Collecting in the countryside’s residences: pictures and display outside the Ferrara’s walls

Abstract

The paper aims to investigate a phenomenon few studied in the quite recent research field of private collecting in Ferrara, that is the display of artistic collections reserved for suburban house. While in the big palaces of the city we find documented a rich collection with specific characteristics, especially series of portraits mainly of Este dukes or of others noble families member’s with representation function, in the residences of the countryside it is possible to find a specific category of paintings, although it is not always possible to describe it as the unitary and cohesive organism of a modern gallery. Starting from a widespread dichotomy, well-established in the context of Ferrara thanks to the emulation of the Estense model, between city palace and the “villa” outside the walls, we can note a very different artistic fruition and a peculiar material culture. From the series of “belle” to the widespread series of Sibyls in their dedicated rooms, the extra-urban house of the Ferrarese country qualifies themselves as places set up especially for the most assiduous female presence and for cultivate the main passions of local nobility including music and theater spectacle.