Bagnacavallo

(b Bagnacavallo, 1484; d Bologna, 1542). Italian painter. In Bologna by 1503, he probably entered the prosperous workshop of Francesco Francia, whose style is apparent in the early half-length Holy Family (Urbino, Pal. Ducale). By the second decade of the 16th century, Bagnacavallo was well established in Bologna, although most of the paintings recorded in this period remain untraced. The earliest securely dated work is the Crucifixion painted in 1522 for the chapel of the Boncompagni family in S Pietro, Bologna (in situ). According to Vasari, Bagnacavallo travelled to Rome during Raphael's sojourn there (1508-20) accompanied by Biagio Pupini, with whom he collaborated on the frescoes (destr.) for S Pietro in Vincoli, Rome. The nature of Bagnacavallo's relationship to Raphael is uncertain, but the common assertion that he worked as an assistant on the decoration of the Vatican Logge is unsubstantiated. That Raphael was the dominant influence on Bagnacavallo's mature career is, however, evident from such paintings as the Virgin and Child Enthroned with SS Roch and Sebastian (Bologna, S Maria della Purificazione and S Domenico della Mascarella) and the Virgin and Child in Glory with Saints (Bologna, S Donnini). Bagnacavallo's son, Giovanni Battista Ramenghi (1521-1601), was also a painter, whose work was influenced by the schools of Fontainebleau and Bologna.

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