Ercole

“ His own father, Duke Ercole, resembled his prospective father-in-law in many respects. The Estensi, with the Malatesti of Rimini and Pesaro, the Sforzai of Milan, and the Medici of Florence, were classed as “families of tyrants.” Duke Ercole was a man of strong will and forceful action—a tyrant in his own family and cruel to his unhappy consort—he could not brook any disobedience to his behests. He commanded his son to set forth at once from Ferrara and claim his bride in Florence. ”

“ He had been very late the night before,—far later than was usual with him,—and no doubt he would ring his bell as soon as he waked.
"The fact is," said Signor Ercole, as he and Quinto Lalli turned away from the door, "that the Marchese has not been well of late. He very often does me the honour of conversing with me,—I may say indeed of consulting me on subjects of art;—and I grieve to say that I have of late observed a change in him. He is not like the same man." ”

“ On the death of Ercole in 1505, her husband became duke, and she gathered many learned men, poets and artists at her court, among whom were Ariosto, Cardinal Bembo, Aldus Manutius the printer, and the painters Titian and Dosso Dossi. ”

“ Few phrases could expose more explicitly a brutal husband. Allowing for exaggeration, Ercole obviously behaved like a boor, making his wife’s meals, when he was present, little else than a weeping martyrdom. Renée certainly had the temperament to cry often and easily, though not tempestuously; but at Ferrara the vague-looking eyes seem to have possessed ample reason for being constantly and bitterly watered. Marot, of course, had neither the opportunity nor the desire to dwell upon intervals of passivity. ”

“ Well wrought, too, with beautiful invention, are the Thieves on the Cross. And since Ercole took much delight in making foreshortenings, which, if well conceived, are very beautiful, he made in that work a soldier on a horse, which, rearing its fore-legs on high, stands out in such a manner that it appears to be in relief; and as the wind is bending a banner that the soldier holds in his hand, he is making a most beautiful effort to hold it up. He also made a S. John, flying away wrapped in a sheet. ”

“ When an Italian countryman says of a place that even cats will not stay in it, he considers that he has evoked a picture of ultimate desolation that cannot be surpassed. It had always been Ercole's dream to live in the city, though he did not look like a man naturally intended for town life. ”

“ In retaliation, Ercole had Cardillan, treasurer and controller of finances to Renée ever since her arrival in Ferrara, imprisoned with the others. Few things could have hurt her more, and the scenes that took place between the two over the Zanetto business must again have driven them into unforgettable personalities. In the matter of personal interviews Ercole no doubt had the best of it. Renée did not possess the gift of [Pg 276] facile utterance; her face alone shows a mind easily disconcerted. ”

“ The immense number of mutual interests should [Pg 270] be in themselves sufficient to save any but the really vicious or abnormally unsuited from total disunion and antipathy.
But the impulse of an exultant moment rapidly chilled in the case of Ercole and his duchess. Madame de Soubise’s secret labours prevented any but the briefest pacification. And Ercole had not long been duke when he came to the conclusion that, even at the price of a break with France, the daily infliction of her person was no longer supportable. ”

“ But, as one knows, there must inevitably have been some in the hectored years of Renée’s Italian existence. And among them was certainly the visit of Vittoria Colonna. She stayed for ten months, and all the information given implies that during that period there was almost peace at the Castello. This is to Ercole’s credit, for Vittoria Colonna would have bored any but a practised intelligence. Her forte lay in an unerring sense of what was fine in everything—art, conduct, and deliberation. Clever men adored her, and her brain was certainly imposing, deliberate, attentive, and comprehending. ”

“ Never have I known man or woman of such marvellous finesse as well as courage, and she desired above all things to obtain the cardinal's hat for Ercole, her second son. Therefore it seemed good to her, while the actual fighting was still confined to the north of Italy, to hasten to Rome, and obtain this coveted prize, before the Emperor should succeed in deposing Pope Clement and possibly set up another pontiff less friendly to the House of Gonzaga. ”

