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Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara

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Alfonso d'Este
Duke of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio
Alfonso by Titian; Alfonso leans on a cannon, holding his sword
Born	21 July 1476 Subiaco, Italy
Died	31 October 1534 (aged 58) Ferrara
Noble family	Este
Spouse(s)	Anna SforzaLucrezia BorgiaLaura Dianti
Issue Ercole II, Duke of Ferrara Cardinal Ippolito Alessandro Leonora Francesco, Marquis of Massalombarda Isabella Maria Alfonso (illegitimate, father of Cesare d'Este)
Father	Ercole I d'Este
Mother	Eleanor of Naples

Alfonso d'Este (21 July 1476 – 31 October 1534) was Duke of Ferrara from 1505 to 1534. He became the third duke of Ferrara on his father's death in January 1505, and he ruled throughout the duration of the Italian Wars. Despite the negative reputation he was given as a youth, Alfonso was well renowned for the ways in which he maintained Ferrara despite the constant threats and domestic issues the country faced. His newfound reputation earned him two self portraits created by Titian, one of which was very well known and later gifted to Charles the V.

Contents

• 1UnderHisRule
• 2EarlyYears
• 3Marriages
• 4Art
• 4FutureGenerations
• 5Ancestors
• 6See also
• 7References
• 8Bibliography
• 9External links

Under His Rule

The first years of his rule were particularly difficult as Ferrara was faced with many domestic problems including famines and outbreaks of the plague. In addition, On November 14th 1506, he uncovered a plot by his brother Ferrante and half-brother Giulio d'Este, directed against him and his other brother Ippolito. In September 1506 a trial for lèse majesté and high treason was held and, as expected, the death sentence was passed. The assistants of Ferrante and Giulio were put to the death, but just as Ferrante and Giulio were about to mount the gallows they were informed that the duke had commuted their sentence to life imprisonment.

In the Italian Wars Alfonso preserved his precarious position among the contending powers by flexibility and vigilance and the unrivalled fortifications of Ferrara; he entered the League of Cambrai against Venice and remained an ally of Louis XII of France even after Pope Julius II had made peace with Venice; when the Bolognesi rebelled against Julius and toppled Michelangelo's bronze statue of the Pope from above the gate, Alfonso received the shards and recast them as a cannon named La Giulia, which he set on the ramparts of the castello: in 1510 Julius excommunicated him and declared his fiefs forfeit, thereby adding Ferrara to the Papal States; Alfonso then fought successfully against the Venetian and Papal armies, gaining the Battle of Polesella, capturing Bologna, and playing a major part in the French victory at the Battle of Ravenna (1512). These successes were based on Ferrara's artillery, produced in his own foundry, which was the best of its time.

In 1526–1527 Alfonso participated in the expedition of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperorand king of Spain, against Pope Clement VII, and in 1530 the pope again recognized him as possessor of the forfeited duchies of Modena and Reggio.

Early Years

Alfonso was the son of Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara and Eleanor of Naples. Alfonso's childhood was very similar to that of the other young nobles and princes of his time. He was raised under a humanistic based education, and with the training necessary to be a condottiere. As a youth, Alfonso enjoyed many activities including horse racing and jousting. However, he was particularly known to be a wild child. Stories of him carousing with other young nobles, running naked through the streets, and visiting prostitutes soiled the opinion that early biographers had of him. They characterized him as unrefined and rude. Despite these beliefs, Alfonso was always present and civilized when it came to his diplomatic duties from a very early age. He was always seen accompanying his father on political missions and university sermons, or giving speeches when his father was unable to do so.

Marriages[edit]

In January 1491, Alfonso was married to Anna Sforza, the niece of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. In the same ceremony, Ludovico was married to Alfonso's younger sister, Beatrice d'Este, in a double wedding orchestrated by Leonardo da Vinci.

Politically, the wedding was designed to cement ties between the two families. Anna Sforza's death, on 30 November 1497, marked the end of those ties, as Beatrice d'Este had died in January of that same year.

Alfonso later remarried, to Lucrezia Borgia, in 1502.

After Lucrezia's death on 24 June 1519, he married Laura Dianti by whom he had an illegitimate son, Alfonso d'Este (later legitimized).

