DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42861#0062
34
CARDINAL FRANCESCO
ment as papal legate in 1472, he stayed at the baths
of Porretta, in the Apennines, on his return from
Rome, to recruit his health, he sent his father the
following letter, begging that the painter Mantegna
and the musician Malagista might be sent to keep
him company:—
“Most honoured and illustrious Father,—I hope
to arrive at Bologna on the 5th or 6th of August, but
shall not stay there more than two or three days, and
intend to go on to the baths, where I beg Your
Highness to be pleased to order Andrea Mantegna
and Malagista to stay with me, in order that I may
have some distraction and amusement to enable me
to avoid sleep, as is necessary for my cure. It will
be a great pleasure to show Andrea my cameos and
bronzes, and other fine antiques, which we can ex-
amine and discuss together, and Malagista’s playing
and singing will make it easier for me to keep awake.
So I beg you to let me have these two for my com-
panions. After taking the baths, I will return to
Bologna for eight or ten days, and then come to
spend all October with Your Excellency at Mantua.
. . . I am able, thank God, to ride again since I left
the bad air of Rome, and am already much better.—
Your most devoted son, Francesco Gonzaga, Car-
dinal and legate.”1 Foligno, 18th July 1472.
Both artists were sent to join Francesco at
Bologna, and on Sunday, the 24th of August, the
young Cardinal-legate made his solemn entry into
Mantua, bringing in his train the distinguished archi-
tect Leo Battista Alberti, and the young Florentine
poet Angelo Poliziano, whose famous drama of
1 Archivio Gonzaga, quoted by A. Baschet, Gazette des Beaux
Arts, vol. xx., 1866.
CARDINAL FRANCESCO
ment as papal legate in 1472, he stayed at the baths
of Porretta, in the Apennines, on his return from
Rome, to recruit his health, he sent his father the
following letter, begging that the painter Mantegna
and the musician Malagista might be sent to keep
him company:—
“Most honoured and illustrious Father,—I hope
to arrive at Bologna on the 5th or 6th of August, but
shall not stay there more than two or three days, and
intend to go on to the baths, where I beg Your
Highness to be pleased to order Andrea Mantegna
and Malagista to stay with me, in order that I may
have some distraction and amusement to enable me
to avoid sleep, as is necessary for my cure. It will
be a great pleasure to show Andrea my cameos and
bronzes, and other fine antiques, which we can ex-
amine and discuss together, and Malagista’s playing
and singing will make it easier for me to keep awake.
So I beg you to let me have these two for my com-
panions. After taking the baths, I will return to
Bologna for eight or ten days, and then come to
spend all October with Your Excellency at Mantua.
. . . I am able, thank God, to ride again since I left
the bad air of Rome, and am already much better.—
Your most devoted son, Francesco Gonzaga, Car-
dinal and legate.”1 Foligno, 18th July 1472.
Both artists were sent to join Francesco at
Bologna, and on Sunday, the 24th of August, the
young Cardinal-legate made his solemn entry into
Mantua, bringing in his train the distinguished archi-
tect Leo Battista Alberti, and the young Florentine
poet Angelo Poliziano, whose famous drama of
1 Archivio Gonzaga, quoted by A. Baschet, Gazette des Beaux
Arts, vol. xx., 1866.