Nec spe nec metu. La Gonzaga: Architettura e corte nella Milano di Carlo V (review)

A number of publications (exhibition catalogues and conference papers), ac companied the celebration of the 500^th anniversary of the birth of Ferrante Gonzaga (third-born son of Francesco II Gonzaga and Isabella d’Este). Pride of place among these, some of which have an only ephemeral value, goes to Soldini’s text, which deals with one specific aspect of Ferrante’s patronage of the arts: the suburban residence constructed for the then governor of Milan by his court architect Domenico Giunti in the period after 1548. Greatly admired in its time by Paolo Giovio among others, it was only one of eight buildings that Marc’Antonio Dal Re included in his Ville di delizia o siano palago camparacci nello Stato di Milano; those engravings being indispensable in reconstructed what little now remains of the once imposing building and its gardens.

Soldoni’s mongraph concludes with an Appendice Documentaria that provides transcriptions of a surprising number of previously unpublished letters written to Ferrante by Giunti. As the central core of the residence was the modest villa built for a member of Ludovico Sforza’s inner circle (Gualtero Bascapè), due attention is given at the outset to Bascapè’s life and career, including where it intersected with Leonardo da Vinci and thus with the Sala delle Asse in the Ducal Palace. From here the text moves on to what happened after the structure was acquired in 1548 by Ferrante at which time two wings were added thereby reconfiguring it as a U-shaped residence. The main facade was defined by an imposing triple loggia, the rear facade overlooking the fish pond and the gardens. Perhaps not quite as impressive as the Palazzo Te in Mantua, which Giulio Romano built and decorated for his brother, Federico II, it nonetheless took Rome as its model. Had Ferrante taken up Leone Leoni on his offer of the casts of antique statuary, then the connection between the residence and Rome would have been even more striking. Even without such embellishments, the connection between the main façade and such classical models as the Colosseum is striking. And as the author noted, the Colosseum is but one of the classical buildings actually drawn by Domenico Giunti. Since Giunti has never been given monographic treatment, the author goes to considerable pains to chronicle the various phases of his career, which began as a painter and then as an architect working first for Ferrante in Messina and then in Milan and finally in the designing of Guastalla in the Mantuan countryside. The last was arguably the most important of all, for whereas Ferrante resided in Messina and Milan at the pleasure of the emperor, Guastalla was purchased by him to serve the needs of his sons and heirs.

What is most impressive in this book is the lengths to which the author goes to focus on even the most peripheral and minute of details. One example of this is found in the discussion of the Fructus Belli, one of the more monumental of the sets of tapestries designed for Ferrante by Giulio Romano. For them new documentation regarding the dating of the series is provided, as well as a reading of the iconography that differs significantly from what has previously been written. In a word, Soldini’s monograph is densely layered with useful insights and observations at every point. It is, however, not a text to be read with ease, but then this was doubtless not the author’s intent. Rather, the author takes great pains to explore all the known and many of the previously unpublished archival sources (a listing of those in Milan, Florence, Mantua, Modena et al. being provided at the beginning of the book) and uses them to complement and supplement the visual evidence. And finally, it should be...