DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42861#0175
DEATH OF KING FERRANTE 139
The Marquis’s first duty was to report himself
to the Doge and Signory, and as soon as his health
was sufficiently restored, he went to Venice on the
21st of November. Here a grand reception awaited
him. At Chioggia he was welcomed by the Senate
and representatives; at Malamocco the Signory and
foreign Ambassadors came out to meet him in state.
The great doors of St. Mark were thrown open in
his honour, and after mass he was conducted up the
Canal Grande on the bucentaur to his own house at
San Trovaso. On the following day he appeared
before the Signory, to give an account of his pro-
ceedings, and in the evening he attended the wedding
of Zuan Soranzo’s daughter to Giorgio Cornaro,
brother of the Queen of Cyprus. Marino Sanuto,
who saw the Marquis on this occasion, describes him
as wearing a Spanish suit and short black beard, as
he appears in Mantegna’s altar-piece, and remarks
that his face bore evident traces of his recent sickness.
But the sad news from Naples threw a gloom
over these festivities both at Venice and Mantua. On
their journey home the travellers heard that the young
King Ferrante had died after a short illness, brought
on by the hardships and fatigue which he had under-
gone in his victorious campaign against the French.
Both Francesco and Isabella were much attached to
their brave young cousin, who had fought so gallantly
to recover his father’s dominions. Solemn funeral
services were held in his house at Mantua, and
the Carmelite Vicar-General, Fra Pietro da Novellara,
preached a Latin oration in his honour. When, a
year afterwards, the dead king’s sister, the widowed
Duchess Isabella of Milan, wrote to ask Francesco
Gonzaga for a portrait of her brother which she
The Marquis’s first duty was to report himself
to the Doge and Signory, and as soon as his health
was sufficiently restored, he went to Venice on the
21st of November. Here a grand reception awaited
him. At Chioggia he was welcomed by the Senate
and representatives; at Malamocco the Signory and
foreign Ambassadors came out to meet him in state.
The great doors of St. Mark were thrown open in
his honour, and after mass he was conducted up the
Canal Grande on the bucentaur to his own house at
San Trovaso. On the following day he appeared
before the Signory, to give an account of his pro-
ceedings, and in the evening he attended the wedding
of Zuan Soranzo’s daughter to Giorgio Cornaro,
brother of the Queen of Cyprus. Marino Sanuto,
who saw the Marquis on this occasion, describes him
as wearing a Spanish suit and short black beard, as
he appears in Mantegna’s altar-piece, and remarks
that his face bore evident traces of his recent sickness.
But the sad news from Naples threw a gloom
over these festivities both at Venice and Mantua. On
their journey home the travellers heard that the young
King Ferrante had died after a short illness, brought
on by the hardships and fatigue which he had under-
gone in his victorious campaign against the French.
Both Francesco and Isabella were much attached to
their brave young cousin, who had fought so gallantly
to recover his father’s dominions. Solemn funeral
services were held in his house at Mantua, and
the Carmelite Vicar-General, Fra Pietro da Novellara,
preached a Latin oration in his honour. When, a
year afterwards, the dead king’s sister, the widowed
Duchess Isabella of Milan, wrote to ask Francesco
Gonzaga for a portrait of her brother which she