Music theories and identity issues: Depicting canons chez Alfonso I d’Este

The paper takes into consideration two well-known paintings, Dosso Dossi's Allegory of Music and Titian's Bacchanal of the Andrians, commissioned by Alfonso I d'Este, Third Duke of Ferrara from 1505 to 1534. Pursuant to the presence of representations of musical canons, these canvases are among the few works commissioned by Alfonso I to have been addressed from an iconographic-musical point of view; however, most scholars have concentrated mainly on the resolution of the canons, ignoring or underestimating the identity values that they may have had in the eyes of the patron. Reinterpreted in the light of the peculiar context of their creation and of an accurate aptitude profile of Alfonso I, the two masterpieces prove to be works of extraordinary identity value in which the task of conveying the Duke's ideas on music and life is entrusted precisely to the canons depicted. The musical-iconological analysis highlights how the two canons in the Allegory tell of Alfonso's particular relationship with the past and with his father Ercole I, while the canon in the Bacchanal is configured as a real impresa, mirroring the pragmatic personality of the Duke and his daring search for an innovative future that has its roots in Hellenic classicism and in the world of myth. Comparing the musical aspects of this canvases, we can see the evolution of Alfonso's reflections on music theory and the portrait of a duke abreast of the most avant-garde music research distinctly emerges.