Jacopo Andrea da Ferrara.1 What was Jacopo Andrea's speciality,

what his philosophy? We know not.

suggests that he may be identified with the "Jaco

bus de Ferraria, ingig

who nerius " superintended the fortification of St. Angelo at Rome from 1485 to 1496.2 But this is a mere conjecture. All we know for certain is that Jacopo, implicated in a conspiracy against Louis XII., was condemned to death with his accomplice, Niccolò della Busula, and that he was sent to the scaffold in 1500, though Archbishop Pallavicino had obtained his pardon. His body was quartered and the portions exposed

upon the gates of Milan.3

The sonnets, rhymed romances, and improvisations brought into vogue by Lodovico, were suc

One of Leonardo's biographers

THE CHRONICLER CORIO, FROM A CONTEMPORARY ENGRAVING.

ceeded by theatrical representations.

The prince seems to have

1 "Jacomo Andrea da Ferrare, de l'opere de Victruvio acuratissimo sectatore, caro quanto fratello," to Leonardo da Vinci (Pacioli, ed. Winterberg, p. 33). Leonardo mentions Jacopo Andrea three times in the MSS. in the Institut: once in connection with a supper at which one of his pupils committed a theft; once as having lent a Vitruvius to one Messire V. Aliprando; and the third time merely by name.

2 Uzielli, Ricerche, 2nd ed., vol. i. p. 382.

3 A report upon the rebels, drawn up in 1503, states that "Jacques-Andrie de Ferraire was beheaded at Milan, and his goods given to Maistre Teodore Guayner, physician to the King." (Chronique de Jean d'Auton, edited by de Maulde, vol. ii. p. 335.)

acquired a taste for this kind of amusement at his wife's native Ferrara. In 1493, he opened a theatre, of which there is no other record than an epigram of Corti's.1

In dealing with philosophers, poets, historians, and men of learning in general, Lodovico-we cannot repeat this too often-hesitates and gropes. In dealing with artists, on the contrary, his judgment is absolutely unerring. Numberless documents prove with what solicitude and vigilance he directed the activity of the army of architects, sculptors, painters, goldsmiths, artists, and artificers of every description enrolled by him. He drew He drew up the programme of their creations, superintended its execution, corrected, hastened, scolded them with a vivacity which bears witness both to an ardent love of glory, and to a most enlightened taste. This prince, so uncertain in his political opinions, gives proof in his many great artistic undertakings of admirable precision and judgment. Needless to remark, he was a declared champion of the classical style, and proved it on every occasion, now in the pursuit of antique statues, now in orders for goldsmith's work "al modo antico," now in erecting a triumphal arch "al rito romano,' ,"2 for the reception of the Emperor Maximilian. It was, too, as a representative of the best traditions of the antique that Lodovico insisted everywhere upon air, light, and open spaces at Milan, as well as at Pavia and Vigevano. His choice of the architects, whom he summoned from far and near, testifies to his sympathy for the innovators, who were breaking down the superannuated traditions of the Gothic style. From Florence, he brought Giuliano da San Gallo, founder of a dynasty of eminent architects; from Siena, Francesco di Giorgio Martini, celebrated both as architect and military engineer ; from Mantua, Luca Fancelli, court architect and sculptor to the Gonzaghi. The single exception to this rule-the invitation addressed in 1483 to the master-builder of the cathedral of Strasburg, Johann Niesemberg, or Nexemperger, explains itself: the Gothic cathedral of Milan was to be furnished with a Gothic dome.3

The embellishment of his capital was Il Moro's first care, and here

1 Tiraboschi, Storia della Litteratura italiana, ed. Milan, vol. vi. p. 1314.--Uzielli, Ricerche, 2nd edition, vol. i. p. 62.

2 Corio, Historia di Milano, p. 962.

3 Revue alsacienne, July, 1888.

he had much to contend with, for, then as now, Milan was no ideal city. In spite of the number and wealth of its inhabitants (in 1492 the number of houses was reckoned at 18,300, and the population-with an average of seven inhabitants to a house-at 128,100 souls 1), some dozen other towns-Venice, Florence, Genoa, Siena, Rome, Naples-offered a far more picturesque aspect, more unity of decoration, a much more striking ensemble. The absence of a river, the unbroken flatness of the plain, the deterioration brought about by revolutions, and more than all perhaps, the foreign yoke that had weighed so long and so cruelly on the Lombard capital, were among the chief reasons of this inferiority. Subject in turn to the Spaniards, the Austrians, and the French, Milan could not develop normally as did Florence and Venice, for instance, where modern constructions blend so perfectly with memorials of the past.

