Abstract

The progress of the fine art of the Italian Renaissance is a complex evolutionary process, whose key milestones are represented by outstanding oeuvres of easel and monumental painting. Many of them, especially frescos for large scale mural cycles, were acclaimed during the lifetime of their creators and patrons. For centuries to come, these works of art drew attention of many generations of scholars belonging to various historical schools of thought and representing different trends. The depth of the artist’s creative vision, innovation and a high level of execution — these are the reasons why many of the “key” monuments of the Italian Renaissance have still retained their relevance in modern art history. This article presents the history of the study and perception of one of these historiographic phenomena. The analysis of almost any aspect of the art and culture of the Renaissance Ferrara involves discussing the mural decoration of the Hall of the Months of the Palazzo Schifanoia (1469–1470). This monument of the Ferrara school of painting was the starting point for a number of trends in history and art history studies. At the same time, the perception of the ensemble of the Hall of the Months changed over the centuries depending on various factors – the political situation, the change in the stages of development of academic thought and the evolution of the methodology of art history. The analysis of the attribution process of frescoes permits one not only to reconstruct the development of art history in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries, but also to comprehend the life of the Ferrarese scholarly community at that time. In the 20th century, the murals of the Palazzo Schifanoia were decisively proclaimed paramount works of the Early Renaissance art. Continuous attempts to interpret the astrological motifs of the decoration of the Hall of the Months entailed the birth of iconology, a new trend in modern art history. Studying the modern historiography devoted to the decoration of the Hall of the Months delineates current trends in the study of the art of Ferrara. The article also provides archival data that shed light on the dramatic history of the palace itself, which is associated with the names of many prominent representatives of the d’Este dynasty.