ANIMAL LIFE IN ITALIAN PAINTING 



in the near foreground stands upon a dead hare which 

 it has partly disembowelled, or which the hunting leopard 

 has manofled. 



The frescoes were ordered by Cosimo de' Medici. 

 His grandson, Lorenzo the Magnificent, whose portrait 

 appears as one of the kings, was an enthusiastic 

 lover of hawking. Angelo Poliziano, in a letter to 

 Clarice de' Medici about her husband, dated Pisa, 

 December i, 1475, can only find sporting gossip to 

 send home. " Lorenzo is well and in good spirits. 

 Yesterday, as there was but little wind, he went hawk- 

 ing ; but they had not much luck because the young 

 falcon belonging to Pilato, called the Mantuan, was 

 lost. This morning they went out again, but the wind 

 was not favourable, nevertheless we saw some fine 

 flights, and Maestro Giorgio flew his peregrine falcon, 

 which came back to the lure most obediently. Lorenzo 

 is quite in love with it. Of a truth he is not wrong, 

 for Maestro Giorgio says he never saw a handsomer 

 nor a better, and declares he will make of him the 

 finest falcon in the world. While we were in the 

 fields, Pilato came back from the river with his lost 

 falcon, so Lorenzo was doubly pleased. If I knew 

 what to write I should be glad ; but I can only give 

 you news of his hawking, as we do nought else in 

 the forenoon and the afternoon. This afternoon I 



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