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In the
panel to the right of the window, which must have been the last to
be completed, we find a reflection of the events surrounding the death
of Federico following a difficult military campaign. The frame of the round mirror
hanging above the lectern carries the letters G.BA.LDO.DUX between
Federico's tongues of fire, a clear reference to the young Guidobaldo's
inheritance of the ducal title upon his father's death.
Perhaps the most poignant symbol is the manuscript volume of Virgil's
Aeneid on the lectern. It is open at the passage in book 10:457–90
describing the battle between Turnus, the fierce leader of the Rutulians,
and the young Pallas, the Arcadian fighting on the Trojans' side—a bloody
encounter in which Pallas was killed, as forecast by Jupiter:
"Every man's last day is fixed.
Lifetimes are brief and not to be regained,
For all mankind. But by their deeds to make
Their fame last: that is labor for the brave."
It is difficult not to see in this passage an allusion to the glorious
life and death of Federico da Montefeltro.
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