Cosimo Tura

Cosimo Tura built his career at one small Italian court, the Este dukes of Ferrara, where he was salaried painter from the 1450s. He is the founder of what people call the Ferrarese school, and his style is unlike anything softer coming out of Florence at the same time.

His figures look carved from coloured stone or twisted metal, with sharp folds, glittering hard surfaces, and a nervous, almost brittle line. Saints sit on fantastical thrones under skies the colour of enamel. It is beautiful and slightly unsettling, and it suited a court that prized learning, astrology, and display.

Much of what he made for the Este has been lost or scattered, including a set of painted organ shutters for the cathedral. He worked in the same circle as younger Ferrarese painters like Francesco del Cossa, and toward the end he fell out of favour as tastes changed, dying with unpaid claims still standing against the court.