DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42863#0380
350
TITIAN’S PORTRAITS
and painted, we are told, the most beautiful per-
spectives and scenery. “Never,” exclaims Vasari,
“ were masquerades so splendid, or costumes so varied
as those which this master designed for the jousts,
pageants, and tournaments that were held on this
occasion, and which the Emperor Charles and all
present beheld with amazement.”1
The magnificent paintings in the new halls of
the Castello, and above all Titian’s portrait of the
Duke, made a still deeper impression upon the art-
loving monarch, who repeatedly declared that he
should like this master to paint his own portrait.2
Upon which Federico sent an express messenger to
Venice, begging Titian to come to Mantua at once,
and with a touch of his mother’s practical nature,
added a postscript desiring the painter to bring some
fresh supplies of fish with him. Titian, however,
was unable to leave Venice, and agreed to join the
Emperor at Bologna, where he was to meet the Pope
in December. On St. Andrew’s Day, a solemn
mass was held in S. Andrea, at which the Dukes of
Ferrara, Urbino, Milan, and Mantua were all present,
and the Marchese del Vasto was invested with the
Order of the Golden Fleece. On the 5th, a ball was
held in the Castello, and the Marchesa Isabella sat
at the Emperor’s table, her daughter-in-law being in
delicate health and unable to appear. When they
had finished supper, Charles took his hostess by the
hand and led her to the tables where the other
guests sat, and himself waited on them in the most
gallant fashion in the world. A final hunting party
had been fixed to take place at Gonzaga, but was
1 Vite, fyc., v. 335.
2 P. Aretino, Lettere, i. 257.
TITIAN’S PORTRAITS
and painted, we are told, the most beautiful per-
spectives and scenery. “Never,” exclaims Vasari,
“ were masquerades so splendid, or costumes so varied
as those which this master designed for the jousts,
pageants, and tournaments that were held on this
occasion, and which the Emperor Charles and all
present beheld with amazement.”1
The magnificent paintings in the new halls of
the Castello, and above all Titian’s portrait of the
Duke, made a still deeper impression upon the art-
loving monarch, who repeatedly declared that he
should like this master to paint his own portrait.2
Upon which Federico sent an express messenger to
Venice, begging Titian to come to Mantua at once,
and with a touch of his mother’s practical nature,
added a postscript desiring the painter to bring some
fresh supplies of fish with him. Titian, however,
was unable to leave Venice, and agreed to join the
Emperor at Bologna, where he was to meet the Pope
in December. On St. Andrew’s Day, a solemn
mass was held in S. Andrea, at which the Dukes of
Ferrara, Urbino, Milan, and Mantua were all present,
and the Marchese del Vasto was invested with the
Order of the Golden Fleece. On the 5th, a ball was
held in the Castello, and the Marchesa Isabella sat
at the Emperor’s table, her daughter-in-law being in
delicate health and unable to appear. When they
had finished supper, Charles took his hostess by the
hand and led her to the tables where the other
guests sat, and himself waited on them in the most
gallant fashion in the world. A final hunting party
had been fixed to take place at Gonzaga, but was
1 Vite, fyc., v. 335.
2 P. Aretino, Lettere, i. 257.