Herculean Ferrara
Ercole d'Este (1471–1505) and the Invention of a Ducal Capital

An illustrated account of the life and work of a leading patron of the Italian Renaissance.

Thomas Tuohy (Author)

9780521522632, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 8 August 2002

568 pages, 60 b/w illus.
23.4 x 19.4 x 3 cm, 1 kg

' … imaginative, sensibly organised and well presented.' The Court Historian

Ercole d'Este (1471–1505) is perhaps best known as the father of Isabella d'Este, marchioness of Mantua, but his court in Ferrara was one of the most glittering in Renaissance Italy. He was an extremely prolific builder and laid out plans which doubled the size of the city. He was also the leader in the revival of classical theatre, an enthusiastic patron of musicians, and a creator of magnificent court spectacles. Very little survives to testify to Ercole's achievements, largely on account of a devastating earthquake in 1570, but considerable archival evidence has been used to re-establish the duke's achievements and the extent to which he was personally involved in his patronage. This evidence runs contrary to many currently held assumptions, and although Herculean Ferrara deals with one court and one ruler it also challenges some of the basic notions about the relationship between artist and patron during the Renaissance.

Acknowledgements
List of illustrations
Preface
1. The d'Este of Ferrara
2. The Estense inheritance
3. The ducal palace
4. The ducal capital
5. Court errant: the itinerant court
6. Princely piety
7. The decoration and furnishing of palaces
8. The ephemera of magnificence
9. As the duke commands
Gazetteer
Plans and genealogical table
Abbreviations and the currency of Ferrara
Sources
Inventory of registers of the camera ducale
Bibliography
Appendices.

Subject Areas: Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD]