00 crowns.

So Beatrice d'Este's wedding-day was at length fixed, and Duchess
Leonora rejoiced in the happy prospect of seeing both her daughters
married in the course of the following year.

CHAPTER V

Marriage of Isabella d'Este--Lodovico puts off his wedding--Cecilia
Gallerani--Her portrait by Leonardo da Vinci--Mission of Galeazzo
Visconti to Ferrara--Preparations for Beatrice's wedding--Cristoforo
Romano's bust--Duchess Leonora and her daughters travel to Piacenza and
Pavia--Their reception at Pavia by Lodovico.

1490-1491

The young Marquis of Mantua, Gian Francesco Gonzaga, had proved himself
a more ardent lover than Lodovico Sforza. He frequently exchanged
letters and compliments with his youthful bride, or sent Isabella
presents and verses written in her honour by Mantuan poets. After his
father's death in 1484, he visited Mantua, and brought Duchess Leonora a
Madonna painted by the hand of the great Paduan master, Andrea Mantegna,
the court painter of the Gonzagas. In the autumn of the same year,
Leonora took her daughter to Mantua for a short visit, where she first
met Gian Francesco's sister, Elizabeth Duchess of Urbino, who was to
become her dearest friend and constant companion in the early days of
her married life. Four years afterwards, the same Elizabeth, the
peerless Duchess of Castiglione and Bembo's adoration, stopped at
Ferrara on her wedding journey to her new home of Urbino, and received
an affectionate welcome from Leonora and her daughters. The duchess, she
wrote, treated her as a mother, while in the Marchesana she had already
found a loving sister and friend. On the 11th of February, 1490,
Isabella's own wedding was celebrated at Ferrara, and the following
morning the bride rode through the streets of the city, with the Duke of
Urbino on her right and the Ambassador of Naples on her left hand. On
the 12th, the bride set out for Mantua, travelling by water up the
river Po in a stately bucentaur presented to Isabella by Duke Ercole,
adorned with rich carving and gilding. Her parents and three brothers,
Alfonso, Ferrante, and the boy Ippolito, afterwards well known as
Ariosto's patron, Cardinal d'Este, with a large suite, accompanied her
to the gates of Mantua, where a magnificent reception awaited her. The
young marquis had made great preparations to welcome his bride, and,
after the fashion of the days, had borrowed gold and silver plate,
carpets, and hangings from all his friends