Daria Churkina
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
The Ferrarese School of painting was first determined as a peculiar phenomenon in the late 19th — early 20th century thanks to the Italian art historian Adolfo Venturi.
The art of three main masters active at the court of the Este family: Cosme’ Tura, Francesco del Cossa and Ercole de’ Roberti was on the scholar agenda in the early stages of studying the art of 15th century. Modern historiography also studies the sources of their art and their reciprocal influence. However, the very concept of “school of painting” always comprises the existence of some cultural and artistic environment and also the presence of a large number of artists of different talent and fame. In this regard, a complete study of the early Renaissance in Ferrara is impossible without paying attention to the work of several anonymous artists.
On the basis of the unusual stylistic features assigned to their works, these artists have received in the Italian literature conventional names “Maestro dagli occhi spalancati” and “Maestro dagli occhi ammicanti”, which remind the Morellian terminology and method of attribution. Their contribution to the formation of the Ferrarese painting is proved by the fact of their participation in the decoration of the Hall of Months in the Schifanoia Palace, the most important pictorial cycle of the 2nd half of the 15th century. Also, several works of easel painting, located mainly in Ferrara collections, are attributed to them.
These artists show the same stylistical peculiarity, which is special to all the Ferrarese painters of the 15th century. Their works have the same trends and traditions of the Ferrara court art, that’s why we explore both easel and monumental painting, and the book illumitation. With the methods of iconographic and stylistic analysis, we put the works of anonymous artists in the general context of the Ferrarese painting.