School of Ferrara (painting)
Encyclopedia
The School of Ferrara was a group of painters which flourished in the Duchy of Ferrara
during the Renaissance
. Ferrara was ruled by the Este family, well known for its patronage of the arts. Patronage was extended with the ascent of Ercole d'Este I
in 1470, and the family continued in power till Alfonso II, Ercole's great-grandson, died without an heir in 1597. The duchy was then occupied in succession by Papal and Austrian forces. The school evolved styles of painting that were appeared to blend influences from Mantua
, Venice
, Lombardy
, Bologna
, and Florence
.
The ties to Bolognese School
were particularly strong. Much of the local collections, like those of the Gonzaga family in Mantua, were dispersed with the end of the Este line in 1598. Especially in the late 15th century Ferrara was also a main centre of engraving
in Italy. The most famous prints
it produced are the two sets traditionally, if inaccurately, known as the Mantegna Tarocchi
, each by an unidentified master. A list of painters of the School of Ferrara, with the page for the title entry in Camillo Laderchi's 1856 artist biography, includes:
Duchy of Ferrara
The Duchy of Ferrara is a former sovereign state of northern Italy.Obizzo II d'Este was proclaimed lifelong ruler of Ferrara in 1264. He also became seignior of nearby Modena in 1288 and of Reggio in 1289...
during the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
. Ferrara was ruled by the Este family, well known for its patronage of the arts. Patronage was extended with the ascent of Ercole d'Este I
Ercole d'Este I
Ercole I d'Este was Duke of Ferrara from 1471 until 1505. He was a member of the house of Este. He was nicknamed North Wind and the Diamond.-Biography:...
in 1470, and the family continued in power till Alfonso II, Ercole's great-grandson, died without an heir in 1597. The duchy was then occupied in succession by Papal and Austrian forces. The school evolved styles of painting that were appeared to blend influences from Mantua
Mantua
Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
, Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
, Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
, and Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
.
The ties to Bolognese School
Bolognese School (painting)
The Bolognese School or the School of Bologna of painting flourished in Bologna, the capital of Emilia Romagna, between the 16th and 17th centuries in Italy, and rivalled Florence and Rome as the center of painting. Its most important representatives include the Carracci family, including Ludovico...
were particularly strong. Much of the local collections, like those of the Gonzaga family in Mantua, were dispersed with the end of the Este line in 1598. Especially in the late 15th century Ferrara was also a main centre of engraving
Engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...
in Italy. The most famous prints
Old master print
An old master print is a work of art produced by a printing process within the Western tradition . A date of about 1830 is usually taken as marking the end of the period whose prints are covered by this term. The main techniques concerned are woodcut, engraving and etching, although there are...
it produced are the two sets traditionally, if inaccurately, known as the Mantegna Tarocchi
Mantegna Tarocchi
The Mantegna Tarocchi, also known as the Tarocchi Cards, Tarocchi in the style of Mantegna, Baldini Cards, are two different sets each of fifty 15th century Italian old master prints in engraving, by two different unknown artists...
, each by an unidentified master. A list of painters of the School of Ferrara, with the page for the title entry in Camillo Laderchi's 1856 artist biography, includes:
14th century and before
- Gelasio di Nicoló, p20
- Galasso GalassiGalasso GalassiGalasso Galassi was an Italian painter of the early-Renaissance period, active mainly in Ferrara. Worked for some years in Bologna. He was one of the earliest painters of the School of Ferrara.-References:...
- Cristoforo da BolognaCristoforo da BolognaCristoforo da Bologna was an Italian painter. He was active in Bologna, Modena, and Ferrara. He painted toward the close of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century.-References:...
, p28 - Antonio AlbertiAntonio AlbertiAntonio Alberti was an Italian painter, active mainly in 15th century in his native city of Ferrara, as well as Bologna and Urbino.He painted portraits and devotional topics. For the sacristy of the church of San Bernardino, outside Urbino, he painted a Madonna and Child enthroned...
, p29
15th century
- Cosimo TuraCosimo TuraCosimo Tura , also known as Il Cosmè or Cosmè Tura, was an Italian early-Renaissance painter and considered one of the founders of the School of Ferrara....
