The Italian Renaissance Podcast
The Italian Renaissance Podcast takes you on an exciting journey into fifteenth and sixteenth century Italy, stepping beyond the bounds of general overviews of historical themes of the Renaissance, and diving deeply into interpreting how we understand the period today. Each episode provides an analysis of cultural giants, stories of drama and violence, masterworks of literature, but most importantly, the art.
These discussions are curated for not only the adept history lover, but also the general audience, as an engaging and digestible source of information for those interested in enhancing their own understanding of Western history.
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The Italian Renaissance Podcast
Ep. 62: Este Ferrara - Borso, Ercole, & Alfonso I
We continue our journey through the Este court of Ferrara, moving from Borso’s decoration of the Palazzo Schifanoia to the ambitious reign of Ercole I. We explore his transformation of Ferrara with the Addizione Erculea and the dazzling Palazzo dei Diamanti, before turning to his son Alfonso and the overlooked brilliance of court painter Dosso Dossi. Finally, we trace how Este patronage shaped Renaissance literature through Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, a chivalric epic that fused fantasy, wit, and courtly ideals into one of the great masterpieces of the age, one that enabled further crosscurrents between the visual and written world.
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Works Discussed:
Palazzo Schifanoia Frescos: https://youtu.be/20FIWIDxEbg?si=_-6t4Iba48X0ozuK
Palazzo dei Diamanti: https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/r/rossett/diamant.html
Dosso Dossi
Portrait of Alfonso I, ca. 1534, https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Battista_Dossi,_ritratto_di_Alfonso_I_d%27Este_-_Modena.jpg
Triumph of Bacchus, ca. 1514: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dosso_dossi,_trionfo_di_bacco,_00,1.jpg
Apollo and Daphne, ca 1525: https://youtube.com/shorts/P3o367FdT_c?si=mwY2Z-7Rr0T2Pmyc
Circe/Melissa, ca 1524: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissa_(Dossi)
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