DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42861#0159
THE MADONNA DELLA VITTORIA 125
Mantegna, and that the Marquis should be repre-
sented kneeling in armour, with his brothers and his
illustrious lady at the Virgin’s feet. The Marquis
highly approved of this proposal, and fixed the price
of Mantegna’s painting at 110 ducats, which the Jew
was required to pay down, within three days. Isa-
bella’s own portrait, however, was not eventually in-
troduced in the picture. Perhaps she had no wish to
sit to Mantegna again, and preferred that her patron,
St. Elizabeth, should appear in her stead. But if,
as seems most probable, in the venerable saint who
kneels opposite the figure of the Marquis, we see the
Beata O sanna, that revered nun whose prayers were
offered day and night for the success of Francesco’s
arms, the suggestion may well have come from the Mar-
chesa.1 In the same way, the figures of the heavenly
warriors St. George and St. Michael, and of the patron
saints of Mantua, Andrew and Longinus, were
substituted for the Gonzaga brothers. A certain
Fra Girolamo Redini, a friar of the Eremitani order
who was fond of meddling in political affairs, now
proposed that the Jew’s house should be pulled down,
and that a church, dedicated to the Madonna della
Vittoria, should be erected in its place. This scheme
was finally adopted. The sum of 110 ducats was
paid by the Jew on the 25th of August, and part of
the money was handed over by the Protonotary to
Mantegna, who was promised the remainder when
the work was partly executed.2
The architect Bernardo Ghisolfo, whose name
appears frequently in the Gonzaga archives, set to
work at once, and by the following June the new
1 Cf. f<r Life of Mantegna,” by Miss Cruttwell, p. 93.
2 Luzio in Emporium, vol. x. SbO.
Mantegna, and that the Marquis should be repre-
sented kneeling in armour, with his brothers and his
illustrious lady at the Virgin’s feet. The Marquis
highly approved of this proposal, and fixed the price
of Mantegna’s painting at 110 ducats, which the Jew
was required to pay down, within three days. Isa-
bella’s own portrait, however, was not eventually in-
troduced in the picture. Perhaps she had no wish to
sit to Mantegna again, and preferred that her patron,
St. Elizabeth, should appear in her stead. But if,
as seems most probable, in the venerable saint who
kneels opposite the figure of the Marquis, we see the
Beata O sanna, that revered nun whose prayers were
offered day and night for the success of Francesco’s
arms, the suggestion may well have come from the Mar-
chesa.1 In the same way, the figures of the heavenly
warriors St. George and St. Michael, and of the patron
saints of Mantua, Andrew and Longinus, were
substituted for the Gonzaga brothers. A certain
Fra Girolamo Redini, a friar of the Eremitani order
who was fond of meddling in political affairs, now
proposed that the Jew’s house should be pulled down,
and that a church, dedicated to the Madonna della
Vittoria, should be erected in its place. This scheme
was finally adopted. The sum of 110 ducats was
paid by the Jew on the 25th of August, and part of
the money was handed over by the Protonotary to
Mantegna, who was promised the remainder when
the work was partly executed.2
The architect Bernardo Ghisolfo, whose name
appears frequently in the Gonzaga archives, set to
work at once, and by the following June the new
1 Cf. f<r Life of Mantegna,” by Miss Cruttwell, p. 93.
2 Luzio in Emporium, vol. x. SbO.