, p30 - Francesco Cossa, p32
- Bono, p33
- Stefano da Ferrara, p37
- Baldassare EstenseBaldassare EstenseBaldassare Estense , of Reggio, has been supposed to have been an illegitimate scion of the house of Este, since no mention of his father's name ever occurs in contemporary records, whilst he was called 'Estensis,' and received unusual promotion and rewards from the Dukes of Ferrara. He was a pupil...
, p38 - Antonio Aleotti d'Argenta, p39
- Ercole GrandiErcole GrandiErcole Grandi was an Italian painter of the early-Renaissance period, active mainly in Ferrara. Also known as Ercole da Ferrara. He was the pupil of the painter Lorenzo Costa. In Ferrara, he painted the frescoes for the church of San Pietro Martire , though some frescoes preserved...
, p51 - Ludovico MazzolinoLudovico MazzolinoLudovico Mazzolino - also known as Mazzolini da Ferrara, Lodovico Ferraresa, and Il Ferrarese - was an Italian Renaissance painter active in Ferrara and Bologna.-Biography:...
, p54 - Michele Cortellini, p39
- Ercole de' RobertiErcole de' Robertithumb|240px|Portrait of [[Giovanni II Bentivoglio]] . National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.Ercole de' Roberti , also known as Ercole Ferrarese or Ercole da Ferrara, was an Italian artist of the Early Renaissance and the School of Ferrara...
- Lorenzo CostaLorenzo CostaLorenzo Costa was an Italian painter of the Renaissance.-Biography:He was born at Ferrara, but moved to Bologna by the his early twenties, and would be more influential to the Bolognese school of painting. However, many artists worked in both nearby cities, and thus others consider him a product...
, p57 - FrancescoFrancesco da CotignolaFrancesco da Cotignola , also called Zaganelli, was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period, active mainly in Parma, where he was born....
and Bernardino Zaganelli da Cotignola, p58 - Benedetto CodaBenedetto CodaBenedetto Coda was an Italian painter of the Renaissance active in Rimini.Born in Treviso, Vasari claimed that Coda trained with Giovanni Bellini. He stayed for a brief period in Ferrara and settled in Rimini in the last decade of the 15th century...
, p59 - Boccaccio BoccaccinoBoccaccio BoccaccinoBoccaccio Boccaccino was a painter of the early Italian Renaissance, belonging to the Emilian school. He is profiled in Vasari's Le Vite delle più eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori .He was born in Ferrara and studied there, probably under Domenico Panetti...
- Domenico PanettiDomenico PanettiDomenico Panetti was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period, active mainly in Ferrara. Among his early pupils was Garofalo. He painted a Deposition from the Cross for the church of San Niccolo and a Visitation for San Francesco....
, p61 - Giovanni Battista Benvenuti (also called L'Ortolano Ferrarese) (1490-1525)
16th century
- Nicolo Pisano
- Dosso DossiDosso DossiDosso Dossi , real name Giovanni di Niccolò de Luteri, was an Italian Renaissance painter who belonged to the Ferrara School of Painting.-Biography:Dossi was born in San Giovanni del Dosso a village in the province of Mantua...
, p62 - Giovanni Battista Dossi
- Girolamo da CarpiGirolamo da CarpiGirolamo Da Carpi was an Italian painter and decorator who worked at the Court of the House of Este in Ferrara. He began painting in Ferrara, by report apprenticing to Benvenuto Tisi ; but by age 20, he had moved to Bologna, and is considered a figure of Early Renaissance painting of the local...
- Benvenuto Tisi (il Garofalo), p73
- Ludovico MazzolinoLudovico MazzolinoLudovico Mazzolino - also known as Mazzolini da Ferrara, Lodovico Ferraresa, and Il Ferrarese - was an Italian Renaissance painter active in Ferrara and Bologna.-Biography:...
- Sigismondo Scarsella, p124
- ScarsellinoScarsellinoScarsellino or Ippolito Scarsella , was an Italian Late-Renaissance - Mannerist painter of the School of Ferrara. He was born and died in Ferrara; however, he traveled and worked extensively across Italy, encountering many influences. He was born to an artist father, the less-talented Sigismondo...
(Ippolito Scarsella), p125 - Costanzo Cattanio
- Giovanni Francesco SurchiGiovanni Francesco SurchiGiovanni Francesco Surchi was an Italian painter of the late-Renaissance period, active in Ferrara. He was also calle il Dielai....
