66

ANDREA MANTEGNA

The general scheme is of a room hung with curtains
of gold brocade, whose heavy folds remain unlifted
save on the best lighted walls, where they are drawn
aside, and show, as on a stage, stately ceremonials
of the Mantuan court. Taking the paintings in detail,
we begin with the principal group, generally known
as The- Reception of an Ambassador. (Plates 4 and 19.)
The subject of the scene has been variously interpreted.
Selvatico supposed that it commemorated the return of
the eldest son, Federigo, from Naples, whither in 1460,
he had fled to avoid a marriage with the Princess Margaret
of Bavaria, and that his is the figure mounting the
steps, anxiously watched by the neglected bride-elect.
But, apart from the extreme improbability that so
painful an episode would have been chosen as a theme
for domestic decoration, the hypothesis is fully dis-
proved by comparison with contemporary medals.
From that of Talpa we see that it is, on the contrary,
Federigo, who, with outstretched hand, goes forward
to greet the person entering, and we may with a fair
show of reason adopt M. Yriarte’s assumption that the
theme is the betrothal of the Marquis' second daughter,
Barbara, with the Duke of Wtirtemberg, which took
place about this time, 1 that the incoming personage
is the envoy, and that the expectant lady is no other
than the Princess Barbara herself. 2
The following portraits we can identify : The
Marquis Lodovico himself, now nearly sixty years
old, clad in rich crimson, who turns stiffly to his
1 Her marriage took place in 1474.
2 See M. Yriarte’s article, “ Les Gonzagues dans les fresques de
Mantegna” (“ Gaz. des Beaux Arts”), vol. xii,