Podcasts · The Italian Renaissance Podcast
Ep. 62: Este Ferrara - Borso, Ercole, & Alfonso I
· 26 min · S5 E62
Episode Ep. 62: Este Ferrara - Borso, Ercole, & Alfonso I
We continue our journey through the Este court of Ferrara, moving from Borso’s decoration of the Palazzo Schifanoia to the ambitious reign of Ercole I. We explore his transformation of Ferrara with the Addizione Erculea and the dazzling Palazzo dei Diamanti, before turning to his son Alfonso and the overlooked brilliance of court painter Dosso Dossi. Finally, we trace how Este patronage shaped Renaissance literature through Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, a chivalric epic that fused fantasy, wit, and courtly ideals into one of the great masterpieces of the age, one that enabled further crosscurrents between the visual and written world.
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Works Discussed:
Palazzo Schifanoia Frescos: https://youtu.be/20FIWIDxEbg?si=_-6t4Iba48X0ozuK
Palazzo dei Diamanti: https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/r/rossett/diamant.html
Dosso Dossi
Portrait of Alfonso I, ca. 1534, https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Battista_Dossi,_ritratto_di_Alfonso_I_d%27Este_-_Modena.jpg
Triumph of Bacchus, ca. 1514: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dosso_dossi,_trionfo_di_bacco,_00,1.jpg
Apollo and Daphne, ca 1525: https://youtube.com/shorts/P3o367FdT_c?si=mwY2Z-7Rr0T2Pmyc
Circe/Melissa, ca 1524: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissa_(Dossi)
The Florentine Renaissance Course
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