DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36838#0041
THE MANTUAN BRANCH
7
profession of arms from his boyhood, and became
renowned as a wise and valiant soldier. Francesco
Sforza appointed him Commissioner-General of his
armies and sent him to the court of the Emperor
Frederic III. to obtain the investiture of the duchy
of Milan. On his return from this embassy, Baldas-
sare was induced to enter the service of Eodovico
Gonzaga, who had at one time been Captain of the
Milanese forces, and eventually left Milan to settle at
Mantua. While he was still in the service of the
Sforza Duke, he married Polissena, the daughter and
heiress of Alessandro Lisca of Verona. This wise and
beautiful maiden brought him, as her dower, the
castle and lands of Casatico, on the river Oglio, near
Marcaria, in the Mantuan territory, where forty years
later his illustrious grandson, the author of the ' Cortig-
iano,' was born. After his marriage, Baldassare sold
his Milanese estates, and spent the proceeds in en-
larging and improving his property at Casatico. When
he Anally left Milan, the Marquis Eodovico granted his
favourite a palace at Mantua, in the street leading to
the Castello di Corte, then known as the Via Pradella,
close to the ancient church of S. Jacopo. This house
was pulled down during the Austrian occupation in
1822, to make room for the present Teatro Sociale,
and Palazzo Bonacolsi, on the Piazza Sordello, close
to the Castello, is now the family residence of the
Castiglioni. Here the Milanese knight spent his declin-
ing years enjoying the favour of the good Marquis and
his German wife, Barbara of Brandenburg. His sons
Cristoforo and Baldassare grew up in close companion-
ship with the Gonzaga princes, whose forms and faces
are familiar to us in Mantegna's frescoes on the walls
of the Sala degli Sposi. According to one Mantuan
chronicler, who wrote the history of the Castiglione
&
-t
7
profession of arms from his boyhood, and became
renowned as a wise and valiant soldier. Francesco
Sforza appointed him Commissioner-General of his
armies and sent him to the court of the Emperor
Frederic III. to obtain the investiture of the duchy
of Milan. On his return from this embassy, Baldas-
sare was induced to enter the service of Eodovico
Gonzaga, who had at one time been Captain of the
Milanese forces, and eventually left Milan to settle at
Mantua. While he was still in the service of the
Sforza Duke, he married Polissena, the daughter and
heiress of Alessandro Lisca of Verona. This wise and
beautiful maiden brought him, as her dower, the
castle and lands of Casatico, on the river Oglio, near
Marcaria, in the Mantuan territory, where forty years
later his illustrious grandson, the author of the ' Cortig-
iano,' was born. After his marriage, Baldassare sold
his Milanese estates, and spent the proceeds in en-
larging and improving his property at Casatico. When
he Anally left Milan, the Marquis Eodovico granted his
favourite a palace at Mantua, in the street leading to
the Castello di Corte, then known as the Via Pradella,
close to the ancient church of S. Jacopo. This house
was pulled down during the Austrian occupation in
1822, to make room for the present Teatro Sociale,
and Palazzo Bonacolsi, on the Piazza Sordello, close
to the Castello, is now the family residence of the
Castiglioni. Here the Milanese knight spent his declin-
ing years enjoying the favour of the good Marquis and
his German wife, Barbara of Brandenburg. His sons
Cristoforo and Baldassare grew up in close companion-
ship with the Gonzaga princes, whose forms and faces
are familiar to us in Mantegna's frescoes on the walls
of the Sala degli Sposi. According to one Mantuan
chronicler, who wrote the history of the Castiglione
&
-t