From time to time, in 1490, in 1510, &c., the visits of Beatrice's sister, Isabella of Mantua, incontestably the most fascinating woman of her day, infused more life and warmth into these cold calculations. With her passion for the beautiful and her fine intellect, Isabella was not long in singling out Leonardo da Vinci, and it was not her fault that this king of artists did not come to Mantua, and there take the place of Andrea Mantegna, then at the end of his long and glorious career. The Marchesa at least

succeeded, by dint of many entreaties, in obtaining a few of his works, among others, the portrait of herself, that superb cartoon, for the discovery of which in the Louvre we are indebted to M. Charles Yriarte.

A third representative of the house of Este, Cardinal Ippolito (born 1470, died 1520), the brother of Beatrice and Isabella, established himself in Milan in 1497, the year of Beatrice's death. He was one of those "grands seigneurs on whom Fortune had lavished her favours from his birth. In 1487, when scarcely seventeen years of age, the patronage of his aunt, Beatrice of Aragon, the wife of Mathias Corvinus of Hungary, secured to him the rich archbishopric of Gran, or Strigonium, in Hungary. In 1497 he left this to ascend the archiepiscopal throne of S. Ambrogio at Milan. His taste for letters (it was for him that Ariosto wrote the Orlando Furioso) was hardly inferior to his military talents. (In 1500 he gained a brilliant victory over the Venetian fleet.) His love of art was no less pronounced. Like his sisters, he was ambitious of obtaining some work from Leonardo's hand. Unhappily, an outrageous violence of temper dimmed the lustre of his qualities. Having discovered that one of his natural brothers had supplanted him in the good graces of a lady of Lucrezia Borgia's suite, he had his rival's eyes put out. In one of the stanzas of the Orlando Furioso (canto xlvi., v. 94), Ariosto shows us the Cardinal sharing both good and evil fortune with his brother-in-law, Lodovico: now assisting him with advice, now unfurling at his side the serpent standard of the Visconti; following him in flight, and consoling him in

1 See a study of the highest interest by Messrs. A. Luzio and R. Renier on the relations of Isabella d'Este with the Court of Milan: Delle relazioni di Isabella d'Este Gonzaga con Ludovico e Beatrice Sforza. Milan 1890.

affliction. The fall of the house of Sforza did not interrupt the relations between Leonardo and the Cardinal. In 1507 we find the painter seeking the prelate's support in his lawsuit with his brothers.

Lodovico's brother, Cardinal Ascanio Sforza (born 1445, died 1505), may also be mentioned as a would-be Mæcenas. This personage, whose crafty face has come down to us on one of Caradosso's medals, was the most arrant intriguer of his time. A worthy brother of Il Moro, he long contested his policy, but ended by giving it the most devoted, if not the most loyal, support. At the moment of his flight, in 1499, Lodovico refused to confide the citadel of Milan to his keeping. For the rest, he was a man of intelligence and taste, and was capable, on occasion, of liberality. Poets, historians, painters, sculptors, musicians, sought his favour, when they could not obtain that of his all-powerful brother. To him the musician Florentius dedicated his Liber Musices, the chronicler Corio his interesting Historia di Milano, published at Venice in 1503. The The sculptor Antonio Pollajuolo worked for him, as did also the medallist Caradosso; and at his request Bramante planned the cathedral of Pavia. After sharing the misfortunes of his brother, Ascanio died in Rome, where Andrea Sansovino's magnificent tomb in S. Maria del Popolo assured his immortality.2

Lodovico's niece, Bianca Maria Sforza (born in 1472; married 1493, to the Emperor Maximilian; died 1510), was, according to Lomazzo, soft as wax, tall and slender, with a beautiful face and graceful carriage. Unfortunately, it would appear that her intellectual and moral qualities did not correspond to her

1

In questa parte il giovene si vede

Col Duca sfortunato degl' Insubri,

Ch' ora in pace a consiglio con lui siede

Or armato con lui spiega i colubri;

E sempre par d'una medesma fede,

Or ne' felici tempi o nei lugubri:

Nella fuga lo segue, lo conforta

Nell' afflizion, gli é nel periglio scortà.

2 On the miniatures in the manuscript of Florentius dedicated to Cardinal Ascanio, see Vasari, ed. Milanesi, vol. iv, p. 28. The general's bâton belonging to Cardinal Ascanio Sforza is now in the collection of Prince Charles of Prussia; his armour is in the "Armeria" of Turin (Angelucci, Catalogo della Armeria reale. Turin 1890, p. 47-48).

promising exterior. Bianca Maria was, in fact, thoroughly emptyheaded, and more occupied with the distractions of court life than with intellectual matters; her husband soon tired of her. Before her departure for Germany she does not seem to have distinguished herself by any evidences of artistic taste.1

The activity of Lodovico was too restless and too devouring to permit of any other Maecenas at his side. Assuredly, neither his unfortunate nephew, Gian Galeazzo, feeble in mind as in body, nor Gian Galeazzo's wife, Isabella of Aragon (born 1470, married 1489) could dream of entering the lists against him from their gilded prison in Pavia.2

An exquisite medal by Caradosso, and medallions in marble in the Certosa at Pavia and the Lyons Museum have preserved the lineaments of the fragile Gian Galeazzo, and a medallion by Gian Cristoforo Romano, the moody countenance of Isabella of Aragon. This most unhappy princess left Milan in January, 1500, to return to her native country, where fresh trials awaited her. She died in 1524.3

The ranks of the Milanese aristocracy included many brilliant members-the Borromei, the Belgiojosi, the Pallavicini-but their artistic activities were confined to the occasional building of a palace or a mausoleum, or to the ordering of some votive picture.

The San Severini were more intimately connected with the life of our hero. One of them, Galeazzo, had married a daughter of Il Moro in 1489. Four years previously his father had been declared a rebel by that very prince, and Galeazzo, in his turn, betrayed Lodo

1 The portrait of this princess has been bequeathed to us by Ambrogio de Predis (Visconti-Arconati Collection, Paris), and possibly also by Leonardo da Vinci (see Dr. Bode's article in the Jahrbuch der kg. Pr. Kunstsammlungen, 1889.)

2 An unpublished document in the Archives of Milan proves, however, that Isabella was surrounded even in 1493 by a complete court. This document gives a list of the costumes made in 1493 for the ladies ("le zitelle ") of the Duchess' suite. Here we learn that for Ippolita Stindarda a gown (“una camorra ") of blue satin ("raxo") was ordered, for Cornelia Columba a straw-coloured satin, for Lucrezia Barilla one of white satin, for Laura Macedonia a satin gown "lionata chiaro," for Fiora di Spina one of "birettino" satin. Then come the gowns for four other ladies (making a total of thirteen gowns, with silk sleeves), and six gowns of cloth ("panno "), making a total of fifteen ladies in waiting. We must not lose sight of the fact that the government was carried on and justice administered in the name of Gian Galeazzo (Pot. sovrane; Carteggio ducale; Mobili).

3 See Luzio and Renier, Delle Relazioni, p. 151.