Tag: lucrezia borgia

Postcard from Modena, Italy: How Modena ended up with the Estense family art

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A short train ride to Modena helped us tidy up a few of the loose ends lingering from the Machiavellian soap opera of long ago we began unraveling in Ferrara. For us, the main mystery was the art missing from the walls of Ferrara’s castle and palaces.

Surely you remember all the details and intrigue surrounding the Este family of Ferrara from an earlier post, so we’ll just pick up with the ducal reign of Alfonso I (1476-1534), the one who was the final husband of Lucrezia Borgia (1480-1519). Alfonso I continued to remodel the castle in Ferrara, adding expansive wings to reflect his ducal power and building up the family’s art collection.

Following his death, the dukedom passed down to his son Ercole II (1508-1559). Still smarting from the trio of pesky Italian Wars in the first decade or so of the 1500s during which King Louis XII of France wrenched control of parts of Italy, some of the powerful were miffed when Ercole II had married Louis XII’s daughter Renee (1510-1574) in the year 1528. Renee assembled an artistic court around her that the same people regarded as too French-centric.

But Ercole II patched things up with Rome, if not his wife, when he inherited the title of duke from his father in 1534. He expelled the French coterie and pledged his allegiance to the pope. Maintaining the guests had been expensive, and Ercole II preferred to continue to enhance the castle in Ferrara and to accumulate artwork.

Among those to whom Renee turned for comfort was John Calvin (1509-1564), who was quickly assembling a major coalition of enemies in Rome. But Ercole II was so loyal to the papacy, in 1554 he turned his own wife into the Inquisitor for her Protestant tendencies.

(Sorry, we’re still not in Modena yet. But this is complicated.)

When Ercole II died in 1559, their son Alfonso II (1533-1597) assumed the title of Duke of Ferrara. The pope immediately required him to banish his mother Renee to France, where she was able to resume her Protestant friendships. Alfonso II tried and tried through three marriages to produce an Este heir without luck. At the time of his death not even an illegitimate child could be rounded up to follow him.

While the Roman Emperor recognized his cousin Cesare (1561-1628) as his successor, the Vatican did not. In the meantime, Alfonso II’s sister, Lucrezia d’Este (1535-1598) was conspiring with papal powers. Lucrezia had never forgiven her brother for having her lover assassinated to end her scandalous behavior. Cesare d’Este was forced to pack up his court and flee Ferrara. The now pious Lucrezia turned the castle keys over to papal powers.

Instead, Cesare assumed the title of Duke of Modena and Reggio. Most of the Este treasures were spirited away by Cesare and moved with a large contingent of Este family members and hangers-on to Modena. Which solves the mystery of the missing artwork. As you can imagine, some of the Modenese were not pleased with the Ferrarese invasion, but Cesare masterfully managed to consolidate his power.

Construction of the Palazzo Ducale of Modena was begun in 1630, with an older medieval building at its core. While I’m not sure of the square footage, the new Este compound appears both larger and grander than the one left behind in Ferrara.

After Italy finally attained unity in 1861, the ducal art collections were moved to Palazzo dei Musei, formerly a hospice for the poor. The Estense Gallery was opened to the public in 1894.

Artists represented in the collection include Correggio, Tintoretto and Velazquez. Several amazingly ornate instruments indicate the Este family patronized the musical arts as well.

This collage shows the Ducal Palace (featured photo), some items from the museum and random sites in the historic center of Modena, the home of flavorful aged balsamic vinegar.

Postcard from Ferrara, Italy: Machiavellian Times

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The influence and power the Este family exerted in Ferrara clearly was demonstrated when they began construction in 1264 on a palace directly across from the front door of the city’s cathedral. But the palace now serving as city hall proved not grand enough to accommodate the ducal family.

Next door, a castle-like fortress begun in 1100 as a single watchtower was undergoing major expansion to counter continual threats from enemies. The royal court began moving into the larger accommodations afforded by Castello Estense, surrounded by its protective moat, in 1479.

Careers in politics and religion were not peaceful pursuits in those times. Ferrara-born Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498) joined the Dominican order and promoted a puritanical campaign against secular art and culture in Florence, offending many by even trying to reinsert religion into the exuberant pre-Lenten carnival celebrations for which Florence was known. Savonarola railed against the corruption within the church itself, predicting an apocalyptic event such as a biblical flood on the horizon.

Pope Alexander VI (1431-1503), a member of the Borgia family, found Fr. Savonarola’s assertions of corruption offensive and summoned him to Rome. Snubbing the papal invitation proved unwise, and Savonarola found himself excommunicated, shortly before his public hanging.

If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.

Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, 1513

The papacy was different then, and the words above written by Machiavelli (1469-1527) applied to practices embraced by Pope Alexander VI. Casting aside ethics in favor of political expediency, the pope proved himself worthy of serving as the poster child for what we now label Machiavellian behavior and as a master of nepotism.

The pope chose to legitimize illegitimate children born to his favorite mistress prior to his ascension to the papacy. Daughter Lucrezia Borgia (1480-1519) became a political pawn for maneuvers to consolidate power under his authority. Her first marital liaison was deemed not effective enough to achieve her father’s increasing desires for supremacy, so Pope Alexander VI had it annulled on the grounds that it had never been consummated. While the marriage was being annulled, however, Lucrezia was tucked away in a convent where she secretly gave birth.

Following her second marriage, the pope elevated his illegitimate daughter to governor of Spoletto. But having served his usefulness in increasing the Borgias’ power, Lucrezia’s second husband soon was deemed disposable as well. He was murdered mysteriously, possibly by a brother of Lucrezia.

The pope needed to bring the Estes family under his control, so a third marriage was arranged for the beautiful Lucrezia. This marriage to Alfonso d’Este (1474-1534), the duke of Ferrara, proved more long-lasting than her earlier ones. Presumably, Alfonso breathed somewhat easier after the death of his father-in-law in 1503. Lucrezia died soon after giving birth to her tenth child 16 years later.

One could say Savonarola had the last laugh over the descendants of Pope Alexander VI, as his statue is perched predominantly on a plaza between the Este castle and the cathedral. But he does not appear to be smiling; his dour expression seems still to condemn those who are enjoying themselves on the surrounding public plazas.

Covering almost two blocks, the Castello Estense and its moats could be a major impediment to the movement of pedestrians in the heart of modern-day Ferrara. Instead, with its drawbridges down, the castle courtyard proves a convenient passageway for locals continually moving between the city’s Renaissance addition and its medieval quarters.