DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42863#0396
366 COSTUMES AND FASHIONS
Cardinal. In the following year her eldest son,
Guidobaldo, the boy who had received his first lessons
in Virgil at his grandmother’s knee, was married to
Giulia Varana, the heiress of Camerino. Isabella
had always been on friendly terms with this family,
and kept up an active correspondence with the
Duchess of Camerino, who was related to the house
of Este. The bride’s trousseau, on this occasion, was
chiefly made at Mantua, under the personal super-
vision of the Marchesa, who wrote to tell the Duchess
that the embroideries were all in hand, and should
be finished as soon as possible. “ I quite hope,” she
adds, “ that they may be as beautiful and perfect as I
should wish, since, as Your Highness knows, there
are, in this city, persons of great skill and knowledge
in this branch of art.” 1 Thus, even in her old age,
Isabella maintained her reputation for elegance and
fine taste, and foreign queens and princesses still
looked to her as the glass of fashion. The French
Queen warmly appreciated a gift of a dozen pairs
of gloves which Isabella sent her one Christmas,
and the gold-embroidered caps or scuffiotti which
were made from her patterns at Mantua, became
famous throughout Italy. When Lucrezia Borgia
first married she begged for one of these caps, and
when in later years Duke Alfonso was growing bald,
Bartolomeo Ziliolo asked Isabella to send him some
very beautiful caps, elegantly worked in gold and
silver, which he had seen at Mantua, and received
five of the best specimens which the Marchesa could
lay hands on, by express.2 Again, in 1518, we find
Raphael and Castiglione’s friend the historian, Andrea
1 Luzio in Nuova Antologia, 1896,
2 Bertolotti, Artisti, &c.
Cardinal. In the following year her eldest son,
Guidobaldo, the boy who had received his first lessons
in Virgil at his grandmother’s knee, was married to
Giulia Varana, the heiress of Camerino. Isabella
had always been on friendly terms with this family,
and kept up an active correspondence with the
Duchess of Camerino, who was related to the house
of Este. The bride’s trousseau, on this occasion, was
chiefly made at Mantua, under the personal super-
vision of the Marchesa, who wrote to tell the Duchess
that the embroideries were all in hand, and should
be finished as soon as possible. “ I quite hope,” she
adds, “ that they may be as beautiful and perfect as I
should wish, since, as Your Highness knows, there
are, in this city, persons of great skill and knowledge
in this branch of art.” 1 Thus, even in her old age,
Isabella maintained her reputation for elegance and
fine taste, and foreign queens and princesses still
looked to her as the glass of fashion. The French
Queen warmly appreciated a gift of a dozen pairs
of gloves which Isabella sent her one Christmas,
and the gold-embroidered caps or scuffiotti which
were made from her patterns at Mantua, became
famous throughout Italy. When Lucrezia Borgia
first married she begged for one of these caps, and
when in later years Duke Alfonso was growing bald,
Bartolomeo Ziliolo asked Isabella to send him some
very beautiful caps, elegantly worked in gold and
silver, which he had seen at Mantua, and received
five of the best specimens which the Marchesa could
lay hands on, by express.2 Again, in 1518, we find
Raphael and Castiglione’s friend the historian, Andrea
1 Luzio in Nuova Antologia, 1896,
2 Bertolotti, Artisti, &c.