r Excellency, but I know that you will
participate in my grief, and I prefer to have some one mingle his
tears with mine rather than endeavor to console me. I commend
myself to your Majesty. Ferrara, June 24, 1519, at the fifth hour
of the night.

ALFONSUS, Duke of Ferrara.[244]

The Marchese Federico sent his uncle Giovanni Gonzaga to Ferrara, who
wrote him from there as follows:

Your Excellency must not be surprised when I tell you that I shall
leave here to-morrow, for no obsequies will be celebrated, only
the offices said in the parish church. His Excellency the Duke
accompanied his illustrious consort's body to the grave. She is
buried in the Convent of the Sisters of Corpus Christi in the same
vault where repose the remains of his mother. Her death has caused
the greatest grief throughout the entire city, and his ducal
majesty displays the most profound sorrow. Great things are
reported concerning her life, and it is said that she has worn the
cilice for about ten years, and has gone to confession daily during
the last two years, and has received the communion three or four
times every month. Your Excellency's ever devoted servant,

JOHANNES DE GONZAGA, Marquis.[245]

FERRARA, _June 28, 1519_.

Among the numerous letters of condolence which the duke received was one
in Spanish from the mysterious Infante Don Giovanni Borgia, who was then
in Poissy, France. The duke himself had informed him of the death of his
consort, and Don Giovanni lamented the loss of his "sister," who had
also been his greatest patron.

The graves of Lucretia and Alfonso and numerous other members of the
house of Este in Ferrara have disappeared. No picture of the famous
woman exists either in that city or in Modena. Although many, doubtless,
were painted, none has been preserved. In Ferrara there were numerous
artists, Dossi, Garofalo, Cosma, and others. Titian may have painted the
beautiful duchess's portrait. His likeness of Isabella d'Este Gonzaga,
Lucretia's rival in beauty, is preserved in the Belvedere gallery in
Vienna; it shows a charming feminine face of oval contour, with regular
lines, brown eyes, and an expression of gentle womanliness. There is no
portrait of Lucretia from this master's hand, for the one in the Doria
Gallery in Rome, which some ascribe to him and others to Paul
Veronese,--although this artist was not born until 1528,--