ABSTRACT
The gradual attainment of peace, public order and political stability made possible the survival of the arts and letters in those cities, like Ferrara, Mantua and Venice, that had either escaped or anticipated the end of the calamities; and it made possible their revival in those cities, like Naples, Milan, Rome and Florence, from which the last of the calamities had all but banished them. ‘In the years recently gone by’, noted Ruzante, in the prologue of a pastoral comedy, ‘the holy muses have been silenced by martial and bellicose furore’. Now, however, ‘Minerva has decided to return to her beloved domicile, and she has come in still greater triumph and glory’. 1
The first and in some cases the most important customers of the artists and men of letters in the decades after 1530 were the princes. They were obliged to make the best possible impression on the head of the alliance whenever he deigned — at their expense — to pay them a visit; and they dared not find themselves in the embarrassing situation of the Conservator/ of Rome in 1536, who had to appeal to ‘the people of the city to adorn Porta San Sebastiano at their own expense, to decorate the Campidoglio with painted scenery (prospettive) and to build triumphal floats (carri)\ or of the Senate of Milan in 1541, which had to call in Giulio Romano from Mantua in order to cover the entrance route with statues and temporary arches consonant with the latest art styles. The princes were also obliged to impress their colleagues in the alliance whenever the conclusion of a marriage alliance afforded them the welcome opportunity of sending invitations all over Italy and Spain.2
