DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42861#0370
328
HER CORRESPONDENCE
who himself came to Milan for six weeks in 1508,
and begged that notice elder et bien ame Leonard de
Vinces should be allowed to remain at his court.
There Isabella probably met him when she spent that
joyous fortnight at Milan, and renewed her acquaint-
ance with so many of her old friends. But he never
painted her picture, and the only work by Leonardo’s
hand in the Gonzaga collection was a small painting
afterwards given to her son Federico by Count
Niccolo Maffei, after his return from France. This
work is described in the inventory of 1627 as “ a
woman’s head, with dishevelled hair,” valued at 180
ducats, and hung in a passage leading to the Studio
of the Grotta.1
Isabella was more fortunate in her dealings with
other painters, and ultimately succeeded in obtaining
a picture for her studio from Perugino, although
this artist’s delays and prevarications provoked her
sorely. The Umbrian master enjoyed a great
reputation in North Italy at the close of the
fifteenth century. He had painted noble altar-
pieces at Cremona and the Certosa of Pavia, and
Duke Lodovico Sforza had repeatedly invited him to
enter his service, and decorate his rooms in the
Castello of Milan. Perugino was well known at the
court of Mantua, since his young wife, Chiara, was
a daughter of Luca Fancelli, the well-known archi-
tect, who had spent forty years in the service of the
Gonzagas. When the painter was at Venice in
1496, Isabella asked him, through his friend, Lor-
enzo da Pavia, to paint a picture for her studio.
But her request came too late, for by this
time Perugino had left Venice, and was busily
1 D’ Arco, Arte e Artejici, ii. 161.
HER CORRESPONDENCE
who himself came to Milan for six weeks in 1508,
and begged that notice elder et bien ame Leonard de
Vinces should be allowed to remain at his court.
There Isabella probably met him when she spent that
joyous fortnight at Milan, and renewed her acquaint-
ance with so many of her old friends. But he never
painted her picture, and the only work by Leonardo’s
hand in the Gonzaga collection was a small painting
afterwards given to her son Federico by Count
Niccolo Maffei, after his return from France. This
work is described in the inventory of 1627 as “ a
woman’s head, with dishevelled hair,” valued at 180
ducats, and hung in a passage leading to the Studio
of the Grotta.1
Isabella was more fortunate in her dealings with
other painters, and ultimately succeeded in obtaining
a picture for her studio from Perugino, although
this artist’s delays and prevarications provoked her
sorely. The Umbrian master enjoyed a great
reputation in North Italy at the close of the
fifteenth century. He had painted noble altar-
pieces at Cremona and the Certosa of Pavia, and
Duke Lodovico Sforza had repeatedly invited him to
enter his service, and decorate his rooms in the
Castello of Milan. Perugino was well known at the
court of Mantua, since his young wife, Chiara, was
a daughter of Luca Fancelli, the well-known archi-
tect, who had spent forty years in the service of the
Gonzagas. When the painter was at Venice in
1496, Isabella asked him, through his friend, Lor-
enzo da Pavia, to paint a picture for her studio.
But her request came too late, for by this
time Perugino had left Venice, and was busily
1 D’ Arco, Arte e Artejici, ii. 161.