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Read Ebook: Humorous Readings and Recitations in Prose and Verse by Wagner Leopold Editor
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Ebook has 1056 lines and 70209 words, and 22 pages
OF FRANCESCO MARIA DELLA ROVERE, FOURTH DUKE OF URBINO
PAGE
Causes which led to the sack of Rome--The assault--Death of Bourbon--Atrocities of his soldiery--The Duke of Urbino's fatal delays--The Pontiff's capitulation and escape--Policy of the Emperor 3
BOOK SEVENTH
OF GUIDOBALDO DELLA ROVERE, FIFTH DUKE OF URBINO
BOOK EIGHTH
The unsatisfactory results of his marriage--He separates from the Duchess--His court and habits--Death of the Duchess--He remarries 152
Birth of Prince Federigo--The Duke's retired habits and aversion to business--His constitution-making experiments--His instructions to his son--The Prince's unfortunate education and character 173
The Prince's marriage--The Duke entrusts to him the government, and retires to Castel Durante--His dissolute career and early death--Birth of his daughter Vittoria--The Duke rouses himself--He arranges the devolution of his state to the Holy See--Papal intrigues 196
The Duke's monkish seclusion--His death and character--His portraits and letters--Notices of Princess Vittoria, and her inheritance--Fate of the ducal libraries--The duchy incorporated with the Papal States--Results of the Devolution 224
BOOK NINTH
OF LITERATURE AND ART UNDER THE DUKES DELLA ROVERE AT URBINO
Italian literature subject to new influences--The Academies--Federigo Comandino--Guidobaldo del Monte--The Paciotti--Leonardi--Muzio Oddi--Bernardino Baldi--Girolamo Muzio--Federigo Bonaventura 253
Italian versification--Ariosto--Pietro Aretino--Vittoria Colonna--Laura Battiferri--Dionigi Atanagi--Antonio Galli--Marco Montano--Bernardo Tasso 278
Torquato Tasso--His insanity--Theories of Dr. Verga and Mr. Wilde--His connection with Urbino--His intercourse with the Princess of Este--His portraits--His letter to the Duke of Urbino--His confinement--His death--His poetry--Battista Guarini 308
The decline of Italian art: its causes and results--Artists of Urbino--Girolamo della Genga and his son Bartolomeo--Other architects and engineers 335
Taddeo Zuccaro--Federigo Zuccaro--Their pupils--Federigo Baroccio and his pupils--Claudio Ridolfi--Painters of Gubbio 355
Of the manufacture of majolica in the Duchy of Urbino 403
APPENDICES
GENEALOGICAL TABLE 501
INDEX 505
FACING PAGE
Isabella d'Este. After the picture by Titian in the Imperial Museum, Vienna. 134
Federigo, Prince of Urbino. From the picture once in the possession of Andrew Coventry of Edinburgh 196
Facsimiles of signatures and monograms 200
Vittoria della Rovere, Grand Duchess of Tuscany. From the picture by Sustermans in the Pitti Gallery, Florence. 248
Supposed portrait of Ariosto. After the picture by Titian in the National Gallery 280
Pietro Aretino. From the picture by Titian in the Pitti Gallery, Florence. 288
Bernardo Tasso. From a picture once in the possession of James Dennistoun 298
Torquato Tasso. From a picture once in the possession of James Dennistoun 308
Laura de' Dianti and Alfonso of Ferrara. After the picture by Titian in the Louvre. 312
Martyrdom of S. Agata. After a picture by Seb. dal Piombo, once in the Ducal Collection at Urbino, now in the Pitti Gallery, Florence. 336
Holy Family. After the picture by Sustermans, once in the Ducal Collection of Urbino, now in the Pitti Gallery, Florence. 340
The Knight of Malta. From the picture by Giorgione, once in the Ducal Collection at Urbino, now in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. 344
Judith with the head of Holofernes. After the picture by Palma il Vecchio, once in the Ducal Collection at Urbino. 346
Head of Christ. After the picture by Titian, once in the Ducal Collection, now in the Pitti Gallery, Florence. 348
The Resurrection. After the banner painted by Titian for the Compagnia di Corpus Domini, now in the Pinacoteca, Urbino. 352
The Last Supper. After the picture by Baroccio in the Duomo of Urbino. 356
Noli me Tangere. After the picture by Baroccio, once in the Ducal Collection at Urbino, now in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. 372
Giovanni and Federigo, Electors of Saxony. After the portraits by Cranach, once in the Ducal Collection at Urbino, now in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. 386
La Bella. After the picture by Titian in the Pitti Gallery, Florence. Supposed portrait of Duchess Leonora. 390
The Venus of Urbino. Supposed portrait of the Duchess Leonora, after the picture by Titian in the Uffi the manager admitted the flute-player to the orchestra and guaranteed him at least one solo between the acts.
And it was the Consul's constant habit to strut about the Forum with his musician executing marches behind him, until the spectacle became so utterly ridiculous that even the Romans of that age, who were as free from the slightest taint of humour as a self-respecting nation can possibly be, began to notice something peculiar.
But the day of retribution dawned at last. Duilius worked the flute so incessantly that the musician's stock of airs was very soon exhausted, and then he was naturally obliged to blow them through once more.
The excellent Consul had not a fine ear, but even he began to hail the fiftieth repetition of "Pugnare nolumus," for instance--the great national peace anthem of the period--with the feeling that he had heard the same tune at least twice before, and preferred something slightly fresher, while others had taken a much shorter time in arriving at the same conclusion.
The elder Duilius, the Consul's father, was perhaps the most annoyed by it; he was a nice old man in his way--the glass and china way--but he was a typical old Roman, with a manly contempt for pomp, vanity, music, and the fine arts generally, so that his son's flute-player, performing all day in the courtyard, drove the old gentleman nearly mad, until he would rush to the windows and hurl the lighter articles of furniture at the head of the persistent musician, who, however, after dodging them with dexterity, affected to treat them as a recognition of his efforts and carried them away gratefully to sell.
So he would only sit down and swear, and then relieve his feelings by giving his son a severe thrashing, with threats to sell him for whatever he might fetch; for, in the curious conditions of ancient Roman society, a father possessed both these rights, however his offspring might have distinguished himself in public life.
Naturally, Duilius did not like the idea of being put up to auction, and he began to feel that it was slightly undignified for a Roman general who had won a naval victory and been awarded a first-class Triumph to be undergoing corporeal punishment daily at the hands of an unflinching parent, and accordingly he determined to go and expostulate with his flute-player.
He was beginning to find him a nuisance himself, for all his old shy reserve and unwillingness to attract attention had returned to him; he was fond of solitude, and yet he could never be alone; he was weary of doing everything to slow music, like the bold, bad man in a melodrama.
He could not even go across the street to purchase a postage-stamp without the flute-player coming stalking out after him, playing away like a public fountain; while, owing to the well-known susceptibility of a rabble to the charm of music, the disgusted Consul had to take his walks abroad at the head of Rome's choicest scum.
Perhaps he put the thing a little too delicately to secure the object he had in view, for the musician, although he was deeply touched by such unwonted consideration, waved it aside with a graceful fervour which was quite irresistible.
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