The School of Ferrara was a group of painters which flourished in the Duchy of Ferrara during the Renaissance. Ferrara was ruled by the Este family, well known for its patronage of the arts. Patronage was extended with the ascent of Ercole d’Este I in 1470, and the family continued in power till Alfonso II, Ercole’s great-grandson, died without an heir in 1597. The duchy was then occupied in succession by Papal and Austrian forces. The school evolved styles of painting that were appeared to blend influences from Mantua, Venice, Lombardy, Bologna, and Florence.

The first important painter of Ferrara was COSIMO TURA, who can be considered as the founder of the school of Ferrara His most important followers were Francesco del Cossa and Ercole de’ Roberti, although they both produced some of their most important work in Bologna, as did Lorenzo Costa (i) Lodovico Mazzolino specialized in highly detailed, small-scale paintings, but the influence of manuscript illumination was characteristic of the early Ferrarese school, and even large paintings were very detailed Influenced by Ercole I’s penitential mood, Ferrarese art at the end of the 15th century suffered a fallow period, represented by the bleak images of Michele di Luca dei Coltellini, Gian Francesco de’ Maineri, and Domenico Panetti (1460–1512)

The ties to Bolognese School were particularly strong Much of the local collections, like those of the Gonzaga family in Mantua, were dispersed with the end of the Este line in 1598 Especially in the late 15th century Ferrara was also a main centre of engraving in Italy The most famous prints it produced are the two sets traditionally, if inaccurately, known as the Mantegna Tarocchi, each by an unidentified master A list of painters of the School of Ferrara, with the page for the title entry in Camillo Laderchi’s 1856 artist biography, includes:

The Ferrara school was a pictorial school that was born at the court in Ferrara in the Renaissance of Ferrara School style changed over time, exporting and influencing artists from neighboring cities and regions: Mantua, Venice, Lombardy, Florence and Bologna The Estense court hosted some of the most important artists of the first half of the fifteenth century, such as Pisanello, Jacopo Bellini, Leon Battista Alberti, Andrea Mantegna, Piero della Francesca and Rogier van der Weyden who laid the foundation for the Ferrara school The true founder of the Ferrara school is considered Cosmè Tura, while his last representative is considered Carlo Bononi

Many of the works of the artists of the school were dispersed with the end of the Estonian Ladyship in Ferrara (1598)

History
The birth of the Ferrara school, with its special language, full of allegories, occurred under the Marquis of Ferrara Leonello d’Este and his son Borso d’Este, who ordered the design of their residences with paintings and frescoes of very unusual, allegorical content and not intended for everyone to see. The first known such order was the cycle of 9 allegorical paintings depicting nine muses for the studio studios of Belfort, begun by Angelo McCanigno from Siena in 1447 and completed by Cosimo Tour, in the paintings of which all the most important features of the Ferrara school were fully revealed. The frescoes of the Palazzo Skifanoya, commissioned by Borso d’Este, offer an even more complex iconography.in 1469–1471, with Cosimo Tura, Francesco Cossa and Ercole dei Roberti, and representing a complex allegorical and astrological ensemble for a plot of 12 months, the interpretation of which still attracts researchers. Tura also painted the chapel of the magnificent country palace of the duke Borso (Belriguardo). Cosimo Tura worked a lot on the decoration of the churches of Ferrara, unfortunately, badly damaged in the XVII-XVIII centuries. The most famous is the polyptych of Roverell (Italian: Polittico Roverella), ordered by the Bishop of Ferrara Lörnzo Roverella for the oldest church of Ferrara – San Giorgio-fuor-le-Moore (Italian. Basilica di San Giorgio fuori le mura), badly damaged in 1709; parts of it went to various museums in the middle. XIX century. Of the works of the Tour for theFerrara Cathedral, 2 paintings are preserved – of sv. Georia and the princess and the Annunciation, written on the wings of the organ (ordered in 1456 and paid for in 1469).

Nicolás III de Este (1393-1441) and his three sons, Leonello (1441-1450), Borso (1450-1471), and Ercole I (1471-1505), expanded the political and artistic importance of the city, giving work to a growing population of artisans. The patronage was increased with Hercules I of Este, and continued until the death without heirs of Alfonso II of Este in 1597, moment in which the Duchy of Ferrara was annexed by the Papal States, thanks to the military support of the Hispano-Austrian Habsburgs.

From the end of the 14th century until 1440 an elegant and refined art was developed in Ferrara, but superficial and affected, like the one that triumphed throughout Europe, known as international Gothic. His last representatives in northern Italy, Pisanello and Jacopo Bellini, entered the service of the East in Ferrara in that decade of 1440.

