DIVAE COMITES. This painting formerly decorated the _camerino_ of Isabella d’Este at Mantua. It was seized at the sack of Mantua by Cardinal Richelieu in 1630, together with the _Parnassus_ (No. 1375), Perugino’s _Combat of Love and Chastity_ (No. 1567), and Lorenzo Costa’s _Court of Isabella d’Este_ (No. 1261). _The Mythological Scene_ (No. 1262), which is not now exhibited, represents the _Realm of Erotic Love_; it was begun by Mantegna the year he died, and was gone over and completed by Lorenzo Costa. Mantegna became involved financially towards the end of his life, and the collection he had formed was sold. His last years were clouded by pecuniary embarrassment. His compositions are essentially classic in spirit, his figures noble and painted in imitation of the antique, while his pagan conceptions prepared the way for those of a later generation in the art of Venice. By this process of gradual evolution the school of Padua came to be distinguished among the other local schools of Northern Italy in the lifetime of Mantegna, whose example gave a new impulse to contemporary art. A small _Adoration of the Magi_ (No. 1678), which is officially unattributed, is regarded by Mr. Berenson as the work of Bernardo Parenzano (1437-1531), who was influenced by Mantegna, and imitated the methods of his contemporaries. Many other artists bore their part in the work of this school, and so contributed to the development of this movement which spread to Veronese and Venetian territory. They are, however, unrepresented in the Louvre. THE SCHOOL OF VERONA The foundations of the art of Verona were laid in Paduan soil by Altichieri, who initiated the school of Verona. Veronese art early found expression in the naive pictorial and mediæval style practised by the medallist-painter Antonio Pisanello (1397-1455), whose name appears to have been an endearing diminutive. He was a follower, if not a pupil, of Altichieri. The frequency with which he signed himself “PICTOR” on his medals leads one to suppose that he looked upon himself as a painter first and foremost, and contemporary records seem to confirm this. His art was so highly reputed in Northern Italy that the Venetians thought it advisable to invite him to Venice in 1421 to assist Gentile da Fabriano in painting frescoes, now destroyed, in the Doge’s Palace. Jacopo Bellini also worked at Verona. He is known to have painted a picture of the _Crucifixion_ for the Chapel of S. Niccolò in the Cathedral at Verona in 1436, but, after exercising considerable influence on the art of Northern Italy, it was in 1759 hewn down by a Canon with a view to beautifying the chapel!