DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42863#0355
FEDERICO CREATED DUKE
325
caused the death of an Emperor and a Cardinal.”
Fortunately, no serious harm was done, and
Charles V. expressed the greatest delight with his
day’s sport. During the next fortnight he visited
the palaces and villas of the Gonzagas, and en-
joyed the refined luxury and high culture of an
Italian court. He saw the treasures of Isabella’s
Grotta, the famous armoury in the Corte Vecchia,
the triumphs of Mantegna in the palace of S. Sebas-
tiano, and the wonderful frescoes of the story of
Psyche, which Giulio Romano had painted in Fede-
rico’s new Palazzo del Te. But, more than any of
these, he admired the portraits and Holy Families
painted by Titian, the great Venetian master, who
was to become his chosen artist in days to come.
It was a proud hour in Isabella’s life, and she
did the honours of her son’s house and entertained
her august guest with all her wonted grace. But
her proudest moment was on the 8th of April,
when, after signing the deed creating the marquisate
of Mantua into a duchy, by virtue of his Imperial
authority, and sealing it with a gold seal, the Em-
peror publicly proclaimed Federico Duke of Mantua
from the steps of S. Pietro, in the presence of a
large and enthusiastic assembly.1 On the same spot,
a hundred years before, another Roman emperor,
Sigismund, had proclaimed the present Duke’s an-
cestor, Giovanni Francesco II., first Marquis of
Mantua. Many, indeed, had been the perils and
troubles through which the little State had passed,
and great was the glory and prosperity to which
the noble house of Gonzaga had attained. This,
Isabella felt, was the crowning triumph of her long
1 G. Daino, op. cit., p. 232.
325
caused the death of an Emperor and a Cardinal.”
Fortunately, no serious harm was done, and
Charles V. expressed the greatest delight with his
day’s sport. During the next fortnight he visited
the palaces and villas of the Gonzagas, and en-
joyed the refined luxury and high culture of an
Italian court. He saw the treasures of Isabella’s
Grotta, the famous armoury in the Corte Vecchia,
the triumphs of Mantegna in the palace of S. Sebas-
tiano, and the wonderful frescoes of the story of
Psyche, which Giulio Romano had painted in Fede-
rico’s new Palazzo del Te. But, more than any of
these, he admired the portraits and Holy Families
painted by Titian, the great Venetian master, who
was to become his chosen artist in days to come.
It was a proud hour in Isabella’s life, and she
did the honours of her son’s house and entertained
her august guest with all her wonted grace. But
her proudest moment was on the 8th of April,
when, after signing the deed creating the marquisate
of Mantua into a duchy, by virtue of his Imperial
authority, and sealing it with a gold seal, the Em-
peror publicly proclaimed Federico Duke of Mantua
from the steps of S. Pietro, in the presence of a
large and enthusiastic assembly.1 On the same spot,
a hundred years before, another Roman emperor,
Sigismund, had proclaimed the present Duke’s an-
cestor, Giovanni Francesco II., first Marquis of
Mantua. Many, indeed, had been the perils and
troubles through which the little State had passed,
and great was the glory and prosperity to which
the noble house of Gonzaga had attained. This,
Isabella felt, was the crowning triumph of her long
1 G. Daino, op. cit., p. 232.