DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36839#0078
58 COUNT BALDASSARE CASTIGLIONE
de' Medici offered him, and preferred to settle at
Padua. Two years afterwards he died at Venice of
a sudden attack of fever, to the grief of Bembo and
his friends.
Castiglione's own interest in literary matters and
his intimacy with Bembo and Sadoleto naturally led
him to regard this episode with curious attention.
But he was still more deeply interested in Raphael's
works. He had followed the master of Urbino's
career from his boyhood in the mountain city, and
had watched his marvellous development at every
stage of his career. Now he saw Raphael at a height
of fame and splendour to which no other artist had
attained before, courted by Princes and Cardinals,
and entrusted with the grandest and most honourable
tasks by the head of Christendom. And he found
him still the same simple and charming companion,
courteous and friendly to all, and eager as ever to
learn from others. Castiglione, as we have seen,
moved in the same circles as Raphael, and was inti-
mate with the same friends. And this summer, when
both Bibbiena and Bembo were absent, he seems to
have spent much of his leisure time in the painter's
company. He was a constant visitor at the hne
Renaissance palace in the Borgo Nuovo, designed
by Bramante, which the great painter had made his
home, and decorated with his own hand. Paolucci,
the Ferrarese envoy, who during the last two years had
been vainly trying to induce the artist to execute a
commission for Duke Alfonso, tells us how he rode
by Raphael's house one warm September evening,
and, seeing the door open, walked in. But presently
he was stopped by a servant, who told him that
Messer Radaello was upstairs in his studio, paint-
ing the portrait of Messer Baldassare Castiglione,
de' Medici offered him, and preferred to settle at
Padua. Two years afterwards he died at Venice of
a sudden attack of fever, to the grief of Bembo and
his friends.
Castiglione's own interest in literary matters and
his intimacy with Bembo and Sadoleto naturally led
him to regard this episode with curious attention.
But he was still more deeply interested in Raphael's
works. He had followed the master of Urbino's
career from his boyhood in the mountain city, and
had watched his marvellous development at every
stage of his career. Now he saw Raphael at a height
of fame and splendour to which no other artist had
attained before, courted by Princes and Cardinals,
and entrusted with the grandest and most honourable
tasks by the head of Christendom. And he found
him still the same simple and charming companion,
courteous and friendly to all, and eager as ever to
learn from others. Castiglione, as we have seen,
moved in the same circles as Raphael, and was inti-
mate with the same friends. And this summer, when
both Bibbiena and Bembo were absent, he seems to
have spent much of his leisure time in the painter's
company. He was a constant visitor at the hne
Renaissance palace in the Borgo Nuovo, designed
by Bramante, which the great painter had made his
home, and decorated with his own hand. Paolucci,
the Ferrarese envoy, who during the last two years had
been vainly trying to induce the artist to execute a
commission for Duke Alfonso, tells us how he rode
by Raphael's house one warm September evening,
and, seeing the door open, walked in. But presently
he was stopped by a servant, who told him that
Messer Radaello was upstairs in his studio, paint-
ing the portrait of Messer Baldassare Castiglione,