Curiosities about the artists of Ravenna in the Renaissance period
Ravenna was once a capital city, from the time of the Roman Empire to the Kingdom of the Goths until the Byzantine Exarchate. In the Lower Middle Ages, it was reduced to a small provincial city, which despite its ancient walls, port and salt trade, was no longer the maritime marketplace of northern Italy that it had been in the Byzantine era. By 1371, the coastline was three miles away from Ravenna, and the port was gradually losing its original function. The city was surrounded by swamps and marshes. In 1371 Cardinal Anglico Grimoard left his testimony to Ravenna and Ferrara: “The land lies low and the waters do not stay in their course, nor are there adequate banks or valleys. From day to day, the village is becoming submerged and the soil is returning to marshland. One day, little by little, most of this area will be underwater”.
The gradual distancing from the sea and the abandonment of the work needed to keep the port working efficiently and communicating with the River Po were two factors that led to Venice gradually replacing Ravenna and absorbing all the trade that had once flowed through it. To eliminate any competition for the salt marshes, Venice imposed a series of conditions on Ravenna, through which it managed to take control of the city’s trade and of the production and distribution of salt. From the castle of Marcabò, built on the canal linking Ravenna to the Po, the Venetian Republic also had full control of all river navigation.
The control of Ravenna and the territory that had belonged to the Da Polenta dynasty came into full effect in 1441, when Venice obtained direct dominion over the city. The walls were strengthened, and the Fortezza Brancaleone (Brancaleone Fortress) was built in 1457. A central square was built, as Ravenna did not yet have one, the Venetian palace was erected and the roads were improved. For the first time, signs of strong economic growth re-emerged in the area around Porta Adriana and Porta Sisi, where two suburban areas sprang up to the west and south-west, near the newly-flourishing agricultural industry. The Venetian Republic retained control until 1509, the year of the Battle of Agnadello, when Ravenna became part of the Church States. In 1512 the ferocious sacking, fires and massacres by French troops after the battle – which took its name from Ravenna – caused a serious blow to the city. This was followed by a depression, due to the civil uprisings caused by the factionalism of the Rasponi, which afflicted Ravenna for almost a century. Due to the general climate at the time, the papal government was unable to do much, or to resolve the damage caused by earthquakes and flooding.
The new patrons of the Renaissance age were the religious orders. The Portuensi congregation founded the Romanesque church of Santa Maria in Porto (St Mary of the Port) and in the 14th century, a Gothic church was built there. The Abbot Guglielmo commissioned a floor mosaic in the Church of San Giovanni Evangelista (St John the Evangelist), depicting scenes from the Fourth Crusade. In the same century, the abbot's successors established a chapel and marble portal telling the legend of Galla Placidia. Artists from Rimini were summoned to work in the churches of Santa Chiara (Saint Clare), San Giovanni Evangelista and Santa Maria in Porto (St Mary of the Port), as well as San Pier Maggiore (St Francis) where the Polentani family built their burial chapel. During the period of Venetian rule, the city’s buildings and roads were refurbished. It is precisely at this time that the Brancaleone Fortress was built. On the pillars removed from the demolished Church of Sant'Andrea dei Goti (St Andrew of the Goths), the loggia of the Venetian palace which housed the seat of the municipality was built. Pietro Lombardo erected the two pillars of Piazza Maggiore, and built Dante’s tomb on the orders of Bernardo Bembo. Lombardo’s son Tullio sculpted the tragically poignant figure of Guidarello. When the monks from Porto entered the city walls, they built a large monastery with cloisters and a Lombard-style balcony as well as the magnificent church whose façade was designed by Morigia. The Camaldolese monks, who came into the city after the battle of Ravenna, later built a monastery and cloisters, the Church of San Romualdo (St Romuald) and the Biblioteca Classense (Classense Library), to symbolise their glory in Ravenna. The other two abbeys of San Giovanni Evangelista and San Vitale (St Vitalis) also have fine cloisters.
Ravenna, Biblioteca Classense
The modern image of the city of Ravenna, both in Italy and abroad, is indissolubly linked to the monuments of the 5th-6th centuries A.D., and the famous mosaics inside them. These edifices and their interiors have brought international fame to the city, to the point that “Ravenna = Mosaics”. It is almost as if anything that went before or came after has been “hidden”.
During the 15th and 16th centuries, it was not only the fortress and Piazza del Popolo that received embellishments and sculptures. The same occurred in the religious buildings of San Vitale and San Francesco. 15th-century works can also be seen at the churches of San Giovanni Evangelista, Sant'Agata and San Domenico while other 16th-century artworks can be found in Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, in Santa Maria in Porto, the cloisters of the Classense Library, the Battistero Neoniano (Baptistry of Neon) and the Church of Santo Spirito (Holy Spirit).
Chronology and locations of the works completed by Francesco Zaganelli and Luca Longhi in the 16th century
Among the figures who were most active in Ravenna during the early 16th-century are Francesco Zaganelli and Luca Longhi, as well as the Forlì artist Baldassarre Carrari and Nicolò Rondinelli (Ravenna).
1502-1510: Baldassarre Carrari opened a workshop in Ravenna.
1504: Bernardino and Francesco Zaganelli created the altarpiece featuring the Virgin with Saints Francis and John the Baptist for the Church of S. Apollinare Nuovo; it can now be seen in the art gallery in Brera.
1518-1532: Francesco Zaganelli produced a number of pieces for churches in Ravenna: in the Church of San Nicolò (St Nicholas) we find the Nativity, Saints Catherine and Sebastian; in S. Agata, the Crucifixion and Mourning; in S. Romualdo, the Raising of Lazarus.
1529: Luca Longhi completed the altarpiece depicting the Mystical Marriage of St Catherine for the monastery of San Vitale.
1538: Luca Longhi produced the piece depicting Virgin Enthroned with Saints Paul and Anthony of Padua; initially placed on the altar of the Lunardi family in the Church of San Domenico, it can now be seen in the Brera Art Gallery.
1543-1544: Luca Longhi completed the Virgin Enthroned with Saints Vincenzo Ferreri and Anthony the Abbot and the infants Vincenzo and Antonio Cavalli, close to the altar granted by jus patronatus to the Cavalli family in the Church of San Domenico.
1548: Giorgio Vasari bequeathed the Deposition from the Cross to the Classe monks.
1549: Luca Longhi completed the decorations on the clock face in Piazza del Popolo.
1555: Luca Longhi produced the altarpiece showing the Mystical Marriage of St Catherine for the Chiesa del Buon Gesù (Church of the Good Shepherd).
1559: Luca Longhi completed the work showing the Martyrdom of St Ursicinus for the Basilica of San Vitale.
1568: Luca Longhi completed the twin paintings Adoration of the Shepherds and Christ supported by Angels for the abbot of the Classe monastery; they can now be seen at MAR, the Art Museum of the city of Ravenna.
1579-1580: Luca Longhi painted the canvas Discovery of the Cross in the Church of San Domenico. With his son Francesco, a former pupil of the workshop, in November 1579 Longhi started work, for the sum of 200 silver coins or ‘scudi’, on his pictorial masterpiece The Marriage at Cana displayed at the Classense Library.
1586: Francesco Longhi signed and dated the canvas depicting Our Lady with Saints Matthew and Francis for the Church of S. Giovanni Battista.
1604: Francesco Longhi signed and dated the work Our Lady with Saints Jerome and Clement for the Church of San Giovanni Battista.
1605: Francesco Longhi completed the painting depicting Our Lady in Glory, St Augustine and other Saints for the Church of S. Maria in Porto.
Ravenna, Cappella di Sant'Andrea - Luca Longhi, Deposizione di Cristo
The Longhi family did not only work in Ravenna. Other fine examples of their work can be seen in Forlimpopoli.
The prime examples of Renaissance art in Romagna found in Forlimpopoli include the Annunciation by Marco Palmezzano (in the Chiesa dei Servi - Church of Servants) and the remarkable Zampeschi arches on the front of the Basilica of San Rufillo (St Rufillus), as well as four works by the Longhi family, two by Luca and two by his son Francesco.
The former can be seen in the Collegiate Church of San Ruffillo in Forlimpopoli and are among the earlier works of Luca Longhi. They comprise two altarpieces on canvas: the Virgin Enthroned with Child and Saints Ruffillus and Anthony of Padua on the high altar, and the Virgin Enthroned with Child and Saints Valerian and Lucy in the apse. Both these works were commissioned in the first half of the 16th century by the lord of Forlimpopoli, Antonello Zampeschi, and have the same dimensions (230x180 cm), confirming the intention of the patron's family that they were celebratory pieces.
The Virgin with Child and Saints Valerian and Lucy, produced by Longhi and located on the lower step to the left, is dated 2 May 1528. To the right of the foreground, in reduced scale compared to the two saints, Antonello Zampeschi requested an image of his father, Brunoro I, who died in 1525, in memory of his intention to donate the altar of St Lucy (which Antonello ordered to be installed after his father’s death).
Alessandra Cocchi has observed that “The painting, which is his first recorded work, completed at the age of 21, shows that the artist has already mastered his technique and has produced a precise composition with the fundamental elements of the style he would later reproduce in his later works”. The critic observes that even in this early work “there is a clearly sentimental inclination along with certain rather naive characteristics typical of a young painter, but it is also clear that the work is structured with a well-balanced composition”.
On the high altar is the Virgin Enthroned with Child and Saints Ruffillus and Anthony of Padua, completed two years later on 15 April 1530, as can be seen from the inscription at bottom left. In this case, again in smaller scale, we see the same image of Antonello Zampeschi, underlined by the family crest on the border of the painting: two silver swords crossed against a light-blue background with a gold star in the centre.
“Apart from the stylistic similarities to the adjacent painting of St Lucy - writes Alessandra Cocchi - there are strong references to the Mystical Marriage of St Catherine, which Longhi completed in 1529 and which is now kept in the art gallery of Ravenna. The paintings present the same scenic elements and composition and indicate a similar technique.
Longhi’s son Francesco is the artist credited with having produced the altarpiece in the 17th-century Church of Carmine, in Via Saffi, and the frescoes in the Palatine chapel on the noble floor of the Rocca Ordelaffa (Ordelaffa Fortress).
Built in 1626, the Chiesa del Carmine (Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel) took on its current neoclassical aspect in the early 19th century; this was followed by the addition during the latter part of the same century of the rich frescoes in the presbytery, depicting Angels, Saints Peter and Paul, Faith and Hope - and in the vault, theAssumption of the Virgin Mary and Saints Simon Stock and Theresa of Avila, produced by the artist Paolo Bachetti (Forlimpopoli).
On the left-hand wall is the early 17th-century piece by Francesco Longhi, depicting the Immaculate Conception.
On the first floor of the eastern wing of the fortress, which is now the Municipal Council Hall, we find the Palatine chapel built in the 16th century and dedicated to the Eucharist. Its vault is decorated with depictions of the Bread of the Angels, with The Fall of Manna (on the right-hand wall) and The Prophet Elijah (on the left-hand wall). Once again, the paintings of Francesco Longhi communicate with those of Paolo Bachetti. In the municipal hall it is still possible to see Bachetti’s large backdrop of the destruction of Forlimpopoli by the Cardinal Egidio d’Albornoz.
Forlimpopoli, Rocca