In Venice with Isabella d'Este
In May 1523, Castiglione accompanied the Marchioness Isabellad’Este on a visit to Padua and Venice. The noble lady was a guest in thehouse of an eminent humanist Ermolao Barbaro. On this occasion he made close ties with the illustrious Andrea Navagero, who in 1516 was the librarian of the Republic. Together with Isabella and Navagero, Baldassarre visited the Venetian studio of Titian, where the Marchioness, trusting in the expert advice of her companions, decided to buy a painting representing San Gerolamo. This is recorded in a letter written by Isabella herself, in June of the same year, to Giovan Battista Malatesta, instructing him to buy the painting for one hundred ducats: “Ringratiati – aggiunge – in nome nostro lo predecto messer Andrea de la amorevole opera et fatica che l’ha facto per noi circa il predecto quadro di S. Hieronimo, affermandoli che tal pictura ne sarà tanto più grata quanto è laudata da lui” “Thank messer Andrea – she added – on our behalf for the adorable work and the effort he put in for us regarding the above mentioned painting of S. Hieronimo, informing him that such a painting” (A. Luzio and R. Renier, La coltura e le relazioni letterarie di Isabella d’Este Gonzaga, edited by S. Albonico, Milan 2005, 73).
During this stay, on behalf of Isabella d’Este and all the court of Mantua, Castiglione saluted and congratulated the newly elected Doge, Andrea Gritti, who had succeeded Antonio Grimani. Then, before the Doge, Baldassarre advocated the cause of the Duke of Urbino, who wished to enter into the service of the Republic of Venice. He obtained for Francesco Maria Della Rovere the nomination as Captain General of the land forces of the Venetian army, officially sanctified on the 28th June. This was an important command at the service of a powerful state, that protected Francesco Maria from eventual aims on his dominions: he became the principal military leader in Venice, that, in time, rewarded him, as well as with conspicuous recompenses, enrolling him among the city’s patricians and donating to him a splendid palace. Francesco Maria’s militancy is testified by the excellent statue representing him, by Giovanni Bandini, that decorates the main courtyard of the Ducal Palace of Venice.
