known at Ferrara, where everything that happened
at the court of Milan was minutely reported to Duke Ercole by his
faithful envoy, Giacomo Trotti, that Lodovico Sforza had a mistress to
whom he was fondly attached, and whom he had for many years past treated
with the respect and honour due to a wife. This was Cecilia Gallerani,
afterwards the wife of Count Lodovico Bergamini, a young Milanese lady
of noble birth, as distinguished for her learning as for her beauty. She
spoke and wrote Latin fluently, composed sonnets in Italian, and
delivered Latin orations to the theologians and philosophers who met at
her house. Contemporary writings abound in allusions to the rare virtues
and learning of "la bella Gallerani," the Sappho of modern times.
Scaligero wrote epigrams in her honour, Ortensio Lando classes her with
Isabella d'Este and Vittoria Colonna among the most cultured women of
the age. The novelist Matteo Bandello, himself a friar of the Dominican
convent of S. Maria delle Grazie at Milan, is never tired of singing
Cecilia's praises, and of describing the pleasant company who met at the
countess's palace in Milan or at her villa near Cremona. There, he tells
us, all the finest wits, all the most distinguished strangers in Milan
assemble, and you may hear valiant captains reasoning with doctors and
philosophers, or look at paintings and designs by living artists and
architects, and listen to the playing and singing of the best musicians.
As a young girl, Cecilia's charms captured the heart of the Moro, who,
as early as 1481, bestowed the estate of Saronno, which he had inherited
from his brother Sforza, upon her by a deed of gift, in which he
extolled her learning and excellence, and at the same time recalled the
merits and services of her ancestors. Soon after Leonardo da Vinci's
arrival in Milan, Lodovico employed him to paint the portrait of his
fair young mistress, and we have more than one proof of the admiration
which the Florentine master's work excited among his contemporaries. In
the _Rime_ of the court-poet, Bellincioni, we find the following sonnet
evidently inspired by this picture and bearing the inscription: "On the
portrait of Madonna Cecilia, painted by Maestro Leonardo." The poet
seeks to appease Dame Nature's wrath at the sight of this portrait, in
which the painter has represented the lovely maiden "listening, not
speaking," but so full of life and radiance, that the sun's beams grow
dim before the br