SALA DEGLI SPOSI

35

"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 degli 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 corner tower of the Castello, the great master has left us a living 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 the blue sky. On one wall the reception of a foreign ambassador, probably the envoy sent by the Duke of Würtemberg 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 receive the German ambassador, while the bride-elect, standing behind her mother's chair, turns her eyes with eager gaze in the same direction. On the opposite wall of the nuptial chamber, a second fresco commemorates the arrival of the young Cardinal and his suite of servants on his return from Rome.

The

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MANTEGNA'S FRESCOES

Marquis goes out to welcome him, with his sons, Federico and Gianfrancesco, and his two little grandsons, 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 clearly 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 face 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 Cæsars and myths of Hercules and Orpheus are emblems of Lodovico's taste for classical history and love of music, the peacock on the balustrade, 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 brightness, 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 Gonzaga.

CHAPTER III

1478-1490

Reign of Federico Gonzaga-Death of his wife and mother-His love for his daughters - Visit of Lorenzo dei Medici Accession of Francesco Gonzaga-His character and warlike tastes Betrothal of Elisabetta Gonzaga to Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino-His visit to Mantua-Marriage of ElisabettaHer return to Mantua for Francesco's wedding-Her friendship with Isabella d'Este-Excursion to the Lago di GardaVisits to Ferrara.

LODOVICO GONZAGA died at the age of sixty-four on the 12th of June 1478, at his villa of Goïto, less than a month after writing his kind and dignified reply to Mantegna's remonstrances, while the plague was still raging at Mantua. On his deathbed he was induced by his wife, whose affection for her younger children overcame her natural wisdom, to divide his State, and leave her favourite son, Gianfrancesco, the principality of Bozzolo and Sabbioneta, while Castiglione 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 lifetime, however, all went well. Her eldest son, the new Marquis, Federico, consoled his widowed mother's grief, and treated her with the greatest respect, telling 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