The Raphael of Ferrara
The inauguration of the Castello Estense in Ferrara as the Italian outstation of the Hermitage is being marked by the first exhibition devoted to Garofalo, reviewed by Peter Humfrey.
Castello Estense, Sunday, 22nd June 2008
Garofalo, unlike Dosso, seems not to have been particularly favoured by Duke Alfonso, and much of his careeer was spent providing religious works for the churches of Ferrara and outlying towns. But his fortunes at court clearly improved with the accession of Ercole II in 1534, and several of his later works, including a virtually unpublished Allegory of Ercole d’Este (Fig. 1), show a new preciosity of figure style, complemented by enamelled surfaces and a frigid colour scheme, obviously influenced by the work of Giulio at the neighbouring court of Mantua. Scarcely less refined, and probably similarly reflecting the tastes of an aristocratic collector, is the jewel-like Christ and the Adulteress from Budapest, generally agreed to be a late work, but demonstrating an astonishing minuteness of handling for a painter about to succumb to blindness.
Peter Humfrey is Professor of Art History at the University of St Andrews.
‘Garofalo: Pittore della Ferrara Estense’, Castello Estense, Ferrara. 5 April -6 July (+39 [0] 49 2010089). Catalogue by Tatiana Kustodieva and Mauro Lucco, with Michele Danieli, ISBN 8861306974 (paper), €37 (Skira).
The works illustrating this review are by Garofalo (Benvenuto Tisi), 1481?-1559.
1 Allegory of Ercole d’Este, c. 1535. Oil on canvas, 86 x 116 cm. Collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, Vaduz and Vienna
2 The Wedding Feast at Cana, 1531. Oil on canvas, 306 x 248 cm. State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
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