Duke Giangaleazzo, and of Lodovico Moro himself. But
Ambrogio's portrait certainly represents none of the three, and it is
far more likely that we have here a likeness of the duke's son-in-law,
painted about the time of his marriage to Bianca Sforza. This handsome
man of thirty, in the fur-trimmed vest and red cap, with the dark eyes,
long locks, and refined thoughtful face, touched with an air of
melancholy, may well be the brilliant cavalier who played so great a
part at the Moro's court, the patron of Leonardo and Luca Pacioli, and
the loyal servant of Duchess Beatrice.

Both the duke and his wife were overwhelmed with grief at Madonna
Bianca's death. Lodovico himself wrote to Isabella d'Este that the wound
had pierced his inmost heart, and the duchess and Messer Galeaz both
expressed their grief in touching words. On the 23rd of November,
Beatrice wrote these few sad lines to her sister--

"Although you will have already heard from my husband the duke of the
premature death of Madonna Bianca, his daughter and the wife of Messer
Galeaz, none the less I must write these few lines with my own hand, to
tell you how great is the trouble and distress which her death has
caused me. The loss indeed is greater than I can express, because of our
close relationship and of the place which she held in my heart. May God
have her soul in His keeping!"[64]

[Illustration: Galeazzo Di Sanseverino.

From a painting by Ambrogio de Predis.

(Ambrosiana)

D. Anderson.]

All the _fetes_ which had been prepared in honour of the emperor's
return to Lombardy were stopped, and the duke and duchess, with their
little son, attended by a small suite of courtiers and ladies, in deep
mourning, travelled by water to Pavia, to receive their illustrious
kinsman when he arrived from Sarzana on the 2nd of December. On this
occasion Maximilian behaved with great consideration, and showed deep
sympathy with his distressed relatives. Instead of making a public entry
through the city, he rode up through the park to the private gate of the
Castello, where the duke and duchess met him and conducted him to his
rooms. Here he spent the evening alone in their company, and refused to
see any one but the little Count of Pavia, for whom he is said to have
cherished great affection. The Venetian envoy, Francesco Foscari,
hearing of the emperor's arrival, hastened to Pavia, and with difficulty
obtained an audience from His Majesty, who told him that it was