Lorenzo Costa

(b Mantua, 1537; d Mantua, 1583). Probably the son of (2) Ippolito Costa. It is likely that his early training was with his father in Mantua in the period after the death (1546) of Giulio Romano, when the architect Giovanni Battista Bertani was a major influence. Three of Lorenzo's paintings are mentioned in a document dated 1560; in 1561 he was paid for a banner (untraced) for the chapter house of Mantua Cathedral. From 1561 to 1564 he was in Rome, where he worked at the Vatican with Federico Zuccaro on decorations for the Borgia tower, the tribunal of the Ruota, the Belvedere and the Casino of Pius IV. In 1564 he was still in Rome, painting a series of papal portraits for Alfonso Gonzaga of Novellara. In this period he became