when Leonardo's fresco is a wreck and the tomb
of Beatrice broken to pieces, when Vigevano and Cussago are in ruins,
and the matchless library of Pavia has been scattered to the winds, we
rejoice to think that the Certosa remains to show us how splendid were
the dreams and how rare the skill of artists in the days when Lodovico
Sforza reigned over Milan.

One of the finest artists who was working at the Certosa under
Lodovico's eye in the summer of 1491, was the accomplished Roman
sculptor, Giovanni Cristoforo Romano. We remember how he had been sent
to Ferrara in the autumn of the previous year to execute a bust of
Beatrice for his master. Since then he had gone back to his work at the
Certosa, where he was employed upon the monument which Lodovico was
raising to his ancestor Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the founder of the great
Carthusian Abbey. His exact share in this noble work, which was begun in
1490, remains uncertain, but both the effigy of this duke and the figure
of the Madonna and Child in the upper part of the monument are generally
ascribed to his hand. At the same time Cristoforo had promised to design
the chief portal of the ancient Stanga palace in Cremona, which was
being restored by Lodovico's Superintendent of Finances, the Marchese
Stanga, known in court circles as the Marchesino, to distinguish him
from his father, Duchess Bianca Maria's faithful servant. That June the
Marchesino was married at Milan to a daughter of Count Giovanni
Borromeo, and on this occasion, doubtless, he employed the gifted Roman
sculptor to design the magnificent doorway which now adorns the Louvre
and is a masterpiece of classic elegance. But now a fresh invitation
reached Cristoforo from another quarter.

The Marchioness of Mantua had seen the Roman master's bust of her sister
Beatrice when she came to Milan in the winter for the wedding
festivities, and was seized with an ardent wish to have her features
carved in marble by the same unrivalled artist. On the 22nd of June she
wrote to Beatrice from her favourite villa at Porto, near Mantua,
begging her to ask Lodovico if he would kindly allow "that excellent
master, Johan Cristoforo, who carved your Highness's portrait in
marble," to come to Mantua for a few days, that he might render her the
same service. Beatrice, who was always ready and anxious to gratify
Isabella's wishes, replied that she had shown the letter at once to her
husband, and that Lodovico would gladly comply