Leonardo's Swans by Karen Essex Read Free Book Online

going to preside over a kingdom in which its ruler might achieve the immortality of Pericles; where an artist the caliber of Pheidias is building monuments as spectacular and perhaps as eternal as the Parthenon. Is this not what she, Isabella, was born for? To reign over one of the most powerful realms in the world. To sit for the genius Leonardo. To supplant this beautiful Cecilia Gallerani in the famous Castello Sforzesco and in Il Moro’s heart. To take her place among the immortals who are creating this kingdom of mythical proportions whose monuments and structures and artistic achievements and legends will live on and on long after their bodies have turned to dust.
    These are challenges for Isabella, not the wild and naïve Beatrice.
    Has Isabella been a fool all along, thinking that Fortuna has been on her side? What irony is this, to find out these things now? Now that she is in love with her betrothed. Now that nothing can be done.
    What if Isabella has been cheated out of her true destiny by Chance? Can one challenge Fortuna? Would that be the same as trying to challenge God? Even if there was a way, would she dare?
    But, she reminds herself, the Ferrarese have always believed in miracles. Wasn’t that what she was saying to Francesco? If God made manifest the body and blood of His Son in St. Mary’s Church, surely He would not allow anything so terrible as missing out on one’s own destiny to happen to a princess of Ferrara. Surely.
    She calls upon her sensibilities to save her. After all, Ludovico is old. He is twenty-three years older than Beatrice. By the time he marries her—if he ever decides to honor his contract—he will have an old man’s musty smell. His skin will be hanging off his bones. His flesh will be decrepit, and his gait bent and crooked. He may even be too old to perform his marital duties, and Beatrice will die childless, whereas Francesco is virile and young and has eyes only for Isabella. The two of them will make gallant sons who will have the best qualities of the Gonzagas and of the Estes. There will be no scheming decadence in Mantua, no evil regent contributing to the ruin of the true ruler of the realm in order to steal his title.
    Yes, surely Isabella will be better off after all. She and Francesco are noble people who will rule a noble society; Il Moro and the court of Milan are corrupt.
    And if it comes to pass that Fortuna has played some clever trick on her, then she will take her destiny into her own hands. She will know what to do to remedy Fortuna’s mistake. She has often wondered if Fortuna is in God’s jurisdiction, or reigns over a realm of her own. Though she is certain that this thought is heresy, she cannot help but to ponder it. She has been taught that God is, was, and always shall be. But this singular idea of Fortuna has survived centuries of the church’s doctrine. God’s power is omniscient, but Fortuna is left over from the meddling Olympian gods so interested in worldly affairs. While Zeus and Hera and the like are only alive today in paintings, sculptures, myths, and the ruins of antiquities, Fortuna is still active in the daily intercourse of human events. Isabella is not alone in this belief, she knows. Doesn’t every kitchen maid, every soldier, shout pleas and gratitude to Fortuna?
    God, Fortuna—one or both will take care of her, or she will take care of herself. It’s as her devout father has always advised: “Believe passionately in Our Lord. Pay tribute to His greatness day and night. Build cathedrals to His glory. Have faith in His will. But don’t always rely on Him to do your bidding.”

Chapter Two
    0 * IL MATTO (THE FOOL)

FROM THE NOTEBOOK OF LEONARDO:
An old man, a few hours before his death, told me that he had lived a hundred years and that he did not feel any ailments other than weakness. Thus while sitting upon a bed in the hospital, without any movement or sign of anything amiss, I watched him pass from this life. I made an