ART COLLECTIONS AT THE ESTE COURT

THE ESTE FAMILY

In 1264 Obizzo d’Este defeated the rival family of Salinguerra, a powerful family with Ghibeline overtones, and the Este dominated both the political scene of the city and the territory for over three centuries.

This continuity on a political and administrative level made the Este family of Ferrara one of the most renowned and prestigious amongst European courts.

In the first part of the seigniory, in less than 150 years, Ferrara had a surprising urban development and enlarged its ring of defensive walls up to four times its size, large areas of the Po delta were reclaimed, art and culture reached their highlight.

 Nicolò II d'Este definitely confirmed the power of the Family.

 The people of Ferrara exhausted by famine and hunger in 1385 rebelled against the rulers with a bloody revolt so that Nicolò, feeling in danger, ordered the building of the Castle of San Michele designed by Bartolino da Novara

This became the symbol of the despotic power dominating a city definitely subdued. A sign of great political and military strength that repressed any desire to compete against the Este family for the control of the city.

After Nicholò II his brother Alberto held the power for a few years, able to rule  developing a peculiar sensitivity  for  arts and studies. He also founded the University of Ferrara in the year 1391.

Alberto's son, Nicholò III, was endowed with a great political insight that made the State firm and able to face successfully the Italian political scene.

After Nicolò his sons took over, in chronological order: Leonello, Borso and Ercole.

Leonello, enlightened prince in politics and fine art lover, promoted a famous cultural society in which the master humanist Guarino da Verona, Angelo Decembrio and Leon Battista Alberti stood out.

He unceasingly supported the economy, especially through the reclamation of the marshlands of Ferrara, since its territory was mostly swampy and unproductive. He supported the University and its commitment to the arts is related to the famous series of paintings of the Months in the Delizia of Schifanoia and to the extraordinary illuminated manuscript called the Bible of Borso.

Ercole reigned from 1471 to 1505 after a tough battle with his nephew Nicholò, the son of Leonello, who tried to hold onto the power by bringing the revolt into the city of Ferrara in 1476. Eleonora of Aragon, the wife of Ercole, hastily found refuge with her children in the Castle of San Michele. The Duke then was able to put down the rebellion with fierce bloodbath.

During Ercole’s duchy new and important decorative works were carried out in the Castle, both on the external and internal surface, but above all some remarkable  extensions and changes were realized along the route that went from the old building to the rooms near the Tower of the Lions.

To his foresight we owe the great enlargement of the city walls, the so-called Addizione Erculea, that was designed by the great architect Biagio Rossetti and radically changed the look of the city.

Alfonso I succeeded Ercole and took Anna Sforza as first wife and then he remarried Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI.

While he ruled, the duchy had a remarkable development, first of all because of his political choices, such as the war against Venice (1505) and the battles against the army of Pope Giulio II, but also because of his strong commitment to arts and culture, by virtue of which the Este  collections were enriched with some pieces of art then preserved in the famous Golden Camerini that Alfonso  had built above the “Via Coperta”.

In 1534, the year of his death, Alfonso was succeeded by his son Ercole II. His wife, Renee of France, daughter of King Louis XII of France, had a great impact on the Este court and on the local culture; being influenced by her foreign cultural background she was able to break down many barriers, in terms of provincialism, and to broaden the horizons of the court on a diplomatic and cultural level. She also didn’t keep her Calvinist faith secret, indeed she professed and promoted it, even offering John Calvin hospitality in 1536 .

During Ercole II’s duchy carried out many public works, achieved a  fairly good development of the local University and, in general, was able to strengthen  the economy, in spite of the troubled political situation of that era, especially for a medium–sized dukedom like the Este court.

The economic power of the dukedom was also clear from some remarkable enlargement and enhancement works that Ercole ordered to the architect and painter Girolamo da Carpi for the Castle, turning the building into that extraordinary architectural combination of a fairy court palace and a castle that we can still admire nowadays.

Ercole II died in 1559 putting his son Alfonso II in charge of the Duchy.

The three weddings with Lucrezia de Medici, Barbara of Austria and Margherita Gonzaga, were not sufficient to guarantee a male heir entitled to succeed and to deflect the designs that the Pope had.

Alfonso II, in order to avoid a foretold annexation and the decline of his Dukedom, tried several strategies, such as joining the crusade against the Turks or trying in vain to achieve the succession to the throne of Poland; he also took part in battles and dealt with the Pope diplomacy at many levels .

The duchy was economically exhausted by these unsuccessful deeds and by a devastating earthquake that struck the city in 1570.

The castle suffered many structural damages and the duke ordered the restoration and  realized a new interesting decorative series of paintings, that can still be admired in the so called “The Mirror Apartment”.

The death of Alfonso II in 1597, leaving neither an heir nor a successor acknowledged by the Church, forced the Este family to abandon Ferrara and their splendid Castle in 1598, coerced to relocate their headquarters in the neighboring duchy of Modena.