The Pinacotecta Nazionale () is an art gallery in

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. It is located on the ''

piano nobile The ''piano nobile'' (Italian for "noble floor" or "noble level", also sometimes referred to by the corresponding French term, ''bel étage'') is the principal floor of a palazzo. This floor contains the main reception and bedrooms of the hou ...

'' (or first floor) of the Palazzo dei Diamanti, a work of Renaissance architecture by

Biagio Rossetti Biagio Rossetti ( 1447 – 1516) was an Italian architect and urbanist from Ferrara. A military engineer since 1483, and the ducal architect of Ercole I d'Este, in 1492 Rossetti was assigned the project of enlarging the city of Ferrara. Ross ...

, commissioned by Leonello d’Este in 1447. Not to be confused with the Civic Museum on the lower floor, which has hosted temporary exhibitions of contemporary art since 1992, the Pinacoteca houses a collection of paintings by the

Ferrarese School A Ferrarese is a citizen of Ferrara, Italy. It may also refer to: People * Adriana Ferrarese del Bene (c. 1755–after 1804), Italian operatic soprano * Don Ferrarese (born 1929), former Major League Baseball pitcher * Enrique Ferrarese (1882–19 ...

dating from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries. It was founded in 1836 by the Municipality of Ferrara after

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's widespread dissolution of churches threatened the protection of important public artworks. The gallery is formed as much around notable northern Italian painters as it is around the exquisite interior decoration of the palace itself, together with remnants of frescoes from local churches and later acquisitions from the Sacrati Strozzi collection. Since 2015 the Pinacoteca Nazionale has formed a part of the Gallerie Estensi, a network of museums sharing Ferrara's cultural heritage with that of

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

and Sassuolo.

Exhibits

The Pinacoteca tells the history of the House of Este from that family's promotion as dukes of Ferrara in 1296 to its forced relocation to Modena in 1598. The gallery contains an impressive range of Italian works spanning the reigns of the dukes Leonello,

Borso Borso or Borsò is an Italian given name and surname. Notable people with the name include: * Borso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara (1413-1471), Italian duke, first Duke of Modena, commissioned the Borso d'Este Bible * János Borsó (b. 1953), retired H ...

, Ercole I, Alfonso I and

Alfonso II d'Este Alfonso II d'Este (24 November 1533 – 27 October 1597) was Duke of Ferrara from 1559 to 1597. He was a member of the House of Este. Biography He was the elder son of Ercole II d'Este and Renée de France, the daughter of Louis XII of France an ...

. Arranged chronologically, the exhibition begins with a room dedicated to late

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

sculpture, fresco and panel painting, progressing through to the early Renaissance, the

sixteenth century The 16th century begins with the Julian year 1501 ( MDI) and ends with either the Julian or the Gregorian year 1600 ( MDC) (depending on the reckoning used; the Gregorian calendar introduced a lapse of 10 days in October 1582). The 16th centur ...

Mannerism Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, ...

and lastly to the early seventeenth century, before Cesare I lost Ferrara to the Papal States. Highlights of the tour include the ''Hall of Honour'', the sixteenth-century apartments of Virginia de' Medici (the roundels for these, early products of the Carracci workshop, can be seen in Modena's Galleria Estense) and a room dedicated to the step-by-step process of creating a

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

, panel or oil painting, complementing Cennino Cennini’s ''Il Libro dell’arte.''

Gallery

File:2 Stefano di Sant'Agnese, Santo sacerdote (Sant'Apollinare ) Pinacoteca Nazionale, Ferrara.jpg, Attributed to Stefano Veneziano, ''Saint Apollinaire'' (14th century) File:Gentile da fabriano, Madonna with Child, ferrara.jpg, Gentile da Fabriano, ''Madonna and Child'' () File:Pinacoteca Nazionale 3.jpg, Master of Casa Pendaglia, ''The Crucifixion with Saints Jerome and Stephen'' () File:Studiolo di belfiore, urania di angelo maccagnino e collaboratori di cosmè tura.jpg,

Angelo Maccagnino Angelo Maccagnino, also known as Angelo da Siena (active 1447 – 1456), was an Italian Renaissance painter. He was from Siena but became a pupil of Rogier van der Weyden and from 1447 court painter to Leonello d'Este, Marquis of Ferrar ...

with Cosimo Tura,''The Muse Urania'' (1447–1456) File:Cosmè tura giudizio di san maurelio.png, Cosimo Tura, ''Judgement of Saint Maurelio'', Cosimo Tura (second half of the 15th century) File:Pinacoteca Nazionale fresco of Saint Sebastian.jpg, Ferrarese School, ''Saint Sebastian'' (second half of the 15th century) File:1462 Mantegna Christus mit der Seele Mariens Pinacoteca Nazionale Ferrera anagoria.jpg, Andrea Mantegna, ''Christ with the Animula of the Virgin'' (1462) File:Dosso, sapiente con compasso e globo (pinacoteca nazionale di ferrara) 01.JPG, Dosso Dossi, ''Expert with Compass and Globe'' () File:Garofalo Noli me tangere Pinacoteca Ferrara.jpg, Il Garofalo, ''Noli Me Tangere'' () File:Pinacoteca Nazionale 6.jpg, Dosso Dossi and Il Garofalo, ''Virgin Enthroned with Saints'' () File:Bastianino Assunta Pinacoteca Nazionale Ferrara.JPG,

Sebastiano Filippi Sebastiano Filippi (or Bastianino; ca. 1536 – 23 August 1602) 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. ...

(Bastianino), ''The Assumption of the Virgin'' (second half of the 16th century) File:Bastianino Bacco Cassa Risparmio Ferrara.jpg, Sebastiano Filippi, ''Allegory with Bacchus''

Collection

*''Deposition from the Cross'' by Bastarolo (Giuseppe Mazzuoli) *''Allegory with Bacchus; The Virgin and Child, St. Lucy and St. Matthew''; ''Circumcision'' by

Bastianino Sebastiano Filippi (or Bastianino; ca. 1536 – 23 August 1602) 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. ...

*''Adoration of the Magi predella'' by Jacopo and

Giovanni Bellini Giovanni Bellini (; c. 1430 – 26 November 1516) was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. He was raised in the household of Jacopo Bellini, formerly thought to have been his father ...

*''Wedding at Cana; Guardian Angel'' by

Carlo Bononi Carlo Bononi (1569? - 1632) was an Italian painter. From an 1876 book: ''Giulio Cromer, Carlo Bononi a pupil of Bastaruolo, and Alfonso Rivarola or Chenda, were the last artists of any eminence in Ferrara.'' Page 175 Biography Born and active ...

*''Death of the Virgin'' by Vittore Carpaccio *''The Dream of the Virgin'' by

Simone dei Crocifissi Simone di Filippo Benvenuti, known as Simone dei Crocifissi or Simone da Bologna (about 1330 - 1399), was an Italian painter. Born and died in Bologna, he painted many religious panel paintings, and also frescoes in the churches of Santo Stefano ...

*Two works from a liberal arts cycle by Dosso Dossi *''Vision of St. John the Evangelist'' by Battista Dossi *''Madonna and Child'' by Gentile de Fabriano *''Annunciation'' by

Vicino da Ferrara Vicino da Ferrara (1432–1509) was an Italian painter of the 15th-16th century. He is suspected to be identical to Baldassare d'Este from Reggio Emilia, also known as Baldassare da Reggio. References Gallery File:Borso d'Este.jpg, Portra ...

*''St. John the Baptist'' by the Master of Figline *''Madonna of the Clouds; Massacre of the Innocents'' by Il Garofalo *''Adoration of the Shepherds'' by Gaetano Gandolfi *''Christ on the Cross'' attributed to Guariento *''The Martyrdom of St. Maurilius'' by Guercino *''Head of St John the Baptist'' by Giovanni Francsco Maineri *''Christ with the Animula of the Virgin'' by Andrea Mantegna *''Nativity with St. Bernard and St. Alberic'' by

Ludovico Mazzolino Ludovico Mazzolino (1480 – c. 1528) - also known as Mazzolini da Ferrara, Lodovico Ferraresa, and Il Ferrarese - was an Italian Renaissance painter active in Ferrara and Bologna. Biography He was born and died in Ferrara. He appears to have ...

*''Flight to Egypt; Agony in the Garden; Deposition'' by Ortolano (Giovan Battista Benvenuti) *''St. Louis of Toulouse; Saint Bernardine of Siena'' by Michele Pannonio *''St. Sebastian, St. Joseph, St. Job and Worshippers from the Mori family''; ''Death of the Virgin'' by

Nicolò Pisano Nicola Pisano (also called ''Niccolò Pisano'', ''Nicola de Apulia'' or ''Nicola Pisanus''; c. 1220/1225 – c. 1284) was an Italian sculptor whose work is noted for its classical Roman sculptural style. Pisano is sometimes considered to be the ...

*''Italian Capriccio with River Haven'' by Hubert Robert *''St. Petronius'' by Ercole de' Roberti *''Noli me tangere; Wedding at Cana'' by

Scarsellino Scarsellino or Ippolito Scarsella (1550 (or 1551) – 28 October 1620) was an Italian mid-to-late sixteenth century reformist painter and one of the most important representatives of the School of Ferrara. His landscapes of both sacred and secu ...

*''The Triumph of Saint Augustine'' fresco attributed to Serafino de' Serafini *''The Trial and Martyrdom of St. Maurelius'' by

Cosmè Tura Cosmê Tura (c. 1430 – 1495), also known as Il Cosmè or Cosimo Tura (), was an Italian early-Renaissance (or Quattrocento) painter and considered one of the founders of the School of Ferrara (Painting), School of Ferrara. Biography Formati ...

*''Virgin and Child'' by Master of the Wide Eyes '' The Costabili Polyptych'' by Il Garofalo and Dosso Dossi The

Muses In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the p ...

Erato In Greek mythology, Erato (; grc, Ἐρατώ) is one of the Greek Muses, which were inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. The name would mean "desired" or "lovely", if derived from the same root as Eros, as Apollonius o ...

'' and '' Urania'' from Leonello d’Este's Studiolo of Belfiore Frescoes from the 14th and early 15th century such as ''Scenes from the life of St. John the Evangelist'' and ''Virtues and Vices.''

Bibliography

* Giovanni Fei, ''Municipal Art Gallery of Ferrara: catalogue of the paintings that make up the Municipal Art Gallery of Ferrara – expanded with historical and bibliographical information for Giovanni Fei, Artist and Public Pinacotecario'', Ferrara, typography of the Eridano, 1878, non-existent ISBN. * Jadranka Bettini (ed.) ''La Pinacoteca Nazionale di Ferrara. General catalogue,'' Bologna, Nuova Alfa editorial, 1992, . * Sonia Cavicchioli, ''In the centuries of magnificence. Clients and interior decoration in Emilia in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries.'' Argelato, Bologna, Minerva, 2008, pp. 105–125, . * Marcello Toffanello, ''Ferrara, The Renaissance City and the Po delta,'' Rome, Instituto Poligrafico and Zecca dello Stato, 2005, pp. 102–106, . .

Estense Lapidary Museum The Estense Lapidary Museum is a lapidarium-museum in Modena, Italy, located around the interior quadrangle of the ''Palazzo dei Musei's'' ground floor. It is owned by the province of Modena and the Gallerie Estensi. As the first public museum t ...

* Ducal Palace of Sassuolo * Gallerie Estensi

References

Other projects