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.1 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 apartments 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-reliefs, 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' favourite sanctuary of S. Maria della Grazie, near Mantua, and Dr. Luzio has lately discovered two sketches of the Marquis Francesco's device of the crogiolo 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 1 Luzio e Renier, Arch. St. Lomb., xvii. 51. 166 PORTRAIT-MEDAL sandro da Baesso, and afterwards repeated the work on a smaller scale, for her friend, the Marchesa di Cotrone. Unfortunately both these busts have perished. 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 reverse, and the sign of the Archer and her favourite device of a star above. The latter group was probably 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 face 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 friend Tebaldeo, with whom he has been spending the summer in the hills near Brescia, has shown him the medal of Her Excellency, and that the sight of her fair face has inspired him with a sonnet.1 The other is a letter from Niccolo da Correggio, regarding the Latin motto which the Marchesa had desired him to choose for her medal.2 1 D'Arco, Arch. St. It., App. ii. 2 Luzio e Renier, Giorn. St. d. Lett., v., xxi., 243. 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 from 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 works. It is a pleasant spot, fit for such exercises, and if you read the life which is printed with his sonnets and triumphs, you will see it mentioned. So I 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 commands of Your Excellency, whose slave I am for ever." 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 "Il prete di Correggio," had been lately admitted. "If I am allowed this favour I shall count myself honoured 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, Isabella wrote begging him to send her a suitable motto for Cristoforo's medal. In reply, Niccolo 66 168 NICCOLO'S LETTERS suggested the Latin words, Benemerentium 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 will say Benemerentium ergo, which has the same meaning as Benemerentium causa. This will show you how blindly I obey Your Excellency! 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 CORREGGIO. "P.S.-I have thought of two more lines which I will add, although they are of little worth. Naturæ officium 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 fêtes. 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 capitoli 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 TO ISABELLA 169 when, in 1506, his son Galeazzo married the fair and accomplished Ginevra Rangoni she presented the bride with a splendid clavichord. "Your Excellency," wrote Niccolo from Correggio, "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 herself 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, beginning: Si è debole il filo a cui s'atiene, which seems to me well suited for your purpose, containing verses which must be sung by turn crescendo and diminuendo. 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 Chiare, dolci e fresche acque. Once more I commend myself to your good graces, and am keeping Domino Philippi till to-morrow. "1 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 capitoli 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 beginning with the words: Non si è ardito il cor, which the Marchesa especially wished to read, and with his old gallantry 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 Luzio e Renier, op. cit., p. 244. |