DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42861#0212
172
LORENZO DA PAVIA
wearing a simple striped bodice, with the waves of
rippling hair falling low on her bare neck, without
ornament or jewel of any description. But the fine
and delicate features are the same as those in the
medal which Cristoforo designed two years before;
the eyes have the same bright and keen expression,
and the whole face is radiant with life and intellect.
Time has dealt hardly with Isabella’s portraits, and
of all those countless pictures which were scattered
over Italy, this of Leonardo’s is the only one which
brings her before us in the bloom of youth and
beauty. As it happens, we have a testimony to
the truth of Leonardo’s portrait from no less an
authority than the great connoisseur Lorenzo da
Pavia. For the Florentine master went on from
Mantua to Venice, there to await the issue of Duke
Lodovico’s descent on Milan, and to watch with
anxious eyes the result of that forlorn hope, on
which his whole future was staked. There he met
his old friend, the wise man of Pavia, and as they
talked together of their great patron and the old
life at Milan, the painter brought out his drawing
of the Marchesa and showed it to her loyal servant.
And on the 13th of March 1500, while they were
rejoicing over the wonderful news from Milan,
Messer Lorenzo wrote to the Marchesa about a
lute which he was sending to Mantua.
“ Most illustrious Lady,—I send you by this
courier an excellent lute of walnut wood, made in
the Spanish fashion, which seems to me to have the
finest tone that I ever heard. I have been ill,
and as yet unable to finish the black and white
lute, which I will do, like this one, in the Spanish
style. Leonardo Vinci is in Venice, and has shown
LORENZO DA PAVIA
wearing a simple striped bodice, with the waves of
rippling hair falling low on her bare neck, without
ornament or jewel of any description. But the fine
and delicate features are the same as those in the
medal which Cristoforo designed two years before;
the eyes have the same bright and keen expression,
and the whole face is radiant with life and intellect.
Time has dealt hardly with Isabella’s portraits, and
of all those countless pictures which were scattered
over Italy, this of Leonardo’s is the only one which
brings her before us in the bloom of youth and
beauty. As it happens, we have a testimony to
the truth of Leonardo’s portrait from no less an
authority than the great connoisseur Lorenzo da
Pavia. For the Florentine master went on from
Mantua to Venice, there to await the issue of Duke
Lodovico’s descent on Milan, and to watch with
anxious eyes the result of that forlorn hope, on
which his whole future was staked. There he met
his old friend, the wise man of Pavia, and as they
talked together of their great patron and the old
life at Milan, the painter brought out his drawing
of the Marchesa and showed it to her loyal servant.
And on the 13th of March 1500, while they were
rejoicing over the wonderful news from Milan,
Messer Lorenzo wrote to the Marchesa about a
lute which he was sending to Mantua.
“ Most illustrious Lady,—I send you by this
courier an excellent lute of walnut wood, made in
the Spanish fashion, which seems to me to have the
finest tone that I ever heard. I have been ill,
and as yet unable to finish the black and white
lute, which I will do, like this one, in the Spanish
style. Leonardo Vinci is in Venice, and has shown