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| Giulio Romano Nymphs before 1546 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
"Among his many, or rather innumerable, disciples, the greatest number of whom became able masters, Raffaello da Urbino had not one who imitated him more closely in manner, invention, design and coloring than did Giulio Romano, nor one who was better grounded, more bold, resolute, prolific, and versatile, or more fanciful and varied than Giulio; not to mention for the present that he was very pleasant in his conversation, gay, amiable, gracious, and supremely excellent in character. These qualities were the reason that he was so beloved by Raffaello, that, if he had been his son, he could not have favored him more."
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| Giovanni Battista Naldini Bathsheba ca. 1570 oil on panel, transferred to canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Jacopo Ligozzi Allegory of Avarice ca. 1590 oil on canvas Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Lavinia Fontana Holy Family with St Catherine of Alexandria 1581 oil on canvas Los Angeles County Museum of Art |
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| Dosso Dossi Sibyl ca. 1525-30 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
"About the same time that Heaven presented to Ferrara, or rather, to the world, the divine Lodovico Ariosto, there was born in the same city the painter Dosso, who, although he was not as rare among painters as Ariosto among poets, nevertheless acquitted himself in his art in such a manner, that, besides the great esteem wherein his works were held in Ferrara, his merits caused the learned poet, his intimate friend, to honor his memory by mentioning him in his most celebrated writings; so that the pen of Messer Lodovico has given more renown to the name of Dosso than did all the brushes and colors that he used in the whole of his life. Wherefore I, for my part, declare that there could be no greater good-fortune than that of those who are celebrated by such great men, since the might of the pen forces most of mankind to accept their fame, even though they may not wholly deserve it."
". . . In the Duke's Palace in Ferrara, Dosso painted many rooms, in company with a brother of his, called Battista [see below]. These two were always enemies, one against the other, although they worked together by the wish of the Duke."
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| Battista Dossi Nymph of Spring before 1548 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Agostino Carracci Lamentation ca. 1586 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Marcello Venusti Crucifixion 1550s oil on canvas Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome |
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| Annibale Carracci Crucifixion 1583 oil on canvas Santa Maria della Carità, Bologna |
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| Luca Cambiaso Venus and Adonis before 1585 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Agnolo Bronzino Portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici 1537 oil on panel, transferred to canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Raffaello Botticini Adoration of Christ Child with St Barbara & St Martin ca. 1512 oil on panel, transferred to canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Paris Bordone Mars, Venus and Cupid before 1571 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
"He who has imitated Tiziano more than any other is Paris Bordone, who, born in Treviso from a father of Treviso and a Venetian mother, was taken at the age of eight to the house of some relatives in Venice. There, having learned his grammar and become an excellent musician, he went to be with Tiziano, but he did not spend many years with him, for he perceived that man to be not very ready to teach his young men, although besought by them most earnestly and invited by their patience to do his duty by them; and he resolved to leave him."
". . . And this much it must suffice to have said of Paris, who, being seventy-five years of age, lives quietly at home with his comforts, and works for pleasure at the request of certain Princes and others his friends, avoiding rivalries and certain vain ambitions, lest he should suffer some hurt and have his supreme tranquility and peace disturbed by those who walk not, as he says, in truth, but by dubious ways, malignantly and without charity; whereas he is accustomed to live simply and by a certain natural goodness, and knows nothing of subtleties or astuteness in his life."
– biographical passages are from Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects (1568) as translated in 1912 by Gaston du C. de Vere
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| Alessandro Allori Christ and the woman taken in adultery 1576-77 oil on panel Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |