Monthly pictures in the Palazzo Schifanoia
The monthly pictures in the Palazzo Schifanoia in Ferrara are a cycle of frescoes with which the salone dei mesi in the Palazzo Schifanoia , a pleasure palace of the Estonians on the outskirts of Ferrara, was painted between 1469 and 1470. The performing artists were the court artists employed by the Estonians , who are grouped under the name of the School of Ferrara . The client was Borso d'Este . Of the former twelve monthly pictures , only seven are completely or partially preserved.
The client
The frescoes were commissioned by the then Duke of Ferrara, Borso d'Este , one of Niccolò III's illegitimate sons. He had succeeded his half-brother Leonello in 1450 , because after his death he was able to assert himself against another half-brother and legitimate son of Niccolò, the only 19-year-old Ercole. On May 18, 1452 his fiefdom (Reggio and Modena) was granted by the German Emperor Friedrich III. been confirmed. In 1452 he had been awarded the title Duke of Reggio and Modena. He received the title Duke of Ferrara from the Pope in 1471. Since he is said to have been very popular with the people because of his supposedly wise and just conduct of office, his buon governo - if the propaganda spread by the court is to be believed, one could consider his rule as consolidated at the time. A solemn investiture by the Pope, planned for the year 1470, should only have served his ennoblement and the confirmation of his rightful rule from the highest authority. On the occasion of the Pope's visit, the palace's salone was completely frescoed in a surprisingly short period of time. The artists who worked at the court were involved, especially Cosmè Tura , Francesco del Cossa and Ercole de 'Roberti .
The monthly pictures room
The hall is 24 meters long, eleven meters wide and 7.50 meters high. Originally it was accessible through a door on the north side, which was reached via an external staircase, so that the visitor's gaze first fell on the no longer preserved monthly pictures of January and February, the beginning months of the annual cycle. The following months followed counterclockwise. Today the enlarged entrance is on the west side, so that the view against the reading direction of the cycle falls on the pictures March, April, May.
Late 16th century, after the Este had lost interest in the palace and on the account of the loss of Ferrara Papal States by Modena had moved, palace and were salone new uses supplied. In the living room a cigarette factory was set up, later a granary, the damaged part images have been painted in the sequence. The frescoes were discovered by chance in the early 19th century. Between 1820 and 1840 the overpainting was carefully removed and the pictures restored as far as possible. However, it was only possible to partially save seven of the twelve monthly pictures, the rest are destroyed forever. One can only speculate about the content of the lost images.
The image program
In the Schifanoia cycle frescoes, various themes that played a role in medieval and early modern art history are interwoven into a complex texture that is difficult to interpret.
The praise of the rulers with the representation of certain historical persons and events, which was common in the interior of castles and palaces up to the early modern era , is linked with motifs from the monthly pictures of medieval calendars , namely motifs from the repertoire of monthly works are incorporated with relationships to cosmic and astrological ideas , like the zodiac , the monthly regent, and the deans . The reference to the art of the Renaissance can finally be seen in the appearance of the ancient planet gods, with the usual accompanying staff and the accompanying props, such as triumphal chariot or for example the forge with the products of the blacksmithing of Hephaestus etc.
The court astrologist of the Estonians, Pellegrino Prisciani , is generally assumed to be the inventor of this learned image program . As Aby Warburg has shown in his essay on the Palazzo Schifanoia, Pellegrino was able to draw on ancient astrology books recently rediscovered by the humanists .
The painters of the frescoes
The room of the monthly pictures was painted in an astonishingly short time by the employees of the Officina Ferrarese , the school of Ferrara , so called by Roberto Longhi . Research generally accepts Cosmè Tura as responsible for the overall artistic concept and execution . However, only the participation of Tura's pupil Francesco del Cossa is certain , who complained in a letter to Borso that he was paid less than the other painters for his three pictures. The third painter involved is believed to be Ercole de 'Roberti , who was only 20 at the time .
The monthly pictures
Each month picture is divided into three registers . The top register shows the planet god or monthly regent of the month in question on a triumphal chariot . He is accompanied by his planet children . The astrologers of the Middle Ages and the early modern period understood planet children to belong to those professions that were assigned to a certain planet or that were practiced particularly frequently by those who were born in a certain zodiac sign.
March
Monthly regent of March is Minerva , the Roman goddess of wisdom, who also took on the features of the Greek Pallas Athene in the course of late antiquity and the Middle Ages . Like Athena, she wears the breastplate, the Aigis with the Gorgon head , and she holds the lance in her hand. She is enthroned on a wagon hung with a saddle pad and pulled by two white horses. The judges, scholars and doctors are gathered on the left to represent their planet children. On the other side of the triumphal chariot, a group of women are working on small and large looms, accompanied by a crowd of elegantly dressed women. According to Greek mythology, Athena taught the men the art of carpentry and shipbuilding, and the women owe the art of weaving to her.
The middle register shows Aries as the zodiac sign of the month, accompanied by the three monthly deans .
The lower register shows typical activities for March , following the pattern of the monthly pictures : The duke rides out to hunt with a hunting party and his dogs, while the farmers devote themselves to pruning the vines.
April
The monthly regent of April is Venus , the goddess of love. On the fresco she is enthroned on a triumphal chariot that functions as a boat and is pulled by a pair of swans across a river rippled by gentle waves. Mars , the god of war , kneels at her feet and is still armed with a helmet, armor and shield in the reddish colors of the planet. The God conquered by love is chained to the goddess with a chain. Venus is wreathed with white and red roses and dressed in elegant robes, as is Venus on Botticelli's famous Primavera . Amor, the constant companion of the goddess of love, does not appear in person on the fresco, but only as an image on the belt of Venus: he aims at a couple with a bow and arrow. The three Graces , who pose in their typical reigen formation on the left side of Venus, are among the preferred companions of Venus . They embody happiness, blooming happiness and splendor ( splendor ). As planet children there are only young people making music, chatting or caressing each other. A whole flock of white rabbits hops between them, symbols of lust, physical love and fertility.
The middle register shows Taurus , the second sign of the zodiac. He is accompanied by the three monthly deans, whose meaning and iconographic origin have not yet been fully interpreted.
In the lower field, cut into the original doorway of the hall, a hunting party returns from the falcon hunt, in another scene the duke and his entourage, among whom the court jester Scocola is, are shown in front of the gate of the palace. In a scene in the background the annual Palio Ferraras takes place, where the horses carry reins but are unsaddled. From the height of the palace balconies, the ladies of the court enjoy the wild horse race.
May
In May the sun enters the zodiac sign of Gemini: Therefore, according to Marcus Manilius Phoebus Apollo is the monthly regent of May. Apollo is the god of light and spring, and he can bring illness and sudden death to people. He is the god of shepherds because, according to Greek mythology, he once gave Admet's cows - whose stables he had to clean as part of a paternal punishment - because of Admet's friendliness, with nothing but twin births.
On the fresco, Apollo is enthroned on a pedestal-like pedestal. The golden blonde hair adorned with a golden crown surround his head like a halo. In his right hand he holds a solar disk or the sun ball, in his left his attribute, the bow with which he shoots his disease and death arrows. In front of him crouches a female deity who could possibly be identified by the object that she is holding on to with both hands. The triumphal chariot is pulled by a team of four horses, just like Apollo's sun chariot is pulled by horses. Apollo's messengers are the hawks. They were assigned to the sun god Horus in Egyptian mythology . In the fresco, four of them are sitting on a pole.
The nine young women on his left, one of whom plays the lute, allude to his nickname Musagetes , the leader of the muses. In the background of the Muses, next to the Muses' Fountain Hippocrene, stands the winged Pegasus , who once made the fountain on the dance floor of the Muses on the Helikon mountain bubble with his hoofbeat .
Apollo, who spoke to the people in the oracle at Delphi through the mouth of Pythia , is also the god of magic and prophecy. His planetary children therefore include the seers, sages, magicians, and perhaps also the astrologers, who are gathered on the right side of the triumphal chariot. The host of putti on the opposite side, which strikingly always appear in pairs, are perhaps also Apollo's planet children as twins, who himself had a twin sister in Artemis .
The following zone shows the usual three month deans with companions as well as the constellation of Gemini as two boys lying stretched out on their stomachs, holding hands.
June
Monthly regent of June is the versatile messenger of the gods Mercury , god of roads and traffic, shepherds, thieves and merchants, oratory, science and magic and finally the psychopompos , the companion of souls in the realm of the dead. His snake staff is the herald's sign of the messenger of the gods, with its help he can give people sleep and dreams.
In the monthly picture, Mercury, whose face and upper body have been completely destroyed, is enthroned on a chariot pulled by two black eagles. In the theory of the elements, the eagles represent the volatility of the element air, which is assigned to Mercury. He is holding the caduceus in his left hand and a stringed instrument in his right. Mercury is considered to be the inventor of the lyre , which he made from the shell of a turtle.
The triumphal chariot is surrounded by its planet children: two groups of scholars are engrossed in eager conversation, two men are busy changing money and a group of buyers is standing in front of a shop. The cows graze in the pasture in the background. On the floor lies the dead, hundred-eyed Argus , the brother of Io , whom Mercury put to sleep with his flute in the course of one of Zeus' love affairs. On the opposite side, three courtly dressed men play the flute: The flute is also one of the attributes of Mercury.
The adjoining image zone shows the monthly deans, the zodiac sign of June, Cancer, as a magnificent red lobster. The lower zone has not been preserved.
July
The monthly regent of July is Jupiter , the highest of the Roman gods and father of countless other gods and demigods. On the triumphal chariot drawn by two lions, he is enthroned back to back with the goddess Cybele , whose chariot is usually pulled by lions in triumphant representations. As Manilius writes in his Astronomica , Cybele, together with Jupiter, dominates the constellation of Leo, the month sign of July. Cybele is one of the goddesses of fertility, accordingly young married couples belong to the planet children, represented on the fresco by a scene of the marriage in the company of young, fashionably dressed people. On the right is a group of clerics whose iconographic meaning has not yet been clarified, as are the groups of begging monks or the lonely sleeper depicted in the upper register of the depiction of triumph on the other side.
The following zone shows the three decans of the month in addition to the zodiac sign Leo. The handwriting of Cosmè Tura, to whom this fresco is ascribed, can clearly be seen on the deans, especially on the robes crumpled with stiff folds. As Longhi aptly describes, his robes look like chased iron .
The lower zone is also not preserved.
August
Monthly regent of August is Ceres , the Roman goddess of agriculture, harvest, marriage and death. She is enthroned on a triumphal chariot drawn by two dragon-like mythical beasts, on which several winged erotes stand. Usually in iconography triumphal chariots of Cybele , an oriental earth and mother goddess, are drawn by dragons. In her raised right hand she is holding a bundle of young grain plants. The left hand points to a group of dancing young girls and another of two young men who are discussing with three older men: Perhaps an indication of the initiation of marriage and Ceres' function as the patroness of marriage. Representing their planet children, the farmers engaged in agricultural activities are shown on the right.
As a tiny scene in the background you can see a rural cart on which two people are sitting: It is possible that the robbery of Persephone by Hades , the god of the underworld, is represented here.
Ceres is dressed according to the Burgundian fashion of the 15th century with a brown long-sleeved undergarment and a light, white upper garment without sleeves. She wears a Burgundian horned bonnet as headgear .
The middle zone shows the sign of the month, Virgo. Of the three monthly deans, the first female dean varies the pose of the Ceres. In her raised right hand she is holding a bundle of grain, in her left hand she is holding a scratched capsule of opium poppy , her long wheat-blonde hair corresponds to the iconography customary for Ceres.
The lowest zone, in turn, has not been preserved. Farinelli attributes the August fresco to Ercole de Roberti.
September
The monthly regent of September is Vulcanus , the god of fire and lightning, who is equated with the Greek Hephaestus , the limping son of Hera and the most artful of the twelve Olympian gods. The triumphal chariot, on which a row of monkeys crouch, is pulled by two monkeys. The monkeys who nourished the god after the fall of Hephaestus from Olympus to the island of Lemnos are among the attributes of god. However, a female figure is enthroned on top of the cart, one foot resting on a ball. The painter is possibly alluding to a cult of Vulcanus and Maia Volcani, a goddess of plant growth associated with the god of fire, which was particularly widespread in Rome and who had a common festival in Rome.
Shield with the Capitoline Wolf
Capitoline she-wolf , 5th century BC Chr./15. Century, Rome
Another allusion to Rome is the mirror or the mirror-like shield, which is hung on the cave of Hephaestus and which shows the Capitoline Wolf with Romulus and Remus . In the cave itself, Hephaestus and three Cyclops are at work. On the other side of the car, another episode from his life is told: Venus , the god's wife, is closely entwined with Mars, the god of war . In front of the bed are the arms and armor of the god and the dress of the goddess. The following zone shows the three deans with their companions and the zodiac sign of the month, Libra.
literature
- Aby Warburg : Italian art and international astrology in the Palazzo Schifanoja in Ferrara. [Rome 1912/1922]. In: Aby M. Warburg: Selected writings and appreciations. Edited by Dieter Wuttke. 2nd improved and bibliographically supplemented edition. Koerner, Baden-Baden 1980, ISBN 3-87320-400-2 , pp. 173-198 ( Saecula Spiritalia . 1).
- Roberto Longhi : Officina Ferrarese. 1934. Seguita dagli ampliamenti 1940 e dai nuovi ampliamenti 1940-55. Ristampa. Sansoni, Florence 1956, p. 86 ( Edizione delle opere complete di Roberto Longhi . 5).
- Marco Bertozzi: La tirannia degli astri. Gli affreschi astrologici di Palazzo Schifanoia. Sillabe, Livorno 1999, ISBN 88-86392-78-8 .
- Dieter Blume: Regents of Heaven. Astrological images in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-05-003249-9 ( Studies from Warburg House 3).
- Peter Bell: Regent Under Heaven. The Sala dei Mesi of the Palazzo Schifanoia in Ferrara as a model of an astrological worldview (pdf; 3.64 MB) In: Billion, Philipp (Ed.): Weltbilder im Mittelalter. Perceptions of the world in the Middle Ages. Bonn 2009, pp. 1–27, ISBN 978-3-93943119-0
Web links
- Commentary on the frescoes, Italian
- Scheme RAI Italica
- Illustrations
- Farinella, V .: 15 lessons on the art of northern Italy in the 15th century, especially Mantua and Ferrara, 2004, summary, Italian ( MS Word ; 143 kB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Farinella 2004. Lesson 10
- ↑ Jupiter cum matre deum regis ipse leonem , further evidence can be found in Ovid's fasti [IV, 215-18], according to which Cybele tamed wildness as her chariot proves. Manilius and Ovid cited from Tervarent 1997, p. 111.
- ↑ Roberto Longhi: Short but True History of Italian Painting. Cologne 1996. p. 155.
- ↑ Guy de Tervarent: Attributes et symboles dans l'art profane. Genève 1997. p. 410