Francesco Gonzaga

Francesco Gonzaga (15 March 1444, Mantua, Italy—21 October 1483, Bologna, Italy) was an Italian bishop and a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church during the reigns of Popes Pius II, Paul II and Sixtus IV.

Background

Born in Mantua on 15 March 1444, Francesco Gonzaga was the second son of Ludovico III Gonzaga, the second Marquis of Mantua, and his wife Barbara of Brandenburg. His mother was the daughter of John, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach and Barbara von Sachsen-Wittenberg, and the niece of Emperor Sigismund of the Holy Roman Empire. His first education was in the "Ca' Giocosa" under Iacopo da San Cassiano, Ognibene da Lonigo, and Bartolomeo Platina.

After completing his studies at Padua, Francesco went to the University of Pisa. After he graduated, he was appointed by Pope Nicholas V to the offices of prothonotary apostolic in February 1454 and later of the Procurator of the Church for Mantua. Although he had chosen an ecclesiastical career, he led a mostly secular life. In 1477, when he had already been a Cardinal for eleven years, a certain Barbara bore him an illegitimate son, Francesco (†1511), nicknamed "il Cardinalino (The Little Cardinal)".

The Cardinal

Under Pope Pius II

At the request of his cousin, Albert III, Elector of Brandenburg, Francesco was elevated, on 18 December 1461, at the age of seventeen to the rank of Cardinal by Pope Pius II after the Pope had been in Mantua for eight months for the council held in that city. The meeting between the father, Ludovico III, the Marchese di Mantova, and the son, the new Cardinale di Mantova, coming to his hometown for the consecration as a cardinal, was recorded in the frescoes of Andrea Mantegna's Camera degli Sposi (Italian, "Chamber of the Bride"). Francesco was the first of the ten members of the House of Gonzaga to be given the red biretta of the cardinal and he was assigned to Santa Maria Nuova, a church near the Via Sacra in Rome.

Under Pope Paul II

Appointed as the 39th Prince-Bishop of Bressanone (now Brixen) on 12 August 1464, the Cardinal of Mantua participated in the conclave that elected in the same year Pope Paul II, whom he personally hosted a splendid banquet on 16 September to commemorate the occasion of taking possession of the Throne of St. Peter by the new Pope.

Two years later, on 18 July 1466, the Bishop of Mantua, Galeazzo Cavriani, died and Francesco was appointed a month later, on 20 August, to succeed him. His great grandfather's first cousin, Sagramoso Gonzaga (1360—1405), had been the Bishop of Mantua for four years (1386—1390). But Francesco's own title was the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Mantua. He would keep it until his death but he was never raised to the rank of Bishop. He would be succeeded by five consecutive members of his family. The first two were Apostolic Administrators but the third, Ercole Cardinal Gonzaga, Francesco's grandnephew, was the first to be Bishop. but, in March 1477, he was still in Rome. He did not go to Bologna for the actual possession until 18 July 1478, two years late. On 20 March 1479, anti-Papal riots erupted in Bologna but Gonzaga was able to restore order. However, he was never made the Bishop of Bologna; that title went after his death to Giuliano Cardinal della Rovere, the future Pope Julius II. Francesco collected antiquities, including pieces of the treasures that belonged to Pope Paul II, himself a collector of gems.

Besides painting Francesco in the Camera deli Sposi, Andrea Mantegna also did the Portrait of Francesco Gonzaga, one of the first portraits he had ever done at the Court of Mantua after he moved there in 1460. This painting is now at the National Museum of Capodimonte in Naples, Italy.

Death

He died from intoxication on 21 October 1483 at the Palazzo della Signoria in Bologna. In the original document attesting to his death, it was stated that the cause of death was per disordini; percioché bevendo l'acqua della Porretta non servò la guardia conveniente [Of disorders; because drinking the water of the Porretta, he did not observe the necessary care]. His body was transported to Mantua and buried in the family mausoleum at the Church of San Francesco. The funeral oration was delivered by Giovanni Lucido Cataneo.