344 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 Aldine 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 paint you a beautiful fantasia, 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 picture, wrote on the 20th of December to ask Messer Michele what the painter was about. "After we sent you the 25 ducats for Zuan Bellini, we never heard if he had begun our picture. If it is to be finished in a year, he ought 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." 1

Michele wrote in reply, on the 12th of January 1 Braghirolli, op. cit.

TO OBTAIN BELLINI'S PICTURE 345

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 assurances 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 anything! 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

He is not the man for

never paint this picture. these subjects (historie). He says that he will do them, but he never does! 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 fantasia after his own fashion, which is, it must be confessed, a rather lengthy fashion! M. Michele begs you to write him a letter which he can show the painter, and will compel him to restore the money."

346

ISABELLA'S ANGER

As

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 15th 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 should never obtain what we desired, we told him to abandon the work and give you back the 25 ducats which we had sent him before, but now he begs us to leave him the work, and promises to finish it soon. 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 (Presepio-manger) we should be well content, as long as he does not keep us waiting any longer, and will count the 25 ducats which he has already received as half payment. This, it appears to us, is really more than 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 della Ragione" (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

WITH THE PAINTER

347

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."1

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 willing 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.” 2

A whole year went by, and, hearing no more of her picture, Isabella once more desired Lorenzo da Pavia to inquire if Giovanni Bellini were alive or dead! On the 6th of October 1503, Lorenzo wrote: "I have been to see Zuan Bellini, who declares the canvas 1 Braghirolli, op. cit. 2 Yriarte, op. cit.

348 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 the indignant Princess addressed the following letter to Alvise Marcello, a patrician of high rank, who, in his capacity of Venetian ambassador 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 Vianello and Lorenzo da Pavia are aware. The master has never