The ''Bentivoglio Altarpiece'' is a painting by the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Renaissance painter

Lorenzo Costa the Elder Lorenzo Costa (1460 – 5 March 1535) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance. Biography He was born at Ferrara, but moved to Bologna by his early twenties, and was probably influenced by the Bolognese School. However, many artists worked in ...

, dating to August 1488. It is displayed in the Bentivoglio Chapel of the church of

San Giacomo Maggiore The Basilica of San Giacomo Maggiore is an historic Roman Catholic church in Bologna, region of Emilia Romagna, Italy, serving a monastery of Augustinian friars. It was built starting in 1267 and houses, among the rest, the Bentivoglio Chapel, f ...

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, 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 1 ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. It was commissioned by

Giovanni II Bentivoglio Giovanni II Bentivoglio (12 February 144315 February 1508) was an Italian nobleman who ruled as tyrant of Bologna from 1463 until 1506. He had no formal position, but held power as the city's "first citizen." The Bentivoglio family ruled over Bo ...

, lord of Bologna, as a thanksgiving for the family's escape from an attempted massacre by the Malvezzi famil

Description

The painting is a large canvas, executed by Costa together with other two works on the chapel's walls, the ''Triumph of Fame'' and the ''Triumph of Death''. It features, above a sumptuous Renaissance architecture, a marble altar with a rich frieze; at the top of is a throne on which the Madonna and Child sit. At the sides, kneeling, are the two donor husband and wife,

and

Ginevra Sforza Ginevra Sforza (144016 May 1507) was the wife and counselor of Giovanni II Bentivoglio, lord of Bologna. Birth and first marriage Ginevra Sforza was born in Ancona in 1440, the illegitimate daughter of Alessandro Sforza, Lord of Pesaro. She mar ...

. In the foreground, at the feet of the throne, are their eleven children. On the left are the daughters (from left, Camilla, Bianca, Francesca, Violante - future spouse of

Pandolfo IV Malatesta Pandolfo IV Malatesta, nicknamed Pandolfaccio (Bad Pandulph) (July 1475 – June 1534) was an Italian condottiero and lord of Rimini and other cities in Romagna. He was a member of the House of Malatesta and a minor player in the Italian Wars. ...

, Laura, Isotta and Eleonora); on the right the four children (

Ermes ERMES (European Radio Messaging System or Enhanced Radio Messaging System) was a pan-European radio paging system. Technical specification In 1990, the European Telecommunications Standard Institute ( ETSI) developed the European Telecommunication ...

Alessandro Alessandro is both a given name and a surname, the Italian form of the name Alexander. Notable people with the name include: People with the given name Alessandro * Alessandro Allori (1535–1607), Italian portrait painter * Alessandro Baricco ...

, Anton Galeazzo and the elder one, Annibale).

Sources

* {{15C-painting-stub 1488 paintings Paintings by Lorenzo Costa the Elder Paintings in Bologna Paintings of the Madonna and Child Altarpieces