“ The two brothers obtained constant employment at Alfonso's court, and subsequently from Ercole II. They, likewise, composed the cartoons for the tapestries at the cathedral of Ferrara, and for those which are in Modena, part at S. Francesco and part at the ducal palace, representing various exploits of the Esti. How far Vasari may be entitled to credit in his account of Ercole's invitation of Pordenone to compose cartoons for his tapestries, there being no good figurists at Ferrara for "themes of war," it is difficult to decide. ”

“ LIFE OF ERCOLE FERRARESE [ERCOLE DA FERRARA] PAINTER
Although, long before Lorenzo Costa died, his disciple Ercole Ferrarese was in very good repute and was invited to work in many places, he would never abandon his master (a thing which is rarely wont to happen) , and was content to work with him for meagre gains and praise, rather than labour by himself for greater profit and credit. ”

“ And it may be thence concluded, that when reduced to the proportions familiar to the citizens of Ravenna, his utmost longitudinal dimensions did not exceed that measure. The impresario was in truth a very small man, weighing perhaps seven stone with his boots. But Signor Ercole held, and very frequently expressed, an opinion that dignity and nobility of appearance depended wholly on bearing, and in no wise on mere corporeal altitude. Men were measured in his country (Rome) , he said, from the eyebrow upwards. ”

“ In 1559 Ercole died, and from that day Renée passed entirely out of the sphere of the Renaissance into that of the Reformation. She returned to France, and went to live at the town of Montargis, which belonged to her. Comfort she never knew again. Her castle was so constantly overcrowded that it became impossible to move in it for people. Brantome, who visited her there, says he saw “three hundred Protestant refugees,” on the occasion of his visit. Horrors, bloodshed, and persecutions became her daily preoccupations. Blood, at that period in France, made the world look red. ”

“ MADONNA AND CHILD WITH SAINTS.
Ercole di Giulio Grandi (Ferrarese: died 1531) .
Of this painter, one of the best of the Ferrarese school, very little is known, beyond the fact that he was in the service of the ducal house at Este. The identification of his works is also very uncertain, for Vasari, unaware that two painters of the Grandi family had borne the name of Ercole (see 1127) , classed the works of both under the same head. The present picture is not signed, and was first identified as [Pg 532] the younger Ercole's by Morelli. ”

“ Ercole was somewhat eccentric in character, and it was his custom when he was at work to refuse every one, whether painters or others, permission to see his labours; he was therefore much disliked in Bologna by the artists of that city, who have, indeed, always been moved by envy to the hatred of strangers invited thither to work; [7] nay, they sometimes exhibit the same feeling in rivalry among themselves, but this may indeed be considered a vice common to the professors of our arts in all places. ”

“ Ercole, who was the eldest of five children early left orphans, began his education at the Piarist college at Urbino. Removed thence on account of the cruel treatment he and his brother received, he went to the college opened at that time by Cardinal Henry of York at Frascati. Here Consalvi soon became one of the cardinal’s favourite protégés. In 1776 he entered the Academia Ecclesiastica at Rome, in which Pope Pius VI. took a strong personal interest. ”

“ Ferrara could not afford to offend France. It is to Ercole’s credit that Madame de Soubise did not die a sudden death. The temptation to bring about an untimely ending must have been extraordinarily insistent.
To add to Ercole’s domestic discomfort, Madame de Soubise’s daughter was also among Renée’s ladies-in-waiting. About this time, in fact, she married Monsieur Pons, another member of the household, and the man whose later friendship with Renée was to fleck the solemnity of her character with an incongruous suggestion of scandal. ”

“ Our Lady is surrounded by the Apostles, who stand in very beautiful attitudes, and among them are six figures, which are the portraits of persons, declared, by those acquainted with them, to be most animated likenesses. In the same work our artist painted his own portrait, with that of Domenico Garganelli. the owner of the chapel, who, when the whole was completed, for the love he bore to Ercole, and moved by the praises which he heard bestowed upon the work, presented to the master one thousand livres at Bologna. It is said that Ercole devoted twelve years to this work ”

“ From the tank, standing breast-deep in that stinking water, his head and face grotesquely masked in a vile green slime of putrid vegetation, Ercole Fortemani bellowed with horrid blasphemy that he would have his aggressor's blood, but stirred never a foot to take it. Not that he was by nature wholly a coward; but inspired by a wholesome fear of the man who could perform such a miracle of strength, he remained out of Francesco's reach, well in the middle of that square basin, and lustily roared orders to his men to tear the fellow to pieces. ”

“ During more than half a century Philidor travelled much, but never went to Italy, the only country where he could have found opponents of first-rate skill. Italy was represented in Philidor’s time by Ercole del Rio, Lolli and Ponziani. Their style was less sound than that of Philidor, but certainly a much finer and in principle a better one. ”

“ Never, I think, was more delicate compliment paid to a woman than in that fine touch which puts the service of her on a level with the “noble arts.” On this ground of sentiment idealized by devotion, Webster always moves with the assured ease and dignified familiarity of a thorough gentleman.
Ercole’s pretension to the hand of Jolenta leads, of course, to a duel with Contarino. They had been fellow-students together at Padua, and the scene in which the preliminaries of the duel are arranged is pitched on as nobly grave a key as can be conceived. ”

“ Apparently he had paid one visit at least to Italy, and one to Austria, bringing out his 'Nabucodonosor' at Venice, his 'La più gloriosa fatica d' Ercole' at Bologna, and his 'Amor tra Nemici' at Venice. His first appearance in London was at the representation of Handel's 'Amadis,' at which he played a solo on the then little- known instrument the viole d'amour. ”

“ Signor Ercole Stadione, however, who was, as the reader is aware, no less important a personage than the impresario of the principal theatre of Ravenna, knew too well all the importance that belonged to the news he had to tell to part with his secret so easily. "Signor Conte," he quavered out, "I tell you I am frozen! A man cannot speak on any subject in such a condition. ”

“ He was no fool;—a shrewd as well as a dapper little man, active and clever at his business, and well liked both by the artists and by the public, for which he catered, despite of being one of the vainest of mortals. Vanity makes some men very odious to their fellows;—in others it is perfectly inoffensive; and though damaging to a claim to respect, is perfectly compatible with a considerable amount of liking for the victim of it.
A very dapper little man was Signor Ercole, as he stepped forth, about eight o'clock, entirely refitted, to wait upon the Marchese at the Palazzo Castelmare. ”

“ July 8th he had Louis XII notified that he would do as he wished, if he and the Pope could agree upon the conditions. [91] He yielded only to the demand of the king, who advised the marriage solely because he himself had need of the Pope. All the while he was urging Ercole to give his consent, he was also counselling him not to be in too great haste to send his son Don Ferrante to Rome to conclude the matter, but to hold him back as long as possible—until he himself should reach Lombardy, which would be in September. ”

“ But that don't make it wise in Bianca to drive him to the wall more than need be. Limed and caught as he is, he's one that may give her some trouble yet. For my part, I wish she had not gone on this fool's errand this morning. Now, I will go and get my breakfast. I shall be back in half-an-hour. I expect Signor Ercole Stadione here this morning."
Signor Ercole Stadione was the impresario of the Ravenna theatre. ”

“ I will just give my nephew a hint. He can be trusted. He is discreet. And it will be easy for him to put down at once and discountenance any talk of the kind, or any rumour that might find its way among our youngsters."
"The very thing, Eccellenza! The Marchese Ludovico will understand the thing at once. And half a word from him would give the key-note, as I may say, to the tone of talk about the lady. Ravenna must not be thought to be contenting herself with that which Milan rejects," said Signor Ercole, with the air of a patriot. ”

“ A similar complaint might be alleged for a different reason, in regard to the style of Cristoforo Storer, a native of Constance. A pupil to the same Ercole, he also produced works of solid taste, as in the instance of his S. Martino, which I saw in possession of the Ab. Bianconi, a picture much valued by its intelligent owner. Subsequently he became a mannerist, and not unfrequently adopted gross or common ideas. In other points he displays much spirit, and is one of the few belonging to that age who may lay claim to the title of a good [Pg 309] colourist. ”