The new Renaissance style appears between Padua and Venice with the arrival of Tuscan artists, such as Andrea del Castagno (1422), Paolo Uccello (1423-31 and 1445), Filippo Lippi (1434) and above all Donatello (1443), whose stay in ten years in Padua had an impact throughout the region. Andrea Mantegna, at the beginning of his career in Padua, was one of the first artists of northern Italy to express himself with the conventions of modern style. At the end of the 1450s, Ferrara reinforced his artistic ties with Padua by hosting Mantegna, as well as the flamenco Roger van der Weyden, who made a scale of his trip through Italy in the city. The Ferrarese painters of the second half of the 15th century: Cosmè Tura, Francesco del Cossa and Ercole Ferrarese (also called Ercole de ‘Roberti) found their own style, with no equivalent in the other Italian art centers. Their bodies and emaciated faces are characteristic and the ecstatic and painful expressions, which extreme models of Bellini or Mantegna.

His style will evolve over time, incorporating influences from neighboring foci: Mantua, Venice, Lombardy, Florence and especially Bologna. The ties with the Bolognese school were particularly close. Many of the local collections, such as those of the Gonzaga family, rulers of Mantua, were dispersed with the end of Este’s house in 1598.

Among their contemporaries, the pupil of Tour Lorenzo Costa gained fame; the Bologna artists Francesco Francia and Amiko Aspertini experienced the obvious influence of the Ferrara school. The most famous joint work of these masters is the frescoes of the church of San Giacomo Maggiore in Bologna. Making his specialty large furnishing paintings, Ferrara painters worked on the neighboring centers of Emilia (before Bologna).

Ercole dei Grandi (d. 1531) associated the elders with the later generation of the school, it is best represented by Ludovico Mazzolino (Italian: Ludovico Mazzolino; 1481-1529). Timoteo Viti (1467–1523), Dosso Dossi (1479–1542), Benvenuto Tisi and Garofalo (1481–1559) were students of one of the first, but developed under the influence coming from outside. Viti took a lot from Giorgione and Titian in the field of color and was fond of scenes from the poetry of Ariosto. Dossi, having been in Rome, learned a lot from Raphael. Ferrara artists of the second floor. XVI century. and early. XVII century. degenerated into “mannerists” – imitators of Correggio and others.

Especially at the end of the 15th century, Ferrara was one of the main centers of engraving throughout Italy. The most famous engravings were the two series traditionally known as Mantegna Tarocchi, although they can not be attributed to Mantegna, but each one of them to an unidentified teacher.

Main representatives

Before the second half of the fifteenth century
Gelasio di Nicolò
Galasso Galassi
Cristoforo da Ferrara
Antonio Alberto

Second half of the 15th century
Cosmè Tura (1430? – 1495)
Francesco del Cossa (Ferrara, v. 1436- Bologna, 1477/1478)
Ercole de ‘Roberti (1451 circa – 1496)
Lorenzo Costa (Ferrara, 1460 – Mantua, March 5, 1535)
Boccaccio Boccaccino
Domenico Panetti
Giovanni Battista Benvenuti (also known as l’Ortolano Ferrarese) (1490-1525)
Ercole Grandi
Ludovico Mazzolino
Michele Coltellini
Bono da Ferrara (Ferrara 1442 – 1461)

16th century
Dosso Dossi (1490-1542) and Battista Dossi (after 1490-1548)
Girolamo da Carpi
Benvenuto Tisi da Garofalo, known as Il Garofalo (Ferrara, 1481 – Ferrara, September 6, 1559)
Ludovico Mazzolino (1480 circa – 1530 circa)
Sigismondo Scarsella
Ippolito Scarsella, known as Scarsellino
Carlo Bononi also active in Bologna and Mantua (1569 – 1632)
Sebastiano Filippi known as Bastianino (1532 circa – 1602)
Camillo Ricci
Domenico Mona
Gaspare Venturini
Giovanni Andrea Ghirardoni
Giovanni Paolo Grazzini
Jacopo Bambini
Giulio Cromer

Seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
Carlo Bononi (also active in Bologna and Mantua)
Alfonso Rivarola
Giovanni Battista della Torre
Camillo Berlinghieri
Ippolito Caselli
Francesco Naselli
Ercole Sarti
Giovan Francesco Barbieri, known as il Guerchin or Guercino (1591-1666)
Paolo Antonio Barbieri
Benedetto Gennari the Elder
Cesare Gennari
Giuseppe Caletti
Ludovico Lana
Francesco Costanzo Cattaneo
Giuseppe Bonati
Giuseppe Avanzi
Orazio e Cesare Mornasi
Francesco Ferrari and Antonio Ferrari
Francesco Scala
Maurelio Scanavini
Giacomo Parolini
Giuseppe Zola
Giovanni Francesco Braccioli
Antonio Contri
Giuseppe Ghedini
Giovanni Monti
Alberto Muchiatti
Giuseppe Santi
Giovanni Masi

Source from Wikipedia