ice in the name of her affianced
husband, and Duchess Leonora wrote forthwith to give her daughter
Isabella the good news, informing her that Signor Lodovico hoped she
would accompany her mother and sister to Milan that autumn for the
wedding. The young marchioness was delighted to accept this invitation,
and in the course of a few days she paid another visit to Ferrara, to
assist in the preparations for her sister's marriage. Messer Galeazzo
Visconti was sent there again to learn the duke and duchess's pleasure
as to their daughter's journey, and, after making the final
arrangements, left Ferrara on the 26th of November. The bride's
departure was fixed for the last day of the year, and the wedding, it
was decided, should take place in the chapel of the Castello of Pavia on
the 16th of January.

Isabella hurried to Mantua to buy horses and clothes, jewels and plate
for her journey, and announced her intention of taking upwards of one
hundred persons in her suite, with ninety horses and trumpeters.
Afterwards, however, she reduced the number to fifty persons and thirty
horses at the request of Lodovico, who begged her to bring as few
attendants as possible, owing to the large number of guests who were
expected at Milan. Her husband, the Marquis Gianfrancesco, had naturally
been included in the invitation, but as a close ally of the Venetians he
did not think it politic to appear at the wedding of Lodovico Sforza.
The Signory of Venice were known to look coldly on this alliance between
Ferrara and Milan, and entertained the deepest distrust of Lodovico's
policy. So Isabella decided to join her mother and sister on their
journey up the river, and proceed with them to Pavia and ultimately to
Milan. Meanwhile another emissary from Milan had arrived at Ferrara.
This was the young sculptor, Cristoforo Romano, who was sent to Signor
Lodovico to carve a bust-portrait of his bride before she left her
father's home. The son of a Pisan sculptor who had settled in Rome,
Cristoforo's genius had attracted attention when he was quite a boy, and
he had been sent to Milan by Cardinal Ascanio Sforza. The young Roman
master was one of those brilliant and versatile artists who especially
commended themselves to Lodovico. He sang and played the lute admirably,
while his literary tastes made him the intimate friend of Bembo and
Castiglione, and a great favourite with the cultured princesses of
Mantua and Urbino. He takes a leading part in the