Art[edit]

Aeneas and Achates on the Libyan shore, painted by Dosso Dossi for Alfonso's camerino d'alabastro (National Gallery of Art, Washington).

Like his brother Ippolito I, Cardinal d'Este, he was one of the great patrons of art of his time: for him the elderly Giovanni Bellini painted The Feast of the Gods in 1514, Bellini's last completed painting. He turned to Bellini's pupil, Titian, for a sequence of paintings. In 1529 Alfonso created the most magnificent gallery of his time, his studiolo or camerino d'alabastro ("small alabaster room"), now usually known as his "Camerino", in order to better display his works of art against white marble-veneered walls under a gilded ceiling. The pallor of the marble led to the name of this room as the chamber of alabaster. There are documents from Mario Equicola on 9 October 1511, noting plans for painting of a room in Ferrara, in which six fables (fabule) or histories (istorie) shall be placed. I have already found them and have presented them in writing." A letter from Alfonso, dated 14 November 1514, authorized payment to Giovanni Bellini, the first painting completed for the chamber.

Titian is known to have painted two portraits of Alfonso: the first was widely acclaimed, singled out by Michelangelo and coerced as a diplomatic gift by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor; Alfonso induced Titian to paint a free replica, which the artist of the painting illustrated above has adapted for his model. In both of his portraits by Titian, (Compare illustration above) he poses with his arm across the mouth of one of his cannon. Titian's portraits of Alfonso were meant to symbolize his resiliency despite the constant threats he faced as Duke of Ferrara. The portraits of Alfonso were typically paired with Biblical verses, horseback, and other symbols of heroism. Alfonso wished for his people to see him as a Christian prince and a war hero, and often requested these additions be added to his portraits. The first portrait that Titian made of Alfonso is now located in the Metropolitan Museum of New York.

Over the next two decades, Titian added three more paintings: The Worship of Venus (Museo del Prado, Madrid), The Bacchanal of the Andrians (Prado, Madrid), and Bacchus and Ariadne (National Gallery, London). Dosso Dossi produced another large bacchanal, and he also contributed ceiling decorations and a painted frieze for the cornice, depicting scenes from the Aeneid, which gained immediacy by showing the heroes in contemporary dress (illustration, left). All the bacchanals in the Alabaster Chamber dealt with love, and some refer to marriage. After the Este family lost control of Ferrara in 1598, the Alabaster Chamber's paintings and sculpture were dispersed.

Alfonso inherited from Cardinal d'Este the poet Ariosto. Following in the lead of his father Ercole, who had made Ferrara into one of the musical centers of Europe, Alfonso brought some of the most famous musicians of the time to his court to work as composers, instrumentalists and singers. Musicians from northern Europe who worked at Ferrara during his reign included Antoine Brumel and Adrian Willaert, the latter of whom was to become the founder of the Venetian School, something which could not have happened without Alfonso's patronage.

Future Generations[edit]

When Alfonso's grandson Alfonso II d'Este—Robert Browning's duke of "My Last Duchess"—produced no male heir, the main d'Este line died out. A grandson of Alfonso I and cousin of Alfonso II, Cesare d'Este had been born out of wedlock. He was recognized by the Emperor but not by the Pope, who took the Duchy of Ferrara by force. Nevertheless, the House of Este continued in Modena and Reggio.

Ancestors[edit]

16. Obizzo III d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara

8. Alberto d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara

17. Lippa Ariosti

4. Niccolò III d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara

18. Alberto Albaresani

9. Isotta Albaresani

2. Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara

20. Frederick II, Marquis of Saluzzo

10. Thomas III, Marquis of Saluzzo

21. Beatrice of Geneva

5. Ricciarda, Marquise of Saluzzo

22. Hugh II, Count of Roncy

11. Marguerite de Pierrepont

23. Blanche de Coucy-Montmirail

1. Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara

24. Ferdinand I of Aragon

12. Alfonso V of Aragon

25. Eleanor of Alburquerque

6. Ferdinand I of Naples

13. Giraldona Carlino

3. Eleanor of Naples

14. Tristan, Count of Copertino

7. Isabella of Clermont

30. Raimondo Orsini del Balzo, Prince of Taranto

15. Caterina del Balzo Orsini

31. Mary of Enghien