ISABELLA GIVES IT AWAY 387

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 BENTIVOLIS."1

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 delays 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 Rime, 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 1531, the Ferrarese poet Berni asked her permission to borrow the book; on another occasion Alessandro Bentivoglio, 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 really 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 did not ask you to pay rent, but lent it to you solely for your pleasure, as I would lend you 1 Luzio in Emporium, 1900, p. 429.

2 Op. cit.

388

TO ZANINELLO

anything that I possess; certainly I could do no less. But since, with your wonted gentilezza, you have chosen to adorn my book, I thank you warmly for your gracious courtesy."

1

The Marchesa, it seems, hardly knew how to repay Zaninello for his splendid present, and, learning from her faithful Bernardo dei Prosperi that nothing would please the donor better than her own portrait, she sent him Francia's beautiful painting to adorn his cabinet of pictures. Still more surprising is it to find that in the following May she presented this same Ferrara 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 confessed the painter's art had made her more beautiful than she was in life, has shared the fate of so many others, and is only known to us by the famous picture which Titian painted from Francia's model.2

Many other objects of virtù, good pictures and rare antiques, poems and songs, came to Isabella from Bologna, sometimes Bologna, sometimes through her kinsfolk the Bentivogli, more often through her friend Girolamo Casio. One letter of his, dated the 15th of April 1506, when Isabella was expected at Bologna on her return from Florence, contains 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

1 Cappelli, Rime di A. Cammelli d. il Pistoia, p. 58.

2 This interesting fact has been lately proved by Dr. Luzio in his paper on Isabella's portraits (Emporium, 1900).

DEATH OF GIORGIONE

389

by Lorenzo da Credi"-perhaps the well-known picture by the Florentine master now at Berlin"also a picture of fruit by Antonio da Crevalcorea 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 you like for as many gold ducats as it weighs! Seriously, the work 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 yourself about the money-I will settle that for your sake to whom I commend myself from the bottom of my heart. Semper felix valeat !-Your most affectionate servant, H. CASIUS."

In the year that Francia painted her son's portrait, Isabella, who never neglected an opportunity of securing a work by a great master, heard of Giorgione's death from her friends at Venice, and wrote immediately to the banker Taddeo Albano, begging him to inquire after a wonderful 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 portraits which he painted 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 faithful Lorenzo da Pavia to secure one of his paintings for her Camerino.

390

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 beg 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, or 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 Madama mia,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 friends who were very intimate with him, and they assure me that there is no such picture among his possessions. It is true that the said Zorzo painted a Notte for M. Taddeo Contarini, which, according to the information 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 Contarini. 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

DOSSO DOSSI AT MANTUA

391

regret I am unable to satisfy Your Excellency's wish. -Your servant, THADDEUS ALBANUS." 1 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 Giorgione'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 magical dreams seem to live again in such pictures as the Circe and the Nymph of the Borghese collection. In 1511 Dosso 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 decoration of the palaces and churches of the Gonzagas.

In 1513 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, Arch. St. d. Arte, 1888.