he
Council of Ferrara is organising an exhibition that will reconstruct
the character of one of the most famous and talked about women
of the Renaissance who, more than anyone else, has aroused the
interest and curiousity of a vast public. It is not by chance
that many novels, poems, theatre productions and films have been
dedicated to her both in Italy and abroad demonstrating a popularity
that has lasted, uninterrupted, for centuries.
Lucrezia's years in Ferrara (1502 to 1519) were the most intense
of her brief life. In 1505, her husband Alfonso succeeded his
father Ercole and became Duke of Ferrara. Some of the most famous
literary personalities at that time gathered around the young
bride including Pietro Bembo, Ludovico Ariosto and Giangiorgio
Trissino. In "Orlando Furioso" Ariosto writes about
Lucrezia, her virtue and her beauty while Bembo, who was in love
with her, dedicated his most famous work to her, the dialogue
of love entitled "Gli Asolani".
Through art work and documents of exceptional value from both
Italian and foreign museums, libraries and archives, the exhibition
will illustrate the real and literary images that her time and
the following centuries had of this extraordinary woman who even
today still manages to arouse contrasting visions in our imagination.
The splendid female portraits produced by the most refined painters
working at the Estense court evoke the image of the beautiful
Duchess. Other exceptional paintings call to mind the father,
Pope Borgia, the brother Cesare, Duke Ercole and his son Alfonso
and other characters who played a fundamental role in her life
such as Ariosto and Trissino. Reliefs, medals, miniated manuscripts,
manuscript letters and other texts complete the picture of the
grand and refined court in Ferrara in which Lucrezia was a protagonist
during the first 20 years of the 1500s.
Ferrara Palazzo Bonacossi
5 ottobre - 15 dicembre 2002
Aperto tutti i giorni, feriali e festivi, lunedì incluso:
dalle 9.00 alle 19.00
Call
Center Mostre e Musei tel. 0039 0532 209 988
Mostre a Ferrara
