DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42861#0380
338 THE TRIUMPH OF CHASTITY
above all, of works of art. Let him only finish his
picture, and make it as perfect as possible, and Her
Highness will show him that she keeps her engage-
ments in a very different manner! ” Once more the
painter promised, for the hundredth time, to finish
the picture in a fortnight, and, “ strange as it seems,”
wrote Ciocca, “ this time he has really kept his word ! ”
On the 7th of June, Isabella wrote to the painter
herself, addressing him as her very dear and famous
friend, and sending him the eighty ducats that were
still due to him. Before her letter reached Florence
the picture had been sent to Mantua, and on the
14th Perugino composed a letter, with the help of
a less illiterate friend, thanking the Marchesa for
the money, and saying that he hopes his work will
satisfy her wishes and his reputation, since he, as
is well known, has never failed to prefer honour
to gain. He further explained that he had painted
the picture in tempera, because Leombruno had told
him that Messer Andrea Mantegna’s pictures in the
Marchesa’s studio were executed in this medium.
On the 30th of June, Isabella wrote : “ The pic-
ture has reached me safely, and pleases me, as it
is well drawn and coloured; but, if it had been
more carefully finished, it would have been more
to your honour and to our satisfaction, since it is to
hang near those of Mantegna, which are painted
with rare delicacy. I am sorry that the painter
Lorenzo of Mantua advised you not to employ oils,
for I should have preferred this method, as it is
more effective. None the less, I am, as I said before,
well satisfied, and remain kindly disposed towards
1 Braghirolli, op. cit.
above all, of works of art. Let him only finish his
picture, and make it as perfect as possible, and Her
Highness will show him that she keeps her engage-
ments in a very different manner! ” Once more the
painter promised, for the hundredth time, to finish
the picture in a fortnight, and, “ strange as it seems,”
wrote Ciocca, “ this time he has really kept his word ! ”
On the 7th of June, Isabella wrote to the painter
herself, addressing him as her very dear and famous
friend, and sending him the eighty ducats that were
still due to him. Before her letter reached Florence
the picture had been sent to Mantua, and on the
14th Perugino composed a letter, with the help of
a less illiterate friend, thanking the Marchesa for
the money, and saying that he hopes his work will
satisfy her wishes and his reputation, since he, as
is well known, has never failed to prefer honour
to gain. He further explained that he had painted
the picture in tempera, because Leombruno had told
him that Messer Andrea Mantegna’s pictures in the
Marchesa’s studio were executed in this medium.
On the 30th of June, Isabella wrote : “ The pic-
ture has reached me safely, and pleases me, as it
is well drawn and coloured; but, if it had been
more carefully finished, it would have been more
to your honour and to our satisfaction, since it is to
hang near those of Mantegna, which are painted
with rare delicacy. I am sorry that the painter
Lorenzo of Mantua advised you not to employ oils,
for I should have preferred this method, as it is
more effective. None the less, I am, as I said before,
well satisfied, and remain kindly disposed towards
1 Braghirolli, op. cit.