- Camillo Ricci, p135
- Domenico Mona, p121
- Sebastiano Filippi (Bastianino)Sebastiano Filippi (Bastianino)Sebastiano Filippi was an Italian late Renaissance - Mannerist painter of the School of Ferrara.-Biography:He was born in Lendinara to a painter, Camillo Filippi, who had worked under Dosso Dossi....
- Gaspare VenturiniGaspare VenturiniGaspare Venturini was an Italian painter.-Biography:Venturini was trained in the school of Ferrarese Mannerism together with Bastarolo and Scarsellino, his associates together with the Carracci in the decoration of the ceilings of the Palazzo dei Diamanti over the decade between 1580 and 1590...
, p137 - Giovanni Andrea Ghirardoni, p138
- Giovanni Paolo Grazzini, p138
- Jacopo BambiniJacopo BambiniJacopo Bambini was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Ferrara.He trained with Domenico Mona. Along with Giulio Croma , he set up a painter's academy in Ferrara. He painted three altarpieces for the cathedral: a Flight into Egypt, an Annunciation, and a Conversion of St....
, p139 - Giulio CromerGiulio CromerGiulio Cromer or Croma, a pupil of Mona, was born in Silesia before 1570, and died at Ferrara in 1632. In the latter city he painted 'The Preaching of St. Andrew,' for the church dedicated to that saint; also 'The Calling of SS. Peter and Andrew.'...
, p140
17-18th Century
- Carlo BononiCarlo BononiCarlo Bononi was an Italian painter.Born and active mainly in Emilia and Ferrara, and considered to be mainly a painter of the School of Ferrara. He studied painting under Giuseppe Mazzuoli, known as il Bastarolo. Knew Guercino and was eulogized by Guido Reni as having a "bounty of a most honest...
(also active in Bologna and Mantua), p141 - Alfonso RivarolaAlfonso RivarolaAlfonso Rivarola was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period, active mainly in Ferrara.He was the pupil of the painter Carlo Bononi. In Ferrara, he painted the Marriage of the Virgin in Santa Maria in Vado. He also painted for a Baptism of St. Agostine for S. Agostino; a Resurrection for the...
, p153 - Giovanni Battista della Torre, p154
- Camillo BerlinghieriCamillo BerlinghieriCamillo Berlinghieri was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Born in Ferrara. He trained with Carlo Bononi. Among his paintings was a Gathering of the Manna in San Niccolo; and an Annunciation for Sant Antonio Abbate in Ferrara. His works are chiefly at Ferrara and at Venice, where he was...
, p155 - Ippolito Caselli, p155
- Francesco NaselliFrancesco NaselliFrancesco Naselli was born at Ferrara, and flourished about the year 1610. When young, he studied the works of the Carracci and Guercino, which he copied with surprising success, but afterwards devoted himself to the manner of his countryman Giuseppe Mazzola. He was employed for several of the...
, p156 - Ercole SartiErcole SartiErcole Sarti was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active in Ferrara.Also called il muto da Ficarola , due to his defect and hometown of Ficarolo, near Rovigo. He initially trained as a pupil of Carlo Bononi. He also painted in Felonica and Salara. In Ficarolo's parish church of St...
, p157 - Giovanni Francesco BarbieriGiovanni Francesco BarbieriGiovanni Francesco Barbieri , best known as Guercino or Il Guercino, was an Italian Baroque painter from the region of Emilia, and active in Rome and Bologna. Guercino is Italian for 'squinter', a nickname that was given to him because he was cross-eyed...
(Guercino) born in CentoCentoCento is a city and comune in the province of Ferrara, part of the region Emilia-Romagna . In Italian "cento" means 100.-History:The name Cento is a reference to the centuriation of the Po Valley...
, p159 - Paolo Antonio Barbieri, p168
- Benedetto Genari the elder, p158
- Cesare Genari, p170
- Giuseppe CalettiGiuseppe CalettiGiuseppe Caletti was an Italian painter and engraver of the Baroque period, active in Ferrara and Cremona. He often painted religious themes in a genre like dress and surroundings, including the theme of Bacchanalia like Titian....
, p170 - Ludovico LanaLudovico LanaLudovico Lana was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, mainly active in Modena, where he died in 1646. He is also known as Lodovico Lana. He was the director of the Accademia Ducale of Modena. He is said to have been born in Codigoro to a Ferrarese merchant, whose family was originally from...
, p172 - Francesco Costanzo CattaneoFrancesco Costanzo CattaneoFrancesco Costanzo Cattaneo was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, born and mainly active in Ferrara. He is also known as Costanzo or Costanza Cattanio....
, p172 - Giuseppe BonatiGiuseppe BonatiGiuseppe Bonati was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active in Rome and Ferrara.He is also known as Giovannino del Pio or Giovanni Bonatti. He initially trained as a pupil of Francesco Costanzo Cattaneo and Leonello Bononi. Under the patronage of cardinal Carlo Pio, in 1658 he was sent to...
, p173 - Giuseppe AvanziGiuseppe AvanziGiuseppe Avanzi was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, mainly active in Ferrara.He trained with Cattaneo in Ferrara. He was a prolific painter of religious canvases in his natal city, including for the Certosa of Ferrara and the church of the Madonna della Pieta.-External links:Census of...
, p175 - Orazio and Cesare Mornasi, p175
- Francesco and Antonio Ferrari, p176
- Francesco Scala, p177
- Maurelio ScanaviniMaurelio ScanaviniMaurelio Scanavini was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, mainly active in Ferrara.He trained with Francesco Ferrari in Ferrara, then spent some time in Bologna, where he worked under Carlo Cignani, at a time when Giacomo Parolini was also a pupil. He was a friend of the painter Baruffaldi...
, p178 - Giacomo ParoliniGiacomo ParoliniGiacomo Parolini was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, mainly active in Ferrara.He initially traveled with Giovanni Francesco Viterbi to Turin to study law, but then went to study painting in Turin with Peruzzini Anconitano, who had trained with Simone Cantarini...
, p179 - Giuseppe ZolaGiuseppe ZolaGiuseppe Zola was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, mainly active in Ferrara.He mainly painted landscapes with small figures. Born in Brescia, where he studied with Giuseppe Tortelli. His sister was also a painter.-References:...
, p181 - Giovanni Francesco BraccioliGiovanni Francesco BraccioliGiovanni Francesco Braccioli was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, mainly active in Ferrara.Born in Ferrara, he first trained with Giacomo Parolini, and then with Giuseppe Maria Crespi in Bologna. He painted mainly religious altarpieces in Ferrara. On his return to Ferrara he painted for...
, p182 - Antonio Contri, p183
- Giuseppe GhediniGiuseppe GhediniGiuseppe Ghedini was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, mainly active in Ferrara.Born in Ficarolo, he trained with Giacomo Parolini. He became professor of painting in the university.-References:...
, p183 - Giovanni MontiGiovanni MontiGiovanni Monti was an Italian painter of the late Baroque and Neoclassic periods, mainly active in Ferrara and Rome. Born in Maiano near Fusignano. He was known as a landscape painter and nephew of the poet Vincenzo Monti.-Sources:...
, p184 - Alberto Muchiatti, p184
- Giuseppe Santi, p184
- Giovanni Masi, p185
See also
- Bolognese SchoolBolognese School (painting)The Bolognese School or the School of Bologna of painting flourished in Bologna, the capital of Emilia Romagna, between the 16th and 17th centuries in Italy, and rivalled Florence and Rome as the center of painting. Its most important representatives include the Carracci family, including Ludovico...
- Lucchese SchoolLucchese SchoolThe Lucchese School, also known as the School of Lucca and as the Pisan-Lucchese School, was a school of painting and sculpture that flourished in the 11th and 12th centuries in western and southern Tuscany with an important center in Volterra. The art is mostly anonymous...
- Florentine SchoolFlorentine SchoolThe Florentine School refers to artists in, from or influenced by the naturalistic style developed in the 14th century, largely through the efforts of Giotto di Bondone, and in the 15th century the leading school of the world...
- Sienese SchoolSienese SchoolThe Sienese School of painting flourished in Siena, Italy between the 13th and 15th centuries and for a time rivaled Florence, though it was more conservative, being inclined towards the decorative beauty and elegant grace of late Gothic art...