ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 



On one side it opened into the studio adorned with 

 the works of Mantegna and Costa, of Perugino and 

 Correggio, and the priceless antiques which she had 

 been at infinite pains to collect from the ruins of 

 Rome or the isles of the Archipelago. On the other 

 it led into a little garden full of the choicest fruits 

 and the sweetest flowers, of the trees and plants that 

 she loved best. Often during her absence from 

 Mantua the Marchesana's thoughts turned to this 

 little corner of the world which in a peculiar way bore 

 the stamp of her individuality, and she begged her 

 friends at home for the latest report of this favourite 

 garden. 



"I have been to your palace," wrote a favoured gentle- 

 man of her suite one May-day when the Marchesana 

 was in Rome, " and I have seen your little garden which 

 is so green and beautiful that it might be Paradise 

 itself; the little apple trees are already laden with 

 large fruit, my friends the figs are ripening fast, the 

 jessamines are climbing heavenwards, and everything 

 invites to joy and calls on you to return home. That 

 divine Grotta would give light and glory to hell 

 itself." 1 



Here, too, in the brightest corner of the little 



garden, was the beautiful loggia where Isabella invited 



Castiglione to sup with her on his return from Rome, 



and for which this loyal knight sighed in the burning 



1 A. Luzio in Arch. si. lomb. xxxv. 19. 



54 



