VILLA 
on every side may still be seen remnants of the 
pedestals upon which Mars and Venus, Helen and 
Paris, Pan crowned with flowers, and the Roman 
emperors, once shone in gleaming marble. 
The laying out of the grounds was largely 
completed in the lifetime of Cardinal Ippolito, and 
Mureto and Bulgarini, poet and historian, have left 
a pleasant picture of his life there. He died in 
1572, and is buried in the cathedral of San 
Francesco in Tivoli. Mureto’s funeral oration 
gives us a very full impression of a great 
Churchman of the Renaissance. ‘ Who,” he 
says, “was ever more splendid and magnificent 
in every relation in life? What sumptuous 
edifices he raised, what works of antiquity 
he unearthed, which, but for him, might never 
have been discovered. What illustrious artists 
he inspired to make fresh experiments. What 
princes, what lawyers, what great and powerful men 
he gathered round him, receiving them like a 
splendid Cardinal, almost a King. How liberal and 
magnificent he was to the poor, you know, oh 
Tiburtines, who remember his continuous and daily 
almsgiving, and how, when sickness came, he sent 
every day to visit every person who was sick, so 
that none should be left out, or lack what was 
necessary for the recovery of their health, or to keep 
their families during their sickness. No one more 
loved doctors and men of letters, no one had a 
greater number at his court, and no one treated 
them with more generosity. They would converse 
familiarly with him while he sat at his suppers, and 
talk of public business, and towards them and _ his 
dependents he behaved with such familiar and 
homely kindness, like an equal, joking and talking, 
correcting faults with paternal love rather than 
with anger or pride. No one forgot injuries or 
ingratitude more easily, and was so ready to accord 
fresh benevolence. He proved his piety and 
religion in every hour of his life, and, in the 
last moments of his mortal career, he called upon 
God’s sacred minister, he confessed his sins, and 
expressed his deep penitence for all in which he 
had come short, and then cast himself on the 
Divine mercy.” We can picture him pacing these 
wide terraces, surrounded by his court, or sitting 
on summer evenings at the old stone tables, 
which, with the seats round them, are still standing 
in the same places. His nephew, Cardinal Luigi, 
who succeeded him, leaves a less pleasant impression. 
He was as magnificent, and_ entertained lavishly, 
but was always in debt, and obliged at length to 
sell many of the priceless treasures which his uncle 
had collected. After his death, the villa fell into 
disuse as a residence, and the finest statues were 
sold to the Capitol or carried to Modena. It 
now belongs to the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, 
whose grandfather received it in marriage with 
the last heiress of the house of Este. 
Watteau was one of those who often visited 
the garden during his stay in Rome. He delighted 
in it, and has left numerous drawings made there, 
D’ESTE. 
117 
and we feel as if we can trace its solemn influence 
in the deepening of his art. In our own 
time it was rented for many years by Cardinal 
Hohenlohe, a kind and courtly ecclesiastic, not 
unfit to dwell in the halls of the great Cardinal 
of Ferrara. Liszt, the famous musician, was his 
guest for several summers, and we are told how 
he spent the hours composing and playing, 
mimicking the Angelus from the bells of the 
town, or in his playing of Chopin vying with 
the liquid sounds of the silvery spray without. 
Fit successors these of all the poets, painters, and 
philosophers who have wandered here. Needless 
to say, it is a haunt beloved of artists, and 
several well-known Roman painters have studios 
in Tivoli. 
The frescoes that adorn the long range of rooms 
are wonderfully well preserved, and give an excellent 
idea of the villa decorations of the late Renaissance. 
They are by the brothers Zuccari, Tempesta, 
Muziano, and Georgio Vasari. The eagle and 
the lily are introduced at every possible point. The 
scenes are chiefly symbolical. The white eagle 
looms large among the animals saved from the flood, 
Moses strikes the rock in allusion to the streams that 
flowed at the will of the Cardinal, the gods banquet 
overhead in the great dining-hall. The labours of 
Hercules upon one ceiling are a compliment to the 
reigning Duke Ercole, the Cardinal’s brother. — His 
own cipher, “Hyp . est . Card . Ferrar.,” runs 
across the wall, and above, Liberality, Generosity, 
and Immortality suggest his virtues. Servants are 
painted coming in at simulated doors, and on the 
walls of what was evidently the Cardinal’s bedroom, 
with a closet off it for a secretary or attendant, are 
shelves painted with a Cardinal’s hat and a Bishop’s 
mitre. Over the entrance to the dining-hall the 
artist Zuccaro, painted as Mercury, follows us every- 
where with his eyes. Above the doorway two 
charming puffs support the arms of the Cardinal. 
The end room, the Hall of Sports, is decorated with 
delightfully painted birds and hunting scenes. Here 
tradition says that Tasso wrote his ‘ Aminta,” and 
read it aloud to a chosen circle by the fountain to 
the Goddess of Nature at the bottom of the garden. 
Though there is no positive record of Tasso’s 
presence here, we know that he was secretary to 
Cardinal Luigi d’Este in 1572, the year before the 
« Aminta’’ was represented in Ferrara, and would, 
naturally, have attended his master when he came 
to Tivoli to escape the heat of Rome. When 
Pope Gregory visited Cardinal Luigi, these bare 
walls were brave with green and crimson velvet, 
and the Pope’s bed was hung with velvet curtains, 
embroidered with seed pearls which had belonged to 
Henry II. of France. © What brilliant companies 
have met here! How the thrum of music, wit, 
and joyous hospitality has sounded through these 
silent chambers, how the rose-red silken robes of the 
princes of the Church have rustled on these 
terraces, what intrigues have been discussed, and 
what destinies decided ! 
