Il Cinquecento a Ferrara: quattro maestri in mostra a Palazzo dei Diamanti

A monumental exhibition titled 'Il Cinquecento a Ferrara' at Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara, Italy, reexamines the city's 16th-century artistic golden age through the works of four painters: Ludovico Mazzolino, Giovanni Battista Benvenuti (Ortolano), Benvenuto Tisi (Garofalo), and Giovanni Luteri (Dosso). The show opens with the death of Ercole de' Roberti in 1496 and the succession of Alfonso I d'Este in 1505, a period when Lorenzo Costa was still active. It closes with the deaths of Alfonso I (1534) and other key figures. Mazzolino's early masterpiece 'Adoration of the Magi' (Avignon) reveals influences from Giorgione and Dürer. Ortolano, about whom little is known, demonstrates a naturalistic style enriched by Raphael and Dosso. Garofalo, called 'Raffaello de' ferraresi' in the 18th century, synthesized Venetian and central Italian innovations. Dosso, friend of Alfonso I, created works like 'Zuffa', the portrait of Niccolò Leoniceno, and 'Giove pittore di farfalle', and his final painting depicts Ercole II in heroic nudity triumphing over pigmy enemies. The exhibition is part of the broader project 'Rinascimento a Ferrara 1471-1598: da Borso ad Alfonso II d'Este'.