Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The article focuses on the problem of the possible sources of artistic inspiration and semantics for the so-called “diamond-cut” rustication of Palazzo Diamanti in Ferrara (Biagio Rossetti and North Italian artists, 1493 – beg. 16th century ca.). Firstly, the analysis of the series of supposed prototypes leads to the conclusion that the very idea of the Diamanti palace rustication could have been Florentine in its origin; its “cut” shape refers not only to one of the renown “imprese” of the Este, but also to the “diamond-cut” decoration of Palazzo Sanseverino in Naples, among others; while its colour turns out to be purely “Venetian”. The Venetian aspect is particularly investigated respecting M. Torboli’s standpoint concerning Palazzo Estense (Fondaco dei Turchi) on Canale Grande, with its special role in the problem (2010). It turns out that the Este family owned at least two palaces with “diamond-cut” rustication, set aside pictorial “diamonds” on the facades. Secondly, the comparison of the Diamanti and Corner (Ca del Duca) palaces rustication in the context of Venetian (namely, Corner) interests in the Eastern Mediterranean region and Aegean Sea (Duchy of Archipelago) has also been proposed. The contradictions of the war between Venice and Ferrara (1482–1484) and the period of a new “eastern threat” (revived in 1453) make such a comparison highlight traces of inner contest in such similarities as the strongly articulated chivalric connotation of the “diamond-cut” ashlars (traditional for the Este, new for the Corner) and the affinity with the Aegean post-Byzantine area (mythological and political for the Este, mainly commercial for the Corner).
DOI: 10.18688/aa2414-4-25
Author: Оксана Сергеевна Смаголь
Institution: Lomonosov Moscow State University
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4408216464