Francesco del Cossa (c. 1430 – c. 1477) was an

Italian Renaissance painter Italian Renaissance painting is the painting of the period beginning in the late 13th century and flourishing from the early 15th to late 16th centuries, occurring in the Italian Peninsula, which was at that time divided into many political stat ...

of the School of Ferrara, who after 1470 worked in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different na ...

. Cossa is best known for his

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plast ...

es, especially his collaboration with

Cosimo Tura Cosimo is the Italian form of the Greek name ''Kosmas'' (latinised as '' Cosmas''). Cosimo may refer to: Characters * Cosimo Piovasco di Rondò, hero of Italo Calvino's 1957 novel ''The Baron in the Trees'' Given name Medici family * Cosimo ...

on a cycle of the months in the

Palazzo Schifanoia Palazzo Schifanoia is a Renaissance palace in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna (Italy) built for the Este family. The name "Schifanoia" is thought to originate from "schivar la noia" meaning literally to "escape from boredom" which describes accurately ...

of the

Este family The House of Este ( , , ) is a European dynasty of North Italian origin whose members ruled parts of Italy and Germany for many centuries. The original House of Este's elder branch, which is known as the House of Welf, included dukes of Bavari ...

, rulers of Ferrara. Otherwise, his paintings are mostly of religious subjects, with some portraits and drawings attributed to him. He also designed

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

Biography

The son of a stonemason in

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

, little is known about his early works, although it is known that he travelled outside of Ferrara in his late twenties or early thirties. One of the first records we have of him is in 1456 when he was an assistant to his father, Cristofano del Cossa, at that time employed in painting the carvings and statues on the high altar in the chapel of the bishop's palace at

. One of his followers was Leonardo Scaletti of

Faenza Faenza (, , ; rgn, Fènza or ; la, Faventia) is an Italian city and comune of 59,063 inhabitants in the province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, situated southeast of Bologna. Faenza is home to a historical manufacture of majolica-ware glazed ea ...

Allegorical frescoes in the Palazzo Schifanoia

In conjunction with

, Cossa is now known for fresco decoration of the summer pleasure villa/palazzo known as the

, located just outside the city gates. Together, they painted a series of the elaborate allegories around the themes of zodiacal signs and months of the year. These were only partially restored in the 20th century, and there are three that are reasonably assigned to Cossa. Of these, one of the most remarkable images is the horde of naked toddlers in the ''Allegory of May – Triumph of Apollo''. Apparently a sign of springtime's prolific blossoming, the crowded rows of babies mass like a phalanx of infantile Rockettes. The ''Allegory of April'' has a depiction of the trio of Graces, one of the earliest Post-classical representations of the naked intertwined dancers in painting.

Sandro Botticelli Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), known as Sandro Botticelli (, ), was an Italian Renaissance painting, Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th cent ...

's version in '' Primavera'' dates from 1482. See the 1501 version of the '' Three Graces'' (now at Chantilly). Assuming the date of death of Cossa is correct, this one must have been completed prior to the others.

Cossa in Bologna

Unhappy that he had been paid by the square foot for his work for Duke Borso and complaining he was being paid the same as the "worst dauber in Ferrara", Cossa left Ferrara for

in 1470.

In Bologna he obtained many commissions under the patronage of the Bentivoglio family. Here he painted his two masterpieces: the ''Virgin and Child with two saints and a portrait of

Alberto de' Catanei Alberto is the Romance version of the Latinized form (''Albertus'') of Germanic '' Albert''. It is used in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The diminutive forms are ''Albertito'' in Spain or ''Albertico'' in some parts of Latin America, Albert ...

'' (1474) and fresco of the

Madonna del Baracano Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

, representing the ''Virgin and Child with portraits of Giovanni Bentivoglio and

Maria Vinziguerra Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial *170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, da ...

'' (1472). He executed stained glass windows in Bologna, the best of which is a circular window, in the church of

San Giovanni in Monte San Giovanni in Monte is a 15th-century Roman Catholic church in Bologna, Italy. History The current church can be traced back to a round church from the 5th century known as the Monte Oliveto, traditionally said to be founded by Saint Petronius i ...

, representing St. John in Patmos. This bears his signature. In the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

of London there is a picture by him representing St. Vincent Ferrer. There is a fine profile portrait at Locko Park near Derby, said to represent Duke Ercole I of Ferrara. In the Dresden collection there is also an ''Annunciation''.

Anthology of works

*''Annunciation and Nativity'' (1470–1472 Dresden Gemäldegallerie alte Meister) *:''St Claire'' (1470-1472,

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (in Spanish, the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (), named after its founder), or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Prado Museum on one of the city's main boulevards. I ...

, on deposit at the Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña) *:''St Catherine'' (1470-1472,

, on deposit at the Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña) * *:''St Vincent Ferrer'' (1473, National Gallery, London) *:''St Peter'' (1473, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan) *:''St John the Baptist'' (1473, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan) *:'' St Florian'' 1473,National Gallery of Art, Washington) *:''St Lucy'' (1473, National Gallery of Art, Washington) *:''The Crucifixion'' (1473, National Gallery of Art, Washington) *:''St Petronius'' (1473, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara) *:''11 other small pictures from altarpiece (1473, ?, ?) *''Madonna with the Child and Saints'' (1474, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna) *''Virgin and Child with an Angel'' (1460,

Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (, English: "National Art Museum of Catalonia"), abbreviated as MNAC, is a museum of Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Situated on Montjuïc hill at the end of Avinguda de la Reina M ...

, Barcelona) *Frescoes for Hall of Months, Palazzo Schifanoia, Ferrara (before 1470?) *:''Allegory of April: Triumph of Venus'' *:''Allegory of May: Triumph of Apollo'' *:''Allegory of March: Triumph of Minerva'' *''

Polyhymnia Polyhymnia (; el, Πολυύμνια, lit=the one of many hymns), alternatively Polymnia (Πολύμνια), was, in Greek mythology, the Muse of sacred poetry, sacred hymn, dance and eloquence, as well as agriculture and pantomime. Etymology ...

, the Muse of Many Songs'' *''Portrait of a Man with a ring'' (1472-1477,

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

)

In contemporary culture

The stained glass window was revealed to be the final answer of the Great Google Earth Treasure Hunt. Del Cossa features as one of the two protagonists in

Ali Smith Ali Smith CBE FRSL (born 24 August 1962) is a Scottish author, playwright, academic and journalist. Sebastian Barry described her in 2016 as "Scotland's Nobel laureate-in-waiting". Early life and education Smith was born in Inverness on 24 Au ...

's novel ''

How to Be Both ''How to Be Both'' is a 2014 novel by Scottish author Ali Smith, first published by Hamish Hamilton. It was shortlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize and the 2015 Folio Prize. It won the 2014 Goldsmiths Prize, the Novel Award in the 2014 Costa ...

'', short-listed for the

2014 Man Booker Prize The 2014 Man Booker Prize for fiction was awarded at a ceremony on 14 October 2014. Until 2014, only novels written in English and from authors in the Commonwealth, including the UK, the Republic of Ireland and Zimbabwe were eligible for considerati ...

.Ali Smith 2014, ''How to be both''. .

References

*''Encyclopedia of Artists, volume 2'', edited by William H. T. Vaughan, , 2000

External links

Web Gallery of Art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cossa, Francesco Italian Renaissance painters Painters from Ferrara Quattrocento painters 1430s births 1470s deaths Italian male painters 15th-century Italian painters