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 Magnificence, 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 refuses to give back the money, which we can hardly believe, you might appeal to Michele Vianello 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 far more importance, prevent Bellini from doing us so great an injury." Even the noble Venetian Senator, however, hesitated 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 Bellini declared 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 refused, and produced the picture, which was three-parts finished. 1 Yriarte, op. cit. 350 BELLINI'S APOLOGY "He will certainly finish it now," wrote Alvise to the Marchesa, "because of his great poverty-per essere lui miserrimo," a strange statement on the part of so renowned and industrious a painter, who was, moreover, 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 the Marchesa's temper, and a humble letter which Giovanni himself sent her on the 2nd of July, satisfied her offended 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 beg 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 content 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. 1 Four days afterwards, Lorenzo da Pavia was able to inform his mistress that the picture was at length completed, and, better still, that it was a beautiful work of art, fully worthy of the grand old master's fame. 1 Braghirolli, op. cit. THE PRESEPIO FINISHED 351 "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 expected, 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 your 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 give me the money for you, but I will do nothing until I 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 ill 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 beautiful frame made for the picture, and take its measurements before we send it to you. Your LORENZO DA PAVIA." Venice, July 6. No sooner did Isabella receive Lorenzo's letter than, full of joy at the prospect of receiving her picture, she wrote off to the old painter, graciously 1 Braghirolli, op. cit 352 LORENZO'S OPINION OF BELLINI assuring him of her willingness to forgive the past and accept his work. "Messer Zuan Bellini,-If the picture which you have painted for us agrees, as we believe and hope, with your fame, we shall be satisfied, and are ready to forgive you the wrong which your long delays have caused us. Therefore, I beg you to give the canvas to Lorenzo da Pavia, who will pay you the 25 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."1 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 1 1 Braghirolli, op. cit. ISABELLA SATISFIED 353 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 expressed 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 I 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.”1 Isabella, however, had no fault to find, and kept Giovanni Bellini's Nativity to her dying day among her most cherished treasures. But it disappeared 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 braccia long, by Giovanni Bellini, with a Blessed Virgin, the Child, St. John the Baptist, St. Jerome, and St. Katherine, on panel." 2 The best proof that we have of Isabella's satisfaction 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 1 Yriarte, op. cit. |