Francesca Venusta, the Battle of San Ruffillo and Giovanni Sabadino Degli Arienti

Author: Shepherd R.

Source: Renaissance Studies, Volume 10, Number 2, June 1996 , pp. 156-170(15)

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Abstract:

Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti's account, in his Gynevera de le clare donne, of a mural depiction of the Battle of San Ruffillo, probably painted c. 1361–1362 in the Bolognese church of San Francesco, reveals that the pictures were painted at the instigation of a woman, whom he calls Francesca Venusta. Arienti (c. 1444–1510) wrote his Gynevera, dedicated to Ginevra Sforza, in 1489–1490: it is a set of 33 lives of famous women, and contains all we know about Francesca Venusta, daughter of Bernardo da Polenta and married to Alberto Galluzzi. The picture, generally attributed to Jacopo Avanzi, and details of Francesca's patronage, are known to us only through Arienti's account, which is sometimes problematical. None the less, his text can be taken as evidence for the circumstances surrounding the patronage, by a woman, of a mural painting in Bologna in the second half of the 14th century.

Keywords: Italy (Bologna); Painting; Arienti, Giovanni Sabadini degli (Gynevera de le c; Venusta, Francesca; Avanzi, Jacopo

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1477-4658.00202

Publication date: 1996-06-01