ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 
in the Trivulzio portrait and countless reliefs and 
medals, bear no similarity to those of the beardless 
youth in Ambrogio’s painting, while Cristoforo 
Romano’s bust of the young Duchess in the Louvre 
and Costa’s portrait of her in the Pitti have little 
affinity with the lady’s type of countenance. Beatrice’s 
charm, according to her contemporaries, was rather due 
to her colouring and vivacity, to her sparkling black 
eyes and animated expression, than to any regular 
beauty of feature, while her plump throat and chin, 
and natural inclination to corpulence, formed a marked 
contrast to the slenderness and delicacy of the Ambro- 
siana maiden. 
Another suggestion, first made by Dr. Bode, was 
that the personages here represented were Lodovico’s 
nephew, Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan, and 
his wife Isabella of Aragon. But here again the 
theory is disproved by authentic portraits and medals, 
and Duchess Isabella’s proud features and majestic 
bearing have certainly little in common with the 
shy, gentle face of the girl in our picture. More 
plausible at first sight is the supposition that we 
have here a portrait of Bianca Maria Sforza, the 
sister of Gian Galeazzo and the wife of the Emperor 
Maximilian. This idea owes its origin to the mention 
made in his diary by the so-called “ Anonimo,” Marco 
Antonio Michieli, of a portrait which he saw in the 
home of Taddeo Contarini, at Venice, in 1525, and 
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