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| Francesco del Cossa St Vincent Ferrer (altarpiece fragment) ca. 1473-75 oil on panel National Gallery, London |
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| Francesco del Cossa St Vincent Ferrer (detail) ca. 1473-75 oil on panel National Gallery, London |
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| Francesco del Cossa St Vincent Ferrer (detail) ca. 1473-75 oil on panel National Gallery, London |
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| Francesco del Cossa St Vincent Ferrer (detail) ca. 1473-75 oil on panel National Gallery, London |
Francesco del Cossa (1436-1478) – Ferrarese painter, best known for his frescoes in the salone of Palazzo Schifanoia at Ferrara, depicting, like mural-sized calendar pages, the activities and zodiacal signs of the months of March, April and May, in a style indebted mainly to Mantegna. Disappointed at the low valuation and payment for this work, Cossa abandoned the decoration in 1470 to settle in Bologna, where he executed major altarpieces, frescoes, and designs for stained-glass windows.
– The Yale Dictionary of Art & Artists by Erika Langmuir and Norbert Lynton (2000)
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| Antonio di Bartolomeo Maineri St Sebastian 1492 oil on panel Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna |
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| Antonio di Bartolomeo Maineri St Sebastian (detail) 1492 oil on panel Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna |
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| Francesco Francia Portrait of Bartolomeo Bianchini ca. 1485-95 oil on panel National Gallery, London |
"Francesco Francia, who was born in Bologna in the year 1450, of parents who were artisans, but honest and worthy enough, was apprenticed in his earliest boyhood to the goldsmith's art, in which calling he worked with intelligence and spirit; and as he grew up he became so well proportioned in person and appearance, and so sweet and pleasant in manner and speech, that he was able to keep the most melancholy of men cheerful and free from care with his talk; for which reason he was beloved not only by all those who knew him, but also by many Italian princes and other lords. . . . Now it came to pass that Francia, being desirous of greater glory, and having known Andrea Mantegna and many other painters who had gained wealth and honours by their art, determined to try whether he could succeed in that part of painting which had to do with colour; his drawing was already such that it could well bear comparison with theirs. Thereupon, having made arrangements to try his hand, he painted certain portraits and some little things, keeping in his house for many months men of that profession to teach him the means and methods of colouring, insomuch that, having very good judgment, he soon acquired the needful practice. . . . "
"[At last, coming to the end of a long and successful painting career], Francia, hearing such great praise spoken of the divine Raffaello [Raphael, then at the height of his celebrity], desired to see his works; but he was now old, and too fond of his comfortable life in Bologna. Now after this it came about that Raffaello painted in Rome for Cardinal Santi Quattro, of the Pucci family, a panel-picture of S. Cecilia, which had to be sent to Bologna to be placed in a chapel of S. Giovanni in Monte, where there is the tomb of the Blessed Elena dall' Olio. This he packed up and addressed to Francia, who, as his friend, was to have it placed on the altar of that chapel, with the ornament, just as he had prepared it. Right readily did Francia accept this charge, which gave him a chance of seeing a work by Raffaello, as he had so much desired. And having opened the letter that Raffaello had written to him, in which he besought Francia, if there were any scratch on the work, to put it right, and likewise, as a friend, to correct any error that he might notice, with the greatest joy he had the said panel taken from its case into a good light. . . . Raffaello's panel was divine, not so much painted as alive, and so well wrought and coloured by him, that among all the beautiful pictures that he painted while he lived, although they are all miraculous, it could well be called most rare. Wherefore Francia, half dead with terror at the beauty of the picture, which lay before his eyes challenging comparison with those of his own hand that he saw around him, felt all confounded, and had it placed with great diligence in that chapel of S. Giovanni in Monte for which it was destined; and taking to his bed in a few days almost beside himself, thinking that he was now almost of no account in his art in comparison with the opinion held by both himself and by others, he died of grief and melancholy."
– from Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects by Giorgio Vasari (1568), translated by Gaston du C. de Vere (1912)
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| Lorenzo Costa the Elder and Gianfrancesco Maineri Virgin and Child enthroned with Saints ca. 1498 oil on panel National Gallery, London |
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| Lorenzo Costa the Elder and Gianfrancesco Maineri Virgin and Child enthroned with Saints (detail) ca. 1498 oil on panel National Gallery, London |
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| attributed to Girolamo da Cremona Risen Christ with Four Saints (detail) 1472 oil on panel Museo Civico di Viterbo |
"A dynamic and chameleon-like artist, Girolamo [da Cremona] worked on a number of projects with different artists and adapted his style to the different conditions of his commissions. Girolamo first appears working alongside Taddeo Crivelli and other artists in Ferrara [illuminating] the magnificent Bible of Borso d'Este, which was executed between 1455 and 1461. His art is most closely related to the Mantuan court painter Andrea Mantegna."
– from curator's notes at the Getty Museum
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| Francesco de' Bianchi Ferrari The Crucifixion with St Jerome and St Francis ca. 1490-95 oil on panel Palazzo dei Musei, Modena |
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| Francesco de' Bianchi Ferrari The Crucifixion with St Jerome and St Francis (detail) ca. 1490-95 oil on panel Palazzo dei Musei, Modena |
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| Francesco de' Bianchi Ferrari The Crucifixion with St Jerome and St Francis (detail) ca. 1490-95 oil on panel Palazzo dei Musei, Modena |
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| Francesco de' Bianchi Ferrari The Crucifixion with St Jerome and St Francis (detail) ca. 1490-95 oil on panel Palazzo dei Musei, Modena |
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| Francesco de' Bianchi Ferrari The Crucifixion with St Jerome and St Francis (detail) ca. 1490-95 oil on panel Palazzo dei Musei, Modena |