TheRenaissance in Emilia concerns multiple realities in a dense network of exchanges with all the surrounding areas. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,Emilia was fractioned into several lordships, among whichFerrara of theEste,Bologna of theBentivoglio, andParma of theFarnese became known as art centers.[1][2]
Ferrara made it possible for varied artists to meet at the Este court, fromPisanello toLeon Battista Alberti, fromJacopo Bellini toPiero della Francesca, from the youngAndrea Mantegna to foreigners such asRogier van der Weyden andJean Fouquet.[3] During the era ofBorso d'Este (in power from 1450 to 1471), the multiple artistic influences of the court were transformed into a distinctive style, especially in painting, characterized by linear tension and preciousness combined with expressiveness.[3] The emergence of theSchool of Ferrara can be seen in the decorations of theStudiolo di Belfiore and developed in the frescoes of the Salone di Mesi inPalazzo Schifanoia, where the figures ofCosmè Tura and, later,Francesco del Cossa andErcole de' Roberti emerged.[3][4]
Even in the 16th century, Ferrara was confirmed as a demanding and avant-garde center regarding the arts.Alfonso d'Este was a patron ofRaphael andTitian, while among local artists he brought out Garofalo andDosso Dossi.[2][3]
Bologna'sUniversity, the construction site of theBasilica of San Domenico, and the liberality of the Bentivoglio seigniory attracted humanists, artists, and other personalities, such as the mathematicianLuca Pacioli, who would meetAlbrecht Dürer in the city at the beginning of the 16th century.[3]
Here studied Leon Battista Alberti and, between 1425 and 1434,Jacopo della Quercia left his masterpiece, the Porta Magna of theBasilica of San Petronio. In the 1470s, the Ferrara-bornFrancesco del Cossa and Ercole de' Roberti worked in the city, completing, among other things, the Griffoni Polyptych and the Garganelli Chapel, works that had a particular influence on sculptors.Niccolò dell'Arca, active at theArca di San Domenico, created a Lamentation over the Dead Christ (c. 1464), inspired byBurgundian art, the lastDonatello, and, probably, the Ferrarese frescoes, of which only a few fragments remain today.[3] However, in later sculptural groups byGuido Mazzoni ofModena, the tones are more conciliatory and conventional. In painting, too, after the return of Ercole de' Roberti to Ferrara, local artists relied on the more serene Umbrian-Florentine modes, for example in the work ofFrancesco Francia.[2][3]
In 1494-1495 the young exileMichelangelo stayed in Bologna, where, protected by the noble Giovan FrancescoAldovrandini, he found employment with theDominican Order, for whom he made some statues for the Ark ofSan Domenico, where he anticipated the expressive graveness of some later masterpieces such as theDavid. Recent studies emphasize the importance of this period of residence in the formation of the artist, who studied the ways of representing the restrained energy and expressive variations of Jacopo della Quercia and the Ferrara works, drawing fundamental inspiration from them in the maturation of his own style. Already well established, he returned to Bologna in 1507-1508 to reconcile withPope Julius II and create a bronze sculpture of the blessing pope, which was destroyed during the riots of 1511.[5]
A Bolognese school was not organized until the 16th century when a group of artists worked on the frescoes in the oratory of Santa Cecilia (1504-1506). The young talents included Francesco Francia,Lorenzo Costa, and especiallyAmico Aspertini, author of a personal reinterpretation of Raphael.[2][6][7]
After a dormant 15th century, the new century brought on new figures and influences to Parma, withFilippo Mazzola,Correggio, and Parmigianino.[2][3] The church ofSan Giovanni Evangelista, rebuilt in 1519, was decorated by Correggio and a team of young men who would later become well-known artists.
The career of Correggio was punctuated by three fresco cycles in Parma: theCamera della Badessa in the convent of San Paolo (1518), the decoration in the church of San Giovanni Evangelista (1520-1523), and the dome ofParma Cathedral with theAssumption (1526-1530). In these works, moving further and further away from fifteenth-century spatial rules, he implemented scenographic solutions that laid the groundwork, a century in advance, for Baroque decoration.[3]
Parmigianino, on the other hand, was a more eclectic master, interested from his early years in graphics, optics, and alchemy. This interest shows in works such as theSelf-portrait in a Convex Mirror (1524), with its very particular perceptive rendering. He favored tapered forms, polished and compact fields, and almost glazed color, with a sharp definition of forms, as opposed to the soft Correggio-style luminous intonation.[3]
