The School of Ferrara was a group of painters which flourished in the Duchy of Ferrara during the Renaissance. Ferrara was ruled by the Este family, well known for its patronage of the arts. Patronage was extended with the ascent of Ercole d'Este I in 1470, and the family continued in power till Alfonso II, Ercole's great-grandson, died without an heir in 1597. The duchy was then occupied in succession by Papal and Austrian forces. The school evolved styles of painting that appeared to blend influences from Mantua, Venice, Lombardy, Bologna, and Florence.
The ties to Bolognese School were particularly strong. Much of the local collections, like those of the Gonzaga family in Mantua, were dispersed with the end of the Este line in 1598. Especially in the late 15th century Ferrara was also a main centre of engraving in Italy. The most famous prints it produced are the two sets traditionally, if inaccurately, known as the Mantegna Tarocchi, each by an unidentified master. A list of painters of the School of Ferrara, with the page for the title entry in Camillo Laderchi's 1856 artist biography, includes:
14th century and before Gelasio di Nicoló, p20 Cristoforo da Bologna, p28 Antonio Alberti, p29
15th century Galasso Galassi Cosimo Tura, p30 Francesco Cossa, p32 Bono da Ferrara, p33 Stefano da Ferrara, p37 Baldassare Estense, p38 Antonio Aleotti, p39 Ercole Grandi, p51 Ludovico Mazzolino, p54 Michele Cortellini, p39 Ercole de' Roberti Lorenzo Costa, p57 Francesco and Bernardino Zaganelli da Cotignola, p58 Benedetto Coda, p59 Boccaccio Boccaccino Domenico Panetti, p61 Giovanni Battista Benvenuti (also called L'Ortolano Ferrarese) (1490–1525) Taddeo Crivelli
16th century Nicolo Pisano Dosso Dossi, p62 Giovanni Battista Dossi Girolamo da Carpi, p105 Niccolò Roselli, p109 Benvenuto Tisi (il Garofalo), p73 Ludovico Mazzolino Sigismondo Scarsella, p124 Scarsellino (Ippolito Scarsella), p125 Costanzo Cattanio Giovanni Francesco Surchi Camillo Ricci, p135 Domenico Mona, p121 Sebastiano Filippi (Bastianino) Gaspare Venturini, p137 Giovanni Andrea Ghirardoni, p138 Giovanni Paolo Grazzini, p138 Jacopo Bambini, p139 Giulio Cromer, p140
17th–18th centuries Carlo Bononi (also active in Bologna and Mantua), p141 Alfonso Rivarola, p153 Giovanni Battista della Torre, p154 Camillo Berlinghieri, p155 Ippolito Caselli, p155 Francesco Naselli, p156 Ercole Sarti, p157 Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Guercino) born in Cento, p159 Paolo Antonio Barbieri, p168 Benedetto Genari the elder, p158 Cesare Genari, p170 Giuseppe Caletti, p170 Ludovico Lana, p172 Francesco Costanzo Cattaneo, p172 Giuseppe Bonati, p173 Giuseppe Avanzi, p175 Orazio and Cesare Mornasi, p175 Francesco and Antonio Ferrari, p176 Francesco Scala, p177 Maurelio Scanavini, p178 Giacomo Parolini, p179 Giuseppe Zola, p181 Giovanni Francesco Braccioli, p182 Antonio Contri, p183 Giuseppe Ghedini, p183 Giovanni Monti, p184 Alberto Muchiatti, p184 Giuseppe Santi, p184 Giovanni Masi, p185
See also Lucchese School Florentine painting Sienese School Renaissance in Emilia
References
External links
Dosso Dossi: Court Painter in Renaissance Ferrara, a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Census of Ferrarese Paintings and Drawings Italian Paintings: North Italian School, a collection catalog containing information on a variety of Ferrara artists.