Ludovico Mazzolino

Ludovico Mazzolino was an Italian Renaissance painter active in Ferrara and Bologna. He was born and died in Ferrara and appears to have studied under Lorenzo Costa (1460 – 1535) of the School of Ferrara and Bolognese School of painting, who also trained Dosso Dossi (1490 – 1542). Mazzolino was also influenced by Il Garofalo (1481 – 1559) and Boccaccino (1467 – 1525). Much of his work was commissioned by the duke Ercole I d'Este (1431 – 1505) from Ferrara. He is known for devotional cabinet pictures, in a style somewhat regressive, or primitive, in comparison to the modern classicism then emerging.

For example, his Massacre canvas has a turbulent and cartoon-like crowding. Then there is his work Adoration of the Shepherds, now at the Uffizi Gallery; this piece shows an influence of Amico Aspertini (1474 – 1552), a forerunner of the Bolognese School. This is seen in the “whimsical touches of the narrative and the fairy-tale mountain landscape… with his complex composition of angels in glory.” (Kren and Marx, Web Gallery of Art)

There is also his Madonna and Child with Saints, in the Uffizi, a large-scale, decorative work, where Mazzolino constructs “an intricate and highly refined series of gold brushstrokes, which he uses for the setting, the doors and on the robe of Saint Joachim.” (Kren and Marx, Web Gallery of Art) His other works also in the Uffizi include, Circumcision and, his Slaughter of the Innocents.

Additional to the influences mentioned, Mazzolino’s style could sometimes show a broad exposure from Northern European art to the masterworks of Raphael.

(Some of this text was taken from the www.wikipedia.org entry on Mazzolino, available under the GNU Free Documentation license.)