Combat of Love and Chastity

In 1503 Isabella d'Este, the marchioness of Mantua and one of the sharpest collectors of her age, hired Perugino to paint a picture for her studiolo, the little private study where she kept her finest things. She did not leave him free. Her court poet wrote out the subject, a pitched battle between Love and Chastity fought by Minerva, Venus, Diana and a crowd of nymphs and fauns, and Isabella sent Perugino a drawing and detailed instructions, forbidding him to add a single figure of his own. She even specified tempera, to match the paintings Mantegna had already made for the room. When Perugino gave her a nude Venus instead of the clothed one she had asked for, word got back to Mantua and Isabella protested.