The Court Artist in Seventeenth-Century Italy

Up to now the theme of the artist in the service of Italian courts has been examined in various studies focused mostly on the High Renaissance, as though the phenomenon was relevant only to the XV and XVI centuries. It actually lasted much longer, spanning the whole longue durée of the lives of the courts of the ancient regime.
The present volume intends to fill this gap, presenting for the first time a comprehensive examination of the subject of the court artist from sixteenth to seventeenth century and the transformations of this role. “Court artist” is here defined as one who received a regular salary, and was therefore attached to the court by a more or less exclusive service relationship. The book is divided in six chapters: each of them examines the position of the court artist in the service of the most important ruling families in Italy (the Savoy in Turin, the Gonzaga in Mantua, the Este in Modena, the Della Rovere in Pesaro and Urbino, the Medici in Florence) and in papal Rome, a particular and unique center of power.

• Preface by Marcello Fantoni
• Elena Fumagalli and Raffaella Morselli, Introduction
• Patrizia Cavazzini, Painters vs. Architects at the Papal Court (1550-1672)
• Raffaella Morselli, In the Service of Francesco Maria II della Rovere
in Pesaro and Urbino (1549-1631)
• Elena Fumagalli, On the Medici Payroll: at Court
from Cosimo I to Ferdinando II (1540-1670)
• Barbara Ghelfi, A bolletta and fuori bolletta at the Este Court
in Modena (1598-1709)
• Roberta Piccinelli, The Position of Artists at the Gonzaga Court (1587-1707)
• Anna Maria Bava and Clara Goria, Artists Working for the House of Savoy
in the Seventeenth Century
• Index of names (p. 237)

• Elena Fumagalli

• Raffaella Morselli

• Barbara Ghelfi

• Roberta Piccinelli

• Marcello Fantoni

• Patrizia Cavazzini

• Anna Maria Bava

• Clara Goria

• Copertina ad alta risoluzione