meritorious; and in the Ducal Palace he decorated several apartments, in company with a brother of his called Battista, but these two, although they thus worked together by command of the Duke, were nevertheless always the enemies of each other. They painted the history of Hercules in chiaroscuro, around the court of the above-named palace, covering the walls with a vast number of nude figures.[1] Pictures innumerable, whether on panel or in fresco, were also painted by these artists, for all Ferrara. There is a painting by them in the Cathedral of Modena; and at Trent they executed numerous works in the Palace of the Cardinal,[2] but these last they painted in company with other painters. At that time, the painter and architect, Girolamo Genga,[3] was preparing various decorations in the Palace of the Imperiale, above Pesaro,[4] for Francesco Maria, Duke of Urbino, as will be related in its proper place; and among the many painters who were invited thither by command of the above-named Francesco Maria, were the Ferrarese Dosso and Battista, who were employed principally to delineate landscapes,[5] other paintings of various kinds having long before been executed in that palace by Francesco di Mirozzo[6] of Forli, Eaffaello dal Colle, of the Borgo-a -San Sepolcro, and many others.
Having arrived at the Imperiale, Dosso and Battista, as is the custom with artists of their sort, began to censure and
- ↑ Frizzi, Memorie della Storia di Ferrara, describes the Ducal Palace of Ferrara as rebuilt by the Duke Ercole II., after the devouring conflagration by which it was reduced to ashes in the year 1594. This is now the palace of the Cardinal-legate. The paintings of Dosso Dossi remain, but have been much restored. In the cathedral also there is a painting on a gold ground by this artist.
- ↑ The Cardinal Bishop of Trent, who, when Bottari wrote, was Cardinal Madruzzi.
- ↑ Whose life follows.
- ↑ The palaces of the Imperiale are described by Bernardo Tasso in two letters, which will be found among the collection published at Padua, by Comino; tom. iii. p. 123.
- ↑ There was another Dosso named Evangelista, according to Scannelli, Microcosmo, who was inferior to Battista, and this last was by no means equal to his brother Dosso. See Lanzi, ut supra, vol. iii. School of Ferrara, Epoch 2nd.
- ↑ Lanzi is of opinion that this should rather be Francesco di Melozzo, who flourished a full century earlier than the Dossi. See Storia Pittorica.
