and he will die, rather of grief than of old age ; 
so I recommend him with all my heart to your good 
graces. — ^Your wife, Isabella, with her own hand." ' 
The Marquis, however, absolutely refused to par- 
don Francesco Mantegna, saying that he had insulted 
the best of his servants, and in spite of his pretences 
was in reality the most irreligious man in the world 1 
Finally, he desired Isabella to tell M. Andrea that, 
greatly as the Marqiiis would always honour him, 
his son was unworthy of receiving any favour at 
his hands.' More than a year passed before Fran- 
cesco was allowed to return to Mmitua and to resume 
his labours in the palace of S. Sebastiano. Mean- 
while, Andrea, as we have seen from Isabella's letter 
to Bembo" in January 1506, fell dangerously ill, and 
for some days was not expected to live. He recovered, 
however, but his son's misconduct and the pecuniary 
difficulties in which he found himself weighed heavily 
upon his mind, and the sad words which he inscribed 
on his last picture, the St. Sebastian of the Franchetti 
collection, bear witness to the deep gloom which had 
settled on his soul : 2*^1 nisi dixiinum stabile est ; 
ccetera Jumus — " Nothing but the Divine endiu%s ; 
the rest is smoke." In his distress the old master 
turned to Isabella, and addressed the following letter 
to the Princess, who had always proved his best and 
kindest Mend : — 

" Dear and illustrious Lady, — Accept, I pray Your 

' D'Arco, op. cii., IL 58. 

' Kristeller, " Andrea Muitegna," App., Doc. 7S. 

' Sec p. 359. 



^dbyGoogle 



864 HE OFFERS HIS FAUSTINA 

Excellency, my humblest and most sincere recom- 
mendations to your favour. I feel myself by the 
grace of God somewhat better, and although I have 
not yet recovered the full use of my limbs, yet the 
little talent which Giod gave me is still undiminished, 
and is, as ever, at the command of Your Excellen<y. 
I have almost finished the drawing of the Storia of 
Comus for Your Excellency, and hope to go on "with 
it as my fancy is able to help me. lUustrissima 
Madonna mia, I commend myself to you, because for 
many months past I have not been able to obtain a 
&rthing, and am in great need, and feel myself sorely 
embarrassed, since, never expecting these bad times, 
and being desirous not to remain a vagabond on the 
face of the earth, I had bought a house for the price 
of 840 ducats, payable in three instalments. Now 
the first term is ended, and I am pressed on all sides 
by creditors, and, as Your Excellency knows, I can 
neither sell nor mortgage anything now, and I have 
many other debts ; so it has come into my mind to 
help myself as best I can by parting &om my dearest 
possesions, and, since I have been often asked at 
different times, and by many persons of note, to sell 
my dear Faustina of antique marble. Necessity, 
which compels us to do many things, prompts me to 
write to Your Excellency on the subject, since, if I 
must part from it, I would rather you should have it 
than any other lord or lady in the world. The price 
is 100 ducats, which I might have had many times 
over from great masters ; and I beg of you to let me 
know your intentions, and commend myself infinite 
times to Your Excellency. — Your servant, Axdbeas 
Mantinia."' 

> D'Arco, Arte e Ari^fid, iL 6l. 



^dbyGoOgle 



TO ISABELLA 865 

To this piteous appeal Isabella returned no answer. 
Her time and thoughts were fully occupied, and she 
was not even able to send Bellini the measurements 
of the picture, which she was so anxious to obtaia 
Then came her visit to Florence and the sudden 
outbreak of the plague. After that she was re- 
duced to dire straits for want of money, and may 
well have found it difficult to give Messer Andrea 
the hundred ducats for his beloved Faustina. But as 
soon as the plague began to abate she sent the son 
of her old Castellan, Gian Giacomo Calandra, from 
Sacchetta to pay the punter a visit and inquire about 
his antique bust, which she coveted greatly, but could 
not afford to buy at so high a price. 

" This morning," writes Calandra, " I visited 
Mantegna in Your Excellency's name, and found 
him full of complaints on his sufferings and needs, 
which have compelled him to mortgage his property 
for 60 ducats, besides having many other debts. But 
he still refuses to reduce the price of his Faustina, and 
hopes to get it. I pointed out that this was hardly 
the time for any one to lay out so large a sum, and it 
comes to this : he would rather keep the marble than 
let it go for less than 100 ducats, but if great want 
should compel him to lower the price, he will let 
Your Highness know. This he promised me faith- 
fully. But if he finds a purchaser who will give 
100 ducats, since you cannot give that, he will let it 
go without writing to you agaia I do not see that 
he has any hope of selling it at this price, unless it is 
to Monsignore the Bishop [Louis Gonzaga, Bishop of 
Mantua, and uncle of the Marquis], who is fond of 
these things and spends largely. But I think he 
hoped to excite the jealousy of Your Excellency by 



^dbyGoogle 



866 HIS SKETCH OF COMUS 

the thought of another customer, and so I feel bound 
to tell you this. Afterwards he b^ged me to entreat 
Your Highness to advance some money to supply his 
needs, that he might be able to work better at his pic- 
ture of the God Comus. I did not fail to make ample 
excuses, but promised that I would tell you this, as 
I do now. I asked to see his picture, in which he 
has drawn these figures : the God Comus, two Venuses 
(one draped and the other nude), two Loves, Janus 
with Envy on his arm pushing her out, Mercury, and 
three other figures, who are put to flight by him. 
The others are still wanting, but the drawing of 
these is most beautiful I must tell you that he is 
hurt at your not having answered his letter, and he 
said with a smile that perhaps it was out of shame 
because you could not help him in his present 
necessities. And, indeed, it seemed to me that he 
quite understood my excuses. As to your reply to 
his letter, I told him that Your Excellency did him 
quite as much honour by sending her servant in 
person as by writing to him, and that, if you did not 
show him the courtesy and liberality which his tidents 
deserved, you had no reason to be ashamed, since the 
state of the country was a more than sufficient excuse. 
I have written this to Your Highness, because it 
seems to me that a letter from you would console 
him, if you would write without taking any notice of 
his resentment. If you are not satisfied with what I 
have done in the matter, I b^ you to forgive me, 
for I have done what I could, and I kiss your hands 
humbly. — Your faithful servant, Jo. Jac. Calandra." 
Mantua, July 15, 1506. 

