Province Province of Reggio Emilia | ||
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Address 42016 Guastalla, Province of Reggio Emilia, Italy | ||
The Statue of Ferrante I Gonzaga is a dramatic, outdoor, bronze, Renaissance style statue in the piazza Gonzaga, in the center of the town of Guastalla, province of Bologna, region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The statue depicting the former condottiero (1507-1557) was completed by Leone Leoni, and installed in 1594 by his son Cesare Gonzaga (1475-1512), who was also a military leader.
The condottiero Ferrante is depicted in an mythic pose, trampling the chest of a vanquished satyr, symbol of vice, and another foot atop a decapitated puny hydra, symbol of calumny. Ferrante had been accused of disloyalty to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, but Ferrante cleared himself of the charges, appearing personally to defend himself before the monarch in Milan. The statue's themes alluded to the episode.
The grim, violent posture of the statue sets the iconography apart from other, more restrained prior depictions of military leaders such as the equestrian statues of Condottiere such as Gattamelata and Bartolomeo Colleoni.The pose of the statue appears to herald the transition from the sober and placid rigidity of Renaissance depictions to more vigorous and active Baroque poses.