This paper makes a few considerations about the Sala dei Mesi (the ‘Hall of the Months’) in the Palazzo Schifanoia through such disciplines as drawing, architectural surveying and archaeo-astronomic surveying. At the Court of Ferrara, under the rule of Leonello, Borso and Ercole i, astronomy and astrology played an extremely important role, as it happened in other Italian Renaissance Courts. Expertise in such areas of Ferrara’s culture was largely boosted by the reviews, mostly iconographic ones, conducted on such famous cycle. Warburg’s fruitful pioneering research was the first to prove that the painting cycle was clearly underpinned by a theme of astrological history: the one Manilius’ Astronomicon, Albumasar’s Introductorium in astronomiam and the Medieval and Renaissance magical tradition of the Picatrix belong to. Such theme gives pride of place to constellations, to their mythical images, their visual representation and the imaginary suggestions exuded by them. Conversely, while acknowledging its empirical character, Ptolemy’s astrology relies on strictly mathematical methods. Ptolemy’s zodiac is a round crown, a geometrical shape, not the physical reality of the constellation circle. The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationships between measurements, architectural space, cosmological and astrological views, in the Sala dei Mesi in the Palazzo Schifanoia.
Misura del cielo e misura dello spazio nella Sala dei mesi di Schifanoia
INCERTI, Manuela
2013
Abstract
This paper makes a few considerations about the Sala dei Mesi (the ‘Hall of the Months’) in the Palazzo Schifanoia through such disciplines as drawing, architectural surveying and archaeo-astronomic surveying. At the Court of Ferrara, under the rule of Leonello, Borso and Ercole i, astronomy and astrology played an extremely important role, as it happened in other Italian Renaissance Courts. Expertise in such areas of Ferrara’s culture was largely boosted by the reviews, mostly iconographic ones, conducted on such famous cycle. Warburg’s fruitful pioneering research was the first to prove that the painting cycle was clearly underpinned by a theme of astrological history: the one Manilius’ Astronomicon, Albumasar’s Introductorium in astronomiam and the Medieval and Renaissance magical tradition of the Picatrix belong to. Such theme gives pride of place to constellations, to their mythical images, their visual representation and the imaginary suggestions exuded by them. Conversely, while acknowledging its empirical character, Ptolemy’s astrology relies on strictly mathematical methods. Ptolemy’s zodiac is a round crown, a geometrical shape, not the physical reality of the constellation circle. The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationships between measurements, architectural space, cosmological and astrological views, in the Sala dei Mesi in the Palazzo Schifanoia.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