The buildings erected by Lodovico are rather interesting than imposing or grandiose. It would seem as if the dawning Renaissance, fearful of being short-lived, had not ventured upon any but easy tasks, such as might be accomplished in a few years. We may instance the church of San Celso, the Baptistery of San Satiro, the Monastery of Sant' Ambrogio, built at the expense of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, the Hospital and, above all, the central part of Santa Maria delle Grazie with its matchless cupola.

"This glorious and magnanimous prince," says the contemporary chronicler, Cagnola of Lodovico, "adorned the castle on the 'Piazza Jovia' with marvellous and beautiful buildings, enlarged the square in front of the castle, had every obstacle removed from the streets of the city, and gave orders that the façades of the houses should be painted and ornamented. He did the same at Pavia. Vigevano he also enlarged, and enriched with many noble and handsome buildings; he caused a fine square to be constructed, and paved and embellished the whole district."

Born at Vigevano, in the fruitful plain intersected by innumerable water-courses, Lodovico showed a predilection for it as a residence all his life. He summoned Leonardo to Vigevano, notably in February

1 Cantù, Histoire des Italiens, vol. i. p. 157-158. [French translation.]

2 On Vigevano, see Bellincioni, vol. i. pp. 35, 36, 150, 173, 194.—Decembrio, apud Muratori, Scriptores, vol. xx. col. 998; Cagnola, Archivio storico italiano, vol. iii. p. 188. Argelati, vol. i. p. ccclxxxi.-Burckhardt, Geschichte der Renaissance, 2nd ed., p. 7. De Geymüller, Projets primitifs pour Saint Pierre de Rome, p. 51 et seq.

1 Richter, vol. ii. p. 236. D'Adda, Indagini, vol. i.

p. 156.

2 Archivio storico dell' Arte, 1888, p. 57.

THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN.

(From a drawing by G. M. Cavalli.) (Accademia, Venice.)

3 June, 1497. Orders issued to Marchesino Stanga : First, to have a ducal scutcheon in marble placed above the Porta Lodovico, and ten bronze medals with the effigy of the Duke put behind the door (in the foundations?). Item, inquire if "Il Gobbo" (Cristoforo Solari) can execute this year, besides the sepulchre, a part of the altar, and whether all the marbles are ready; if not, send for them to Venice or Carrara. Item, urge Leonardo the Florentine to finish the work he has begun in the refectory delle Grazie, so that he may attend to the opposite wall of the refectory; make a contract with him, signed by his own hand, which shall engage him to finish whatever he undertakes to do in a given time. Item, urge on the completion of the portico of S. Ambrogio, for which 200 ducats have been allotted. Item, finish the half of the other portico, for which the Duke has alloted 300 ducats. Item, collect the most skilful architects to examine and make a model for the façade of S. Maria delle Grazie, having regard to the height to which the church must be reduced, in order to bring it into harmony with the great chapel. Item, the Duke has said he wishes to see the street from the courtyard. Item, have the head of the late Duchess done so that it may be placed upon a medal with that of the Duke. Item, have the door, which is called the Porta Beatrice, opposite to the church of San Marco, opened, and have a ducal scutcheon placed upon it like that upon the porta Lodovico, with an inscription relative to the Duchess. . . . Item, have the new "Broletto" finished for the calends of the month of August following. Item, tell them to gild (?) the letters graven on black marble ("le lettere adorate in marmo negro") for the portraits in the chapel. .. (Cantù, Archivio storico lombardo, 1874, p. 183-184.)

The pleasures attendant on luxury, the organisation of festivals of every description, tournaments, dances, plays, diversions more or less ingenious and intellectual, absorbed the Milanese Mæcenas

almost, if not quite, as much as the cult of poetry or art. To hand down some great masterpiece to posterity was assuredly a most enviable mission, but, meanwhile, contemporaries must be beguiled, and it was not by transcendent works that one might hope to delight the masses in the fifteenth century, any more than in our own. To this end, the resources of the capital of the Duchy lent themselves admirably. Except Venice and Florence-republics, with no courts, properly speaking, democracies where strict regulations opposed a barrier to luxury-Milan was wealthier than any other city of Italy. Ostentation was almost a means of government. The pomp displayed by Galeazzo Maria Sforza on the occasion of his journey to Florence in 1471, still lived in every

memory. Had it not dazzled

even the Florentines, the most BEATRICE D'ESTE: FROM THE MONUMENT BY CRISTOFORO SOLARI. sceptical of people, a race

not easily moved to enthusiasm ? Lodovico, like his brother, Galeazzo Maria, was of opinion that magnificence was the inevitable corollary of power. Nothing was too beautiful or too rich for his personal adornment. The famous diamond of Charles the Bold,

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