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Vittore Pisanello and Jacopo Bellini had both of them visited Ferrara and painted portraits of the Este princes that of Leonello, with his long hooked nose and low forehead, is still preserved at Bergamo, and Piero de' Franceschi, the mighty Umbrian, is said to have supplied a design for Duke Borso's tomb.
A grand opera, "Leonello," in five acts, and a mass are in manuscript. Frank Seymour Hastings has found in music a pleasant avocation from finance, and written various graceful songs. He has been active, too, in the effort to secure a proper production of grand opera in English. Dr. John M. Loretz, of Brooklyn, is a veteran composer, and has passed his opus 200.
It would be easy, following in the steps of Tiraboschi, to describe the patronage awarded in the fifteenth century to men of letters by princes the protection extended by Nicholas III. of Ferrara to Guarino and Aurispa the brilliant promise of his son Leonello, who corresponded with Poggio, Filelfo, Guarino, Francesco Barbaro, and other scholars the liberality of Duke Borso, whose purse was open to poor students.
This one had gone to bury himself in the Abruzzi hills. That one had become a professor at Bologna. Others, in vanishing, had left no trace behind them. "And Leonello, who was going to surpass Michael Angelo?" "Oh," my friend responded, "Leonello is still here, painting his pictures. Like me, he could not live long beyond the air of Florence."
Moreover, I must have your most earnest promise that when we reach our destination you will refrain from giving the least hint, by word or action, that the sixteenth century has passed away. If you feel unable to carry out this deception, we must leave you here. The slightest blunder would be fatal." No sooner had Antonio uttered these words than he turned in a panic to Leonello and Leonardo.
For Signor Leonello da Carpi, Lord of Meldola, who is still alive, although more than ninety years old, he executed a picture that was most marvellous in colouring, and of a singular beauty, for it is painted with such force, and also with a delicacy so pleasing, that I do not think it is possible to do better.
The latter, it is worth remarking, was attributed by a former owner to Albert Dürer. The other is signed "Pisanus"; in the frame are inserted casts of two of his medals, representing Leonello d'Este, his patron, and a profile of himself.
Antonio was first; but at the doorway he stumbled, and Leonello, who was second, fell over him. Vaulting their bodies, I gained the circular staircase that ascended to the tower. I heard Antonio bawling after me: "She will throw herself from the roof!" The staircase was black, and the wind whistled down its well. At each landing the heavy doors on either side banged open and shut.
"At least," Antonio besought me, "when in doubt, remain silent." We entered the hall. Under a wooden gallery adorned with carved and tinted shields the supper-table was laid. They awaited us, shimmering in their fantastic finery the ladies Laura and Lina, my old friends Leonardo and Leonello, and the ineffable Fiammetta di Foscone.
But a few days afterwards, while Duke Ercole was away from Ferrara, his wife was surprised by a sudden rising, the result of a deep-laid conspiracy, secretly planned by his nephew, Niccolo, a bastard son of Leonello d'Este.
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