A major exhibition celebrating the extraordinary artistic flowering at the 15th-century court of Borso d'Este, lord and duke of Ferrara, has opened at the city s Palazzo dei Diamanti.
Over 150 religious and court paintings, sculptures, manuscripts, drawings, medals, jewellery and fabrics are on display illustrating the explosion of cultural activity during Borso's rule between 1450 and 1471.
Although his reign was relatively peaceful and economically prosperous, Borso was also known for his exorbitant spending, superstitious reliance on astrology, and vanity.
"He never appears in public without being adorned with jewellery," Pope Pius II said of him.
The flurry of artistic works Borso commissioned to help further his personal and political ambitions confirmed the city's reputation as one of the Italian Renaissance capitals, with home-grown talents Cosme' Tura and Francesco Del Cossa the leading lights of the School of Ferrara.
"In the space of just a few years, these artists invented a fanciful and expressive style, profane and ornate, sometimes even furious, that became the peculiar marker of 15th-century art in Ferrara," said curator Mauro Natale.
The works on show here have been loaned by 70 public and private institutions worldwide, including the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the British Museum in London.
The show opens by looking at the brief but intense period of Borso's predecessor Lionello D'Este (from 1441 to 1450) who steered the course towards the inspired and sophisticated patronage which characterised the Ferrara court.
The leading painters of the age - Andrea Mantegna, Pisanello, Piero della Francesca, Jacopo Bellini and Flemish artist Rogier van der Weyden - worked for the court.
Lionello also commissioned humanist genius Leon Battista Alberti to write the treatise De Re Aedificatoria which was fundamental in restoring the language of classical architecture which shaped Renaissance churches and palazzi.
Borso's famous Bible, decorated by Taddeo Crivelli in deep pinks and royal purples, is not exhibited because of its fragility, but other exquisite illuminated manuscripts by Crivelli, Giorgio d'Alemagna and Guglielmo Giraldi give a taste of the miniatu e tradition at the court.
Among the paintings on show are Hungarian artist Michele Pannonio's doleful "Crucifixion" (1450-55), on display to the public for the first time, and "The Burial of Christ" (1450-55) by van der Weyden, whose naturalistic style greatly influenced the School of Ferrara.
Works by court painter Cosme' Tura collected here illustrate a unique style both decorative and expressive, and include the masterpieces "St George" (1460-65) and "Madonna with Child in a Garden" (1455).
The softer, more fluid approach of Tura's rival, Francesco del Cossa, who spent time studying in Florence, can be seen in "Madonna with Child and Angels" (1455-70) and his later "Portrait of a Man" (1472-73).
SCHIFANOIA PLEASURE PALACE RE-OPENS AFTER 10-YR RESTORATION.
However, the highlight of the exhibition is at the 14th-century pleasure palace Palazzo Schifanoia, where one of the most important frescoes of the Italian Renaissance has been unveiled after ten years of restoration work.
Borso commissioned the decoration of the Salone dei Mesi (1470-1471) as a collective effort from the city's painters including Del Cossa and Ercole de' Roberti ahead of his investiture as Duke of Ferrara by Pope Paul II in 1471.
The fresco originally covered the walls of the room completely with a cycle portraying the months of the year in three horizontal layers: pagan gods at the top of the fresco, signs of the zodiac in the middle and the seasonal activities of Borso and his court at the bottom.
Only seven of the 12 months have survived, and due to the mineralization of an oil that had been applied to protect the fresco, Del Cossa's March, April and May had been turning yellow. The restoration team was able to develop a special gel to remove the oil and reveal a vital blue sky that allows the zodiac signs to shine out as the artist intended.
Cosme' Tura and Francesco del Cossa. The Art of Ferrara in the Age of Borso d'Este runs at the Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara until 6 January.
