Mantua's Ducal Palace shows, in dialogue with Pisanello's Tournament, restored medieval and Renaissance weapons

The Ducal Palace in Mantua enriches its tour with a new exhibition section dedicated to a group of medieval and Renaissance weapons and “defensive pieces.” Restored and restored for the occasion, these objects dialogue with Pisanello’s wall paintings in the renovated room that houses the artist’s spectacular chivalric cycle.

The weapons on display span from the 13th to the 16th century, with a prevalence of pieces dating from the 14th and 15th centuries: a small nucleus of works, selected from those preserved at the Doge’s Palace mainly for their interest from a typological point of view, also in comparison with the time when Pisanello’s Tournament was made. All of the pieces could be seen until a few years ago in the Guastalla apartment and are now re-presented, after careful restoration, with the addition of two weapons long kept in storage.

The aim is to enhance the relationship between the exhibits and the painted knightly tournament, through the arrangement of the weapons that resemble specimens similar to those wielded by the protagonists of the Tournament, thus reinforcing those characteristics of truth and tangibility that have always been praised in the painter’s works, in front of which, in the words of the poet and humanist Guarino Veronese, “we seem to hear the neighing of the horse in battle, to tremble at the sound of trumpets.”

For the new display, an exhibition element was reused, albeit adapted for the purpose, which had already been used for the past exhibition dedicated to Pisanello (2022) and was then designed in continuity of lines and materials with respect to the room’s rearrangement. The museum thus emphasizes the theme of reuse and reutilization of materials, an ecological choice in the belief that the “museum” reality can reduce the environmental impact of its actions.

The exhibit is accompanied by a small booklet written by Giulia Marocchi and Simone Sestito, which discusses the pieces in depth and illustrates the exhibition choices. This tool is made freely available to visitors along the tour route or at the infopoint at the conclusion of the museum itinerary

Mantua's Ducal Palace shows, in dialogue with Pisanello's Tournament, restored medieval and Renaissance weapons

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