"Pentecost"
Vignola Fortress, Contrari Chapel

Vignola Stronghold, Contrari Chapel, west wall: “Pentecost”. The Contrari Chapel is a wonderful example of late Gothic art of Northern Italy. It was commissioned by Uguccione Contrari, feudal lord of Niccolò III d’Este, lord of the castle and the lands of the Vignola since 1401. He wanted a room for meditation and prayer in the castle. It was frescoed around 1425. The exemplary cycle of frescoes in the Contrari Chapel represents a fundamental and original episode in the figurative culture of the Este area of the first half of the fifteenth century. The attribution is uncertain: several authors have been proposed, including Belbello da Pavia, Giovanni da Modena and Michele dai Carri but, since there are no other works that can be assigned with certainty to the same hand, the author of the frescoes is conventionally referred to as the Master of Vignola.