Gonzaga Cycle: Federico II Gonzaga Takes Milan

The rider on the grey horse at the left edge, leading a column of foot soldiers into the city, is Federico II Gonzaga, the father of the duke who ordered this picture. In 1521 Federico, barely 21, commanded the papal troops in an alliance of Pope Leo X and Emperor Charles V against the French, who held Milan. As the museum tells it, the allied army struck under cover of darkness, and the city gates had been opened to them by treachery. Tintoretto keeps the fighting small and distant. Far back, Spanish soldiers drive the enemy before them through the streets, while the foreground belongs to Federico's entry. Duke Guglielmo had the scene painted around 1579/80 for the second half of the cycle, which was given over to the dukes of Mantua.