Talking colours: Ercole Sarti and the verses that gave voice to his paintings

The paper investigates the life and career of Ercole Sarti, a painter active in Ferrara in the first half of the seventeenth century. Born with congenital deafness, Sarti gained public recognition when, at the age of sixteen and without any formal training, he painted a picture representing the Adoration of the Magi which was showcased the occasion of a solemn procession. He later entered the workshop of Ippolito Scarsella, becoming one of the most requested artists in the city. The study retraces Sarti’s upbringing and pictorial education, presenting his work through the lenses of the verses that poets Giovanni Battista Marino and Francesco Berni dedicated to his work. While looking at interconnections between art practice and disability, the paper presents the career of a previously unknown painter.