Isabella now desired Calandra to send the bust by 
boat across the lake to Sacchetta, and promised to 



^dbyGoogle 



ISABELLA BUYS HIS FAUSTINA 867 

let Andrea know her decision as soon as she had seen 
it. On the 1st of August, Gian Giacomo wrote as 
follows : — 

"Your Highness will have heard from Capilupi 
that I received the Faustina from M. Andrea 
Mantegna, who, although he gave it me into my 
hands without any conditions, and was very willing 
to gratify your wish, yet did this with great ceremony, 
and entrusted the marble to me with repeated injunc- 
tions, and many signs of jealous affection, so much 
so that if six days were to expire without his seeing 
it again, I am almost certain that he would die. 
Although I have not said a word about the price, he 
himself repeated that he would not take less than 
100 ducats, begging your pardon for this his per- 
tinacity, but declaring that, unless he were compelled 
by necessity, he would not part from it for much 
more. I am sorry I could not send it by to-day's 
boat, and perhaps six days may elapse before another 
boat starts, but Your Signory will let me know if 
you wish it to be sent by messenger." ' 

Immediately on receiving the precious bust, 
Isabella wrote to tell Mantegna that she would 
keep it, and give him the price which he asked. 

"M. Andrea, — We have received your head of 
Faustina, which pleases us, and which we desire to 
have for the price which you ask, for, even if it were 
not worth the 100 ducats, we should be glad to give 
it you for your pleasure and convenience. But since, 
owing to the disturbance caused by the plague, we 
have no ready money, we are sending you our 
servant Cusatro to make arrangements which may 
meet your needs and our own, because he can tell 
' D'Arco, op. cH., it 66. 



^dbyGoogle 



868 AND PAYS HIS DEBTS 

you what we are able to do, and we will not fail to 
do whatever he promises. We b^ you to be con- 
tent to settle the matter with Cusatro, and shall be 
content to abide by whatever you and he may decide. 
We will keep the head until Ciisatro returns, and, if 
you do not agree to his terms, will return it at 
once." Sacchetta, August 4, 1506. 

The result of Cusatro's interview with the painter 
was that the Marchesa agreed to be responsible for 
100 ducats which he owed to his chief creditor. 
Immediately after her servant's return to Sacchetta, 
Isabella hastened to set the old man's mind at rest 
on the subject. 

*'M. Andrea, — We sent for Hieronimo Bosio, 
your creditor, and, according to the arrangement 
which you made with Cusatro, we came to an 
agreement as to the 100 ducats, which he will be 
content to take from us. So you need have no 
further anxiety on the subject, and whenever you 
wish it we will pay these 100 ducats, which will be 
given to him, and paid by us for the Faustina. 
Of the remaining 27 ducats which you still owe, 
Hieronimo cannot dispose, because they are due to 
his brother Alessandro, and we have not at present 
the means of paying the money, which we would 
gladly do, as earnest money for the picture which 
you are painting for us, and in order to give you 
ease and peace of mind. But you will excuse 
us, because you know the extreme difficulty that 
we have in finding money at the present time."^ 
Sacchetta, August 7. 

Isabella, it is clear, was genuinely anxious to deal 
kindly by the old painter, whose great services she 
■ Kristelter, op. cii., App., Doc. 79 uid 80- 



^dbyGoogle 



DEATH OF MANTEGNA 869 

fully appreciated, although in her passion for en- 
riching her studio she did not scruple to deprive him 
of his beloved Faustina. As Calandra had pro- 
phesied, he did not long survive the loss of his 
treasured marble. Six weeks i^erwards he died, 
on Sunday the 13th of August, and Francesco 
Mantegna, the son who had caused him so much 
sorrow, wrote to inform his patron, the Marquis, of 
his death, telling him that with his dying breath his 
father had asked for His Excellency, lamenting his 
lord's absence, and had sent him a last message. 
" We are sure," he adds, " that Your Excellency, who 
always rewards his true servants generously, will not 
forget the fifty years' service rendered you by such a 
man, and will help us in our present loss and sorrow." ' 

On the following day the news of Mantegna's 
death reached Venice, and, in a brief note to Isabella, 
that true artist, Lorenzo da Pavia, paid a noble 
tribute to the great painter : " I am much grieved to 
hear of the death of our Messer Andrea Mantegna. 
For, indeed, we have lost a most excellent man and 
a second Apelles, but I believe that the Lord God 
will employ him to make some beautiful work. As for 
me, I can never hope to see again a finer draughtsman 
and more original artist. Farewell. — Your servant, 
Lorenzo DA Pavia in Venecia."* October 16, 1506. 

The great master had no truer epitaph. 

Isabella's reply was brief but sincere : " Lorenzo, — 
We were sure that you would grieve over the death 
of M. Andrea Mantegna, for, as you say, a great light 
has gone out." * 

^ D'Arco, op. ciL, ii, 67. 
* Annand Baschet, op. at., p. 47. 
» KrUteller, typ. cit., App., Doc 84. 
VOL. I. 2 A 



lb, Google 



870 ELISABETTA'S REGARD FOR HIM 

The Marchesa's interest in Mant^na's family 
did not cease with his death, and through her in- 
fluence his son was allowed to retain his house in the 
Borgo Pradella. In November 1507, Lodovieo 
Mant^;na wrote begging her to help him to recover 
certain moneys, which Cardinal Sigismondo had 
granted the brothers on the tolls in payment of the 
pictmes which he had kept, so that they mi^t be 
able to defray the expenses of their father's funeral 
and of their own mourning. Two years afterwards 
Lodovieo died, and Francesco, after trying to kill 
his widowed sister-in-law, and seize his nephew's 
patrimony, appUed to Elisabetta of Urbino for re- 
dress, declaring that he had been cruelly defrauded 
by the corruption and malignity of legal officers. 
The kind Duchess wrote in touching terms to her 
brother, the Marquis, begging him to repair the sup- 
posed injustice which had been done to Mantegna's 
son — " for the sake of the more than ordinary love 
which I bore to Messer Andrea, who, as Your 
Excellency knows, was a man of rare genius and 
most devoted to our house. Truly," she goes on, 
" this love that we bore him in life, did not end with 
his death, but also extended to his son Francesco, 
for whom I am inclined to cherish the greatest de- 
votion, because he is now Messer Andrea's only 
surviving son." ' But Francesco's real character was 
too well known at Mantua for the Marquis to attend 
to his complaints, and, in spite of Elisabetta's inter- 
cession, he never recovered his patron's favour. 

Among the works that remained in Mantegna's 
workshop at the time of his death were the so-called 
Triumph of Scipio, which had been ordered by 
1 D'Arco, op, ciL, ii. 77. 



^dbyGoogle 



COSTA FINISHES THE COMUS 871 

Francesco Comaro, and the famous Crista in scurto, 
or foreshortened Christ, fix>m which the painter would 
never part in his life-time. Both of these were re- 
tained by Cardinal Sigismondo Gonzaga, while a 
third, the imposing St. Sebastian, now belonging to 
Baron Franchetti of Venice, became the property 
of Bishop Louis Gonzaga. After that art-loving 
prelate's death in 1511, this noble work passed into 
the hands of Cardinal Bembo, in whose house at 
Padua Marco Antonio Michiel saw it. But no 
mention was made of the unfinished Comus, which 
had evidently been ordered by Isabella for her 
studio, and now passed into her huids. A few 
months afterwards she employed the Ferrarese artist, 
Lorenzo Costa, who settled at Mantua in November 
1506, and succeeded Mantegna as court painter, to 
finish this Storia, which in style and subject agrees 
exactly with the works which Mantegna, Peru^no, 
and Costa himself had already painted for her Grotta. 
The group of Janus and Envy and Mercury driving 
out three figures of the Vices on the right, agrees 
exactly with Calandra's description, while the word 
Comes is inscribed on the triumphal arch which occu- 
pies a prominent place in the picture. In the inven- 
tory of 1542, this painting is described as being " by the 
hand of M. Lorenzo Costa, and containing a triumphal 
arch and many figures making music, together with 
a fable of Leda." The real title of the Storia, it is 
plain, was the Triumph of Music, in the person of 
the mirth-loving Comus, the god of musical inspira- 
tion, who is here seen leading the joyous Bacchic 
train, while Orpheus and Arion are both introduced 
> This hot been convincingly shown by Dr. Kristeller, op. cit., 
p. 858. 



^dbyGoogle 



872 ANTONIO BENTIVOGLIO'S OFFER 

in the foreground of the picture. The subject was 
no doubt chosen by Paride da Ceresara, at Isabella's 
suggestion, to form the companion picture of the 
Triumph of Poetry, which Lorenzo Costa had 
already painted at Bologna. 

During the summer of 1504, when Isabella was 
moving heaven and eaith to obt^n punted allegories 
for her studio from Giovanni Bellini and Perugino:, 
• she received a visit from the Protonotary, Messer 
Antonio Galeazzo Bentivoglio, a brother-in-law of 
her sister Lucrezia d'Este, and displayed the treasures 
of the Grotta before his admiring eyes. This courtly 
prelate, whose portrait Francia has introduced in a 
well-known Nativity, promised to ask the painter, 
Lorenzo Costa, who had been long settled at Bologna, . 
to undertake a picture for the Marchesa's studio, and 
soon after his return, wrote to inform her that Costa 
would gladly execute her commission, and ptunt any 
fantasia which she might choose. 

Isabella wrote off without a moment's delay to 
Paride da Ceresara, who had already supplied Peru- 
gino and Bellini withfantasie at her request, begging 
him to invent a composition similar to those which 
had not yet been executed by these dilatory masters. 

" I r«Jly do not know," she remarks, " which of 
us two suffers the most from the interminable delays 
of these painters — I who see no end to the decora- 
tion of my Camerino, and you who are every day 
required to supply new compositions, which these 
wayward masters either refuse to execute or else 
render inaccurately. We have, therefore, decided to 
employ some new painters, so that we may be able 
to complete the work within a fixed period." ' 
' C Yriarte, Gaxette d. B. ArU, I896. 



^dbyGoogle 



PARIDE'S INVENTION 873 

Five days later, the Marchesa received the poet's 
composition, which seemed to her perfect of its kind. 
" If only," she exclaimed with a sigh, " painters were 
as rapid as poets 1 " On the 27th of November, she 
forwarded Paride's instructions to Bologna, together 
with threads, giving the length and breadth of the 
picture, enclosed in a sealed packet, and a sketch of 
the composition, " because," as she remarked, " words 
do not always express our whole meaning." In con- 
clusion, she promised to send the earnest money, and 
5^^ed Messer Antonio, who understood drawing 
well, to see that the painter began the picture at 
once, and did not drag on his work after the fashion 
of Ferugino and Bellini. 

The courteous Protonotary hastened to satisfy her 
on these points. '* As soon as I received the letter by 
your courier," he wrote on the 1st of December, " I 
sent for the painter, who was greatly pleased with 
Your Excellency's fantasia, and says that he will 
execute it in his own way, omitting nothing, but im- 
proving the composition. I feel sure that he will 
satisfy you thoroughly, because he works with his 
whole heart. Afterwiurds, in speaking of the hghting. 
I told him that the painting was to hang in the place 
where Your Excellency showed me, that, as far as I 
could recollect, the light would fall in the opposite 
direction, and that I thought Messer Andrea's picture 
was varnished, which surprised him, as it was painted 
on canvas. Will you, therefore, kindly tell me if 
M. Andrea's picture is varnished or not, and send me 
the precise size of the figures, so that the painter may 
see that his work corresponds in all respects with the 
neighbouring pictures ? As soon as the painter receives 
this information, and all things necessary are ready. 



^dbyGooglc 



874 LORENZO COSTA 

he will b^n work, and I will see, as I promised, that 
Your Excellency is well and promptly serred, and 
that you are not made to wait as interminably as you 
were by your other artists. . . . When once the pic- 
ture is begun, and seems to be likely to answer our 
expectations, I will let you know for your own satis- 
faction, but not to remind you of the price, for there 
must be no mention of money between us, since I 
wish Your Excellency kindly to accept the painting 
for my sake, and you may rest assured that it will be 
well and speedily finished. I wish for nothing in 
exchange, but that you would be kind to Violuite, 
who is always in my thoughts, so much so that I 
shall be forced to come and spend ten days with you 
next carnival. — Your servant and kinsman. Ant. 
Gal Bentivolus." ' Bologna, December 1, 1504. 

Violante was the Protonotary's young niece, a 
daughter of Alessandro Bentivoglio and Ippolita 
Sforza, whcwa Isabella treated with great kindness, 
and who eventually married Gianpaolo Sforza, Mar- 
quis of Caravaggio, and is often mentioned in 
Bandello's novels. 

The Marchesa replied to this letter without delay, 
and sent the painter full directions, repeating her 
anxiety that Costa's painting " might not suiier &om 
the baneful influence of that iatal constellation which 
seems to have presided over the execution of the other 
pictures in my poor Camerino." ' 

Unfortunately, that winter Costa fisll seriously ill, 
and was at the point of death, as M. Antonio told 
the Marchesa in April, so that he was quite unable 
to b^n the picture. By August, however, it was 

' Lusio in Emporiwn, 1900, p. 859. 
* Yrlarte, op. cil. 



;dbv Google 



PAINTS THE TRIUMPH OF POETRY 875 

well advanced, and Isabella's constant correspondent, 
the poet Casio, informed her that it would be ready 
before Christmas, and would, he felt sure, please her 
exceedingly. But early in the following January, the 
Protonotary wrote again to the Marchesa, apologis- 
ing for the painter's delay in finishing her picture, 
which would have been ready before this if his 
father, Giovanni Bentiv<^lio, had not employed Costa 
to adorn the new mortuary chapel of St. Cecilia.* 
Lorenzo's fresco of the saint distributing her goods 
to the poor in this chapel bears the date of 1506, and 
can only have been finished a few months before the 
Bentivc^li were driven out of Bologna by Pope 
JuUus II. Before that time, no doubt Isabella had 
received her picture safely, and may indeed have 
taken it back with her when she passed through 
Bologna that spring on her return from Florence. 
Costa's work hung in the studio of the Grotta on 
the same waU as Mantegna's allegories, and is 
described in the inventory of 1542 as "a picture by 
the hand of the late Messer Lorenzo Costa, painter, 
with muiy figures and trees and a Coronation." The 
exact subject is not easy to determine, but there 
seems little doubt that the Triumph of Poetry was 
the theme assigned to the artist, taid that Costa, 
being, as Mario Equicola tells us, as amiable a courtier 
as he was excellent a painter, dexterously contrived 
to pay a compliment to the Marchesa* by represent- 
ing her as Queen of the realm of song. A winged 
boy seated on the lap of the Muse of Poetry is in the 
act of placing a laurel crown on Isabella's brow, as 
she presides over her court, surrounded by poets who 

1 A. Venturi, Anhtvio Si. d. Arte, L 849- 
* C. Yriarte, op. cH. 



^dbyGoogle 



876 FOR ISABELLA'S STUDIO 

pour out their deathless lays, and fair maidens play- 
ing the lutes under shady groves. In the foreground 
young girls are seen wreathing the ox and the lanab 
with flowers, while in the distance armed cavaliers 
recall the exploits which live in immortal verse. The 
knight in the foreground, who has slain the hydra at 
his feet, has been supposed to represent Baldassarre 
Castighone, but more probably wears the features 
of Isabella's brother-in-law, Annibale Bentivoglio, or 
the courtly Protonotary himself. The fair landscape, 
with the distant hiUs and blue river, winding its 
way between grassy banks and woodluid glades, 
supplies a charming setting for these gallant knights 
and lovely maidens, and the whole is conceived 
and painted in Costa's most graceful and attractive 
manner. 

That Isabella was well satisfied with the picture 
may be gathered from the fiwt that when the Benti- 
Togli were expelled from Bologna she invited Costa 
to come and take Mantegna's place at her court. 
"Tell the painter Costa," she wrote to her friend 
Casio, on the 16th of November 1506, only five 
days after the Pope's triumphal entry into Bologna, 
" that if he likes to come here we shall be very glad 
to see him." ^ 

By the end of the month, Lorenzo was settled 
at Mantua, where the Marquis employed him to con- 
tinue the decorations of his palace at St. Sebastian, 
which Mantegna had lefr unfinished. He received a 
yearly pension of 669 lire, 10 soldi, and in 1509 the 
Marquis gave him 1200 ducats, as well as a house and 
250 acres of land at Revere, and granted him the 
privil^e of a citizen of Mantua in a deed drawn up in 

' Gruyer, L'Ari A la Cour de Ferrare, ii. 209. 



^dbyGoogle 



COSTA SETTLES AT MANTUA 377 

the most flattering tenns. Costa remained at Mantua 
to the end of his life, and enjoyed the favour of 
Isabella's husband and son until, in 1585, he died of 
fever at the age of seventy-five, after a few days' illness. ' 
Unfortunately, nothing remains of all the frescoes 
with which he adorned the villas of Hevere and Mar- 
mirolo and Francesco Gonzaga's favourite palace of 
St. Sebastian. 

In a letter of April 11, 1509, Isabella tells her 
husband that Costa is decorating the halls of this 
palace, and Vasari describes the portraits of the 
Marquis and his three sons, Federico, Ercole, and 
Ferrante, assisting at a sacrifice to Hercules, which 
he painted at one end of the hall where Mante^na's 
Triumphs hung. In another hall he represented 
Francesco led by Hercules up the steep and thorny 
ways of the mountain of Eternity, and Isabella sur- 
rounded by her ladies playing instruments of music. 
These figures, Vasari tells us, were all painted from 
life, and remind us of that admirable portrait of 
Isabella which the Marquis showed his future son-in- 
law, Francesco Maria, when he visited the Castello in 
August 1508. This work pleased the Marchesa so 
much that she wrote from Cavriana begging Calandra 
to compose an appropriate distich which might be 
inscribed on the pictxu*, and when she went to 
Ferrara in the following autumn her brothers were so 
anxious to see the portrait that a courier was sent to 
Mantua to bring it. The original of this portrait has 
disappeared, but, as Dr. Luzio has lately pointed out,* 
there can be little doubt that the portrait of Isabella 
d'Elste in the collection of Gonzaga portraits made 

' Gniyer, op. cit., ii. 818. 

* Luzio in Emporium, 1901, p. 435. 



^dbyGoOglc 



878 FRANCIA PROMISES TO PAINT 

by Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol in 1579, and now 
in the Vienna Gallery, was copied from Costa's 
painting, which was then still preserved at Mantua. 
Although the work of an inferior artist, this picture 
is of great interest, especially as the way in which 
Isabella wears her hair, and the shape and striped 
material of her bodice, bear a marked lik^iess to 
I^eonardo's drawing. 

About the same time that Isabella employed Costa 
to paint a Storia for her studio she entered into 
correspondence with his more famous friend, the 
goldsmith-painter, Francia. Francia's fame as the first 
goldsmith in Italy had spread far beyond his native 
city, and his name was familiar to the Marchesa, 
since he had often worked for her family. In 14S8, 
he made a beautiful gold chain of linked hearts for 
Duchess Leonora, and after Isabella's marriage he 
sent her a chain of engraved gems, while his name 
appears on the title-page of the Virgil issued from the 
Aldine press, as the maker of the famous Italic types 
fust used by the great printer. So, when this dis- 
tinguished master offered to paint a picture for her 
studio, she accepted his proposal readily. On the 
17th of August, the poet Casio, in writing to inform 
her of the progress of Costa's picture, begged her to 
send the drawing for the canvas that Francia was to 
paint, since he was anxious to set to work, and had 
declined to accept any other commissions until he 
heard from the Marchesa. And the writer adds that 
he has brought the master some fine ultramarine blue 
firom Florence expressly for this purpose. 

Probably the frescoes upon which Francia was 
engaged during the next year in the Chapel of 
St. Ceciha, and the revolution which took place at 



^dbyGoogle 



A STORIA FOR ISABELLA 879 

Bologna in 1506, delayed the execution of his work, 
but we certainly hsax no more of Isabella's Storia for 
some time to come. At length, five years later, in 
December 1510, the painter himself wrote to the 
Marchesa, saying : — 

" Hearing that Your Highness desires a canvas 
for her Camerino, we await your commands, and will 
be ready to begin the picture after Christmas, and 
devote ourselves to the work with all possible dili- 
gence, although we shall have to encounter a perilous 
competition. But Apelles and Parrhasius, we trust, 
will come to our help. — Feancia, aurifea:" Bologna, 
December 12, 1510. 

A month later he returned to the subject. 

" I hear from Girolamo Casio that Your Highness 
would like me to paint the canvas for your Camerino 
which was ordered in past years by our mutual friend. 
I will gladly place my time and powers at Your 
Excellency's disposal, and if you will send me the 
canvas as well as the measure and lighting correctly, 
so that I may not make any mistake, I will begin it 
immediately, and devote myself to the work with the 
utmost diligence, so that I may please Your High- 
ness and gain honour myself. — Feancia, aurifex." ' 
Bologna, January 11, 1511. 

After this, however, we hear no more of the 
Storia, and the idea was apparently dropped. But 
we know that about the same time this popular 
master painted a portrait of Isabella's son Federico, 
and another of herself, both of which pleased her 
greatly. The first was executed in July 1510, when 
the young prince, a boy of ten, was on his way to 
Rome, where the Venetians required him to re- 

' C. Yriarte, op. at. 



^dbyGoOgle 



880 HE PAINTS FEDERICO'S PORTRAIT 

main as a hostage on his father's release. Isabella, 
anxious to Have her darling son's portrait as a con- 
solation in his absence, sent an express to the seneschal 
Matteo Ippolito, begging him to engage Francia to 
paint Federieo's picture during his short stay at 
Bologna. 

"As soon as Your Excellency's letter reached 
me," wrote Matteo, on the 29th of July, " I sent for 
the painter Francia, who gladly undertook to draw 
Signor Federieo's portrait, but fears that he cannot 
finish it as quickly as you desire. I am sure, how- 
ever, that when you see the picture it will please you 
better than anything which you have seen for many 
a long day. It would be impossible for anything to 
be more Uke him than is this sketch. At first the 
master refused to colour it, saying that he had to 
make a pair of bards for His Excellency the Duke." 
This was Francesco Maria, Duke of Urbino, who was 
then in command of the papal forces at Bologna, and 
for whom, Vasari tells us, Francia painted a fine set 
of harness. " So I had to apply to His Excellency, 
who desired him at once to leave his commission and 
satisfy Your Highness. As soon as it is ready I 
win send it to you, and will let you know how much 
the painter thinks he ought to be paid for this 
portrait." ' 

The picture reached Mantua safely on the 10th 
of August, and the enchanted mother wrote to Casio, 
declaring that it would be impossible to have a better 
likeness, and expressing her wonder that so perfect 
and admirable a thing should have been made in so 
short a time. Since, however, the boy's hair was too 
fair, she sent the picture back to Casio in November, 

' A. Bertolotti, AriitU bolognesi, p. 33. 



^dbyGoOgle 



AND THAT OF ISABELLA 881 

be^^ing bim to ask Francia to correct this mistake, 
which he did. Unluckily, just then the Marquis 
Francesco came to Bologna with the Pope, and was 
so much delighted with his son's likeness that he 
insisted on showing it to His Holiness and the 
Cardinals, and ultimately allowed it to be taken to 
Rome by a certain Zoan Petro da Cremona, who 
quite refused to restore it. 

" Francia," wrote Casio on the 7th of November, 
" declared that he would not paint a replica of the 
portrait for all the gold in the world I " 

Isabella was furious at the loss of her precious 
picture, and wrote so indignantly to Rome on the 
subject that the missing portrait was returned forth- 
with. On the 20th of November, Casio took 
Francia to see Federico, who had come to join the 
Pope at Bologna, and compare his portrait with the 
original The comparison was satisfactory, and both 
Francia and Casio agreed that it was impossible to 
improve the picture, which was accordingly sent 
back to Mantua. Isabella immediately sent Casio 
80 ducats, which Francia acknowledged courteously, 
saying that the execution of Signor Federico's por- 
trait hardly deserved such liberal pajnnent, but that 
he accepted the money as a gracious present from 
Her Excellency, and remained her grateful servant 
for life.' 

A few months later, when a fresh turn in the 
tide had brought back the Bentivogli under French 
protection to Bologna, Lucrezia d'Este b^^ed her 
half-sister to allow Francia, who had succeeded so 
well with Federico's likeness, to paint her own 
portrait The Marchesa agreed readily, and sent 
* C. YriATte, op. at. 



^dbyGoogle 



882 LUCREZIA D'ESTE'S CRITICISM 

Lucrezia a drawing of herself, from which Francia 
promised to paint the picture, with Madonna 
Lucrezia's help. This princess declared that Isabella's 
face was so deeply engraved on her heart that she 
felt sure she could describe her features, colouring, 
and expression all perfectly. But the war that was 
raging at the gates of Bologna, and a tertian ague 
which attacked the painter, interfered with his good 
intentions, and, after two unsuccessful attempts, 
Lucrezia herself had to confess that his portrait was 
a failure. 

" Dear and honoured sister," she wrote on the 
7th of September, " I have lately paid constant 
visits to the house of the painter Francia to see how 
much his portrait resembled you. To speak frankly. 
it does not seem to bear you the least likeness, 
representing you as being thinner and more severe- 
looking, and altogether different from the picture 
which my imagination retmns of you ; so I have 
begged the painter, for his honour and my satisfiu;- 
tion, to go to Mantua and see Your Excellency in 
life, so that his work may really resemble nature. 
This, however, he refuses to promise, saying that it is 
too dangerous to venture on a comparison in which 
chance has more to do than art, as is the case in 
tr}ring to paint a life-like portrait But he promises 
to tiy once more, and to alter anything that I wish 
as often as I like, and perhaps by this means he may 
be able to produce a better likeness, although I fear 
it cannot really resemble you, since he has not seen 
you. Meanwhile, I will do my best to persuade him 
to come to Mantua. — Your most devoted sister, 

LUCEETIA ESTENSIS."' 

1 Lozio ia Enqtoriim, 1901, pp. 427-430. 



^dbyGoOgle 



OF FRANCIA'S PORTRAIT 888 

Isabella, however, had not the least vnsh that 
Francia should come to Mantua. In the first 
place, as she told Lodovico Sforza many years 
before, she was quite tired of sitting for her por- 
trait. In the second, she was afraid of exciting 
the jealousy of her own court painter, Lorenzo 
Costa. 

" I thank you," she wrote to her sister on the 
26th of September, •' for your kindness in trying to 
induce Francia to come to Mantua, so as to paint my 
portrait better, but hope you will not urge him to do 
this any more, for, to say the truth, I do not care for 
him to come here on this account, because the last 
time my portrait was taken the necessity of sitting 
still and without moving for a long while became 
so tiresome that I never mean to do it again ; but 
Your Highness has our image so deeply impressed 
on her memory that I feel sure she will be able 
to correct the master's mistakes. And you must 
also remember that, if we received Francia here, 
we should not know how to do this without offend- 
ing Costa, and should find it difficult to retain his 
friendship." 

On receiving this letter, Lucrezia promised not to 
press the matter further, and told Isabella that her 
sons' tutor was satisfied that Francia's latest attempt 
resembled the drawing which had been sent firom 
Mantua, and that it would be still more life-like 
if he would let her see his picture once or twice 
before it was finished. On the 25th of October, 
she wrote triimiphantly to tell Isabella that the 
portrait was quite ready, and met with general ap- 
proval, although Francia, who evidently was more 
anxious to produce a fine work of art than a correct 



^dbyGoogle 



884 HER ADMIRATION OF THE WORK 

likeness of a lady whom he had never seen, had 
not chosen to consult Madonna Lucrezia again on 
the subject. 

*' Our Francia, the foremost goldsmith among 
painters, and among goldsmiths most illustrious as 
a painter, yesterday brought me Your Illustrious 
Signory's portrait, completely finished and placed in 
a gold frame, to hear my judgment on his work. I 
praised it greatly, since it seemed to me to deserve 
high commendation. But if Your Excellency is not 
wholly satisfied after inspecting it more closely, you 
must not impute the feult to me, since I only saw it 
once while he was engaged on the work, although 
then I certainly tried to describe Your Excellency's 
appearance to him. But you must blame the painter, 
who, seeing that his work was superior to the other, 
did not care to show it to me again, after promising to 
bring it here many times before it was finished, and to 
alter anything in it to which I took objection. I 
must, however, confess that I see httle in the portrait 
that does not satisfy my taste. I hope Your Excel- 
lency will say the same, for certainly, if you compare it 
with the original sketch which was sent firom Mantua, 
it is no less like nature than that one, while it is &r 
more perfect in point of art. All those who know 
you in this city agree in saying that in Francia's por- 
trait they seem to see your living image, and the 
most confidential servants of your illustrious lord 
the Marquis say the same — above all, Scalona, by 
whom I send this letter. So I conclude that you 
will be satisfied with our Francia in this first and 
difficult task, which, as he himself says, has almost 
more to do with chance than with art I will sraid 
both portraits to Your Excellency as soon as possible. 



^dbyGoogle 



ISABELLA'S PRAISE 885 

by way of Ferrara, and commend myself ever to you, 
together with my daughters, who are indeed also 
yours, since you have married them so much to our 
satis&ction." ' 

Lucxezia, it must be explained, had a large family 
of dau^ters, whom Isabella treated with great kind- 
ness during the years of their exile at Mantua, and 
one of whom, Camilla, married Piiro Gonzaga of 
Gazzuolo, the youngest son of Antonia del Balzo, and 
who, as well as her cousin Violante, is often men- 
tioned in Bandello's novels. 

On the 6th of November, Francia's pictiu^ 
was sent to Ferrara by boat, and the painter 
himself addressed the following letter to the 
Marchesa : — 

"Most illustrious Madonna, — We send the por- 
trait of Your Highness, which we have done as well 
as we could with the help of our M. Lucrecia 
Bentivoglio's counsel, and if it is not as perfect 
as it ought to be, you must graciously pardon the 
painter, who places himself at your pleasiu^ and 
service. Nee plura ; vale et vivas feUx. — Fbancia, 
aurifea:" * 

On the 25th of November, the portrait had reached 
Mantua, and Isabella lost no time in expressing her 
satisfaction with Francia's work. 

" To the most excellent painter, Francia. Maestro 
Francia, — I have received yoxu' portrait, and every one 
who has seen it can tell that the work is by your hand, 
because of its great excellence. I am exceedingly 
obliged to you for giving me so much pleasure. You 
have indeed made us far more beautiftil by your art 
> A, Lusio, op. at., p. 439. 
' Yriartc, op. cit. 
VOL. I. 2 B 



^dbyGoogle 



886 CRITICISM OF THE PORTRAIT 

than nature ever made us, so that we thank you with 
all our heart, and as soon as we can find a trusty 
messenger we will pay the debt which we owe you, 
without speaking of the obligation under which we 
shall always remain to you." 

But ^though the beauty of Francia's picture was 
undeniable, the critical Marchesa was not altogether 
satisfied with the likeness. The eyes, she thou^t, 
were decidedly too black, and she asked Lucrezia if 
the painter could not make them lighter. Neither 
the princess nor the artist, however, approved of this 
suggestion, as Lucrezia explained in a letter written 
on the 9th of December. " II Francia, our painter, 
seems to be in heaven, so full of delight is he to 
hear that his portrait has pleased Your Excellency — 
still more, to hear you say that his art has made 
you more beautiful than nature. It would, as he 
owns, be too great arrogance for the art of painting 
to claim superiority over nature; none the less, he 
is by no means displeased to receive so great a 
compliment from such a lady I As to changing the 
eyes from dark to light, the result would be doubtful, 
and he would reluctantly run the risk of spoiling 
what is good in the picture, and of exchanging a 
certain for an uncertain advantage. It would be 
necessary to alter the shadows of the picture to suit 
the colour of the eyes, and then it would have to 
be varnished over again, and if the eyes were a little 
damaged by this operation, the picture would lose 
all its charm. None the less, if you were here 
to sit to him, he would do his best to please Your 
Excellency, whom he will be ever ready to oblige ; 
nor would I be slow to undertake whatever com- 
mands you ^ve, great or small, saying, as Eolus did, 



^dbyGoogle 



ISABELLA GIVES IT AWAY 887 

' Juno — Thine, O Queen, it is to command ; mine 
it is to see that thy command is obeyed.' Farewell, 
therefore, and love me and my children from your 
heart. — Your devoted sister, Lucretia Estensis de 
Bentivous." * 

Isabella recognised the truth of Francia's words, 
and contented herself with sending him 30 ducats 
in the following March, with renewed thanks for 
his admirable portrait, and many excuses for the 
dela)^ caused by the war that was desolating North 
Italy. 

The strangest part of the tale yet remains to 
be told. According to documents lately published 
by Dr. Luzio from the Gonzaga archives,' Francia's 
portrait was given away by the Marchesa that winter 
to a Ferrarese courtier named Zaninello. This 
gentleman had lately presented her with the original 
MS. of Pistoja's Bime, superbly bound and richly 
illuminated, with a dedication to herself. This was 
one of those gifts on which Isabella laid especial 
store, and the volume of the dead poet's works found 
a place among her choicest treasures. In 1581, the 
Ferrarese poet Bemi asked her permission to borrow 
the book ; on another occasion Alessandro Benti- 
voglio, to whom Isabella lent it, returned the volume 
adorned with a set of finely worked clasps. The 
Marchesa replied, half in jest, half in earnest : " It 
was reaUy not necessary for Your Highness to 
have had these handsome clasps made for my book 
of Pistoia's poems, so as to play the part of a good 
tenant I I did not ask you to pay rent, but lent it to 
you solely for your pleasure, as I would lend you 

1 Luiio in fmponmt, 1900, p. 129- 
» Op. dU 



^dbyGoogle 



888 TO ZANINELLO 

anything that I possess ; certainly I could do no less. 
But since, with your wonted gentUezza, you have 
chosen to adorn my book, I thank you warmly f<H- 
your gracious courtesy." ^ 

The Marchesa, it seems, hardly knew how to re- 
pay Zaninello for his splendid present, and, leuning 
from her futhfiil Bernardo dei Prosperi that nothing 
would please the donor better than her own portrait, 
she sent him Francia's beautiM painting to adora 
his cabinet of pictures. Still more surprising is it 
to find that in the following May she presented this 
sune Fenara gentleman with Francia's portrait of 
her darling Federico, so that, as Zaninello wrote, 
his lowly roof was glorified by the presence of 
both mother and son, both Venus and Cupid. 
Unfortunately this portrait, in which Isabella con- 
fessed the painter's art had made her more, beauti- 
ful than she was in life, has shared the fate of 
so many others, and is only known to us by tihe 
famous picture which Titian painted from Francia's 
modeL* 

Many other objects of virti^ good pictures 
and rare antiques, poems and songs, came to 
Isabella from Bologna, sometimes through her 
kinsfolk the Bentivpgli, more often through her 
friend Girolamo Casio. One letter of his, dated the 
10th of April 1506, when Isabella was expected at 
Bologna on her return frtnn Florence, contaios a 
curious list of articles which he has procured for 
her. " There are, first of all, the olives, which you 
will accept for my sake ; then the Magdalen painted 

> Oppellij AW di A. CammeUi d. U Putoui, p. 58. 
^ This mtereating &ct has been Utely proved hy Dr. Liudo in 
his paper on Isabella's portraits {Efi^omm, 1900). 



^dbyGoogle 



DEATH OF GIORGIONE 889 

by Lorenzo da Credi" — ^perhaps the well-known 
picture by the Florentine master now at Berlin — 
** also a picture of fi-uit by Antonio da Crevalcore — 
a master most excellent in his art — but painted 
larger than life. The pupil of Francia has finished 
his Madonna, which is much praised by some persons. 
You will see it soon, and can have it if yoa Uke 
for as many gold ducats as it wei^s I Seriously, 
the woi^ is worth more than 10 ducats, but you 
must pay what you choose, and I will see that he is 
satisfied. Your Excellency need not trouble your- 
self about the money — I will settle that for your 
sake — to whom I commend myself ftom the bottom 
of my heart Semper felix valeat / — Your most 
affectionate servant, H. Casids." 

In the year that Francia painted her son's por- 
trait, Isabella, who never neglected an opportunity 
of secuiing a work by a great master, heard <^ 
Giorgione's death from her friends at Venice, and 
wrote immediately to the banker Taddeo Albano, 
b^ging him to inquire after a wtmderful Notte 
which the dead artist was said to have painted. The 
fame of this master, whose exquisite art must 
have charmed Isabella's refined and poetic nature 
beyond all others, had reached Mantua long before, 
and on her visits to Venice she had often seen 
the noble portr^ts which he piunted of her patrician 
friends, and the frescoes which adorned the marble 
palaces along the Canale Grande with their glowing 
colours. Now that Zorzo da Castelfranco had died 
of the plague in the flower of his age, the Marchesa 
hastened to ask Messer Taddeo and her &ithfril 
Lorenzo da Favia to secure one of his puntings for 
her Camerino. 



^dbyGoogle 



890 ISABELLA ASKS FOR HIS NOTTE 

"Dearest friend," she wrote to Albano on the 
25th of October 1510, " we hear that among the 
possessions left by Zorzo da Castelfranco, the painter, 
there is a picture of a Notte, very beautiful and 
original If this is the case, we wish to have it, and 
be^ your Lorenzo da Pavia or any other person of 
taste and judgment to go and see if it is a really 
excellent thing. If it is, I hope you will endeavour 
to secure this picture for me, with the help of our 
dearest compare the Magnifico Carlo Valerio, on 
of any one else you may think fit. Find out the 
price, and let us have the exact sum ; but if it is 
really a fine thing, and you think well to clench 
the bargain for fear others should carry it off, do 
what you think best, for we know that you will 
act for our advantage, with your wonted loyalty 
and wisdom." 

Taddeo replied on the 8th of November : — 
" Most illustrious and honoured Madaiaa inia, — 
In reply to Your Excellency's letter, the said Zorzo 
died more of exhaustion than of the plague. I have 
spoken in your interests to some of my fiiends who 
were very intimate with him, and they assure me 
that there is no such pictiure among his possessions. 
It is true that the said Zorzo painted a Notte for 
M. Taddeo Contarini, which, according to the in- 
formation which I have, is not as perfect as you 
would desire. Another picture of the Notte was 
painted by Zorzo for a certain Vittore Beccaro, 
which, from what I hear, is finer in design and better 
finished than that of Contaiini. But Beccaro is not 
at present in Venice, and from what I hear neither 
picture is for sale, because the owners have had 
them painted for their own pleasure, so that I 



^dbyGoogle 



DOSSO DOSSI AT MANTUA 891 

regret I am iinable to satisfy Your Excellency's wish. 
— Your servant, Thaddeus Albanus."^ Venice, 
November 8, 1510. 

These interesting letters not only prove the exact 
date of Giorgione's death, but show the priceless 
value which the paintings of this short-lived master 
had already acquired in the eyes of his countrymen. 

Another painter who caught something of Gior- 
gione's romantic invention and poetic feeling often 
visited Mantua in Isabella's life-time. This was 
Dosso Dossi, one of Alfonso d'Este's favourite artists 
and an intimate friend of the poet Ariosto, whose 
fantastic imagination and mag;ical dreams seem to 
live again in such pictures as the Circe and the 
Nymph of the Borghese collectioa In 1511 Bosso 
spent some time at Mantua and painted a fresco in 
the palace of San Sebastiano, while the St. William 
in armour and a Holy Family at Hampton Court 
both came to England from the Gonzaga collection. 
And it is of interest to remember that Titian paid his 
first visit to Mantua in the company of this Ferrarese 
master. Finally, among the painters who worked for 
Isabella, we must not forget to mention Caroto and 
Francesco Bonsignori, whose names appear so often 
in the Marchesa's letters. Both were of Veronese 
birth, but spent many years at Mantua as followers 
and assistants of Mantegna, and helped in the decora- 
tion of the palaces and churches of the Gonzagas. 

In 1518 Bonsignori painted a portrait of the poet 
Pistoia by Isabella's command, while his altar-piece 
of the Beata Osanna with the Madonna kneeling at 
her feet belongs to a somewhat earlier date. To 
Caroto, Morelli ascribes the well-known portrait of 

1 Luzio, Ank St. d. Arte, 1888. 



^dbyGoOgle 



892 CAROTO'S OLD MAN 

Elisabetta Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino, now in the 
XJt&d, and Vasari tells us that an admirable head 
of an old man, bearing a hawk on his 'wrist, by 
the same artist, was bought by Isabella for a 
lai^ sum and placed in the studio, where she had 
collected "an it^itUe number of rare and precious 
works of art." ^ 

' FiU, X. Ta 



END OF VOX- 



Printed hj Baluhtthi, Hakbox 6* Co. 

Edinburgh &■ Loadoa 



D,t„db,Goi)glc 



idb,Googlc 



idb,Googlc