Il gioco di carte alla corte degli Este: analisi di un dipinto di Dosso sulla base della rilettura degli inventari estensi
Cristina Gaglione
The essay is dedicated to a painting sold by Sotheby’s New York on the 31st January 2014. Attributed to Battista Dossi, it represents a rural scene whose protagonists are portrayed in a playful and convivial attitude; worthy of attention is the group of characters in the foreground, involved in an activity undoubtedly known among the Estensi as the card game, more frequently identified as tarot cards. The scrutiny of the Este inventories highlights a rich network of commissions to artists close to the ducal court, aimed precisely at the creation of tarot cards. Moreover the relaxed atmosphere and the predominance of the natural component over the human one allow to hypothesize that the painting was part of the cycle of sixteen landscapes, realized between 1518 and 1522 by the Dossi brothers, which decorated the Duke’s bedroom located in the Via Coperta of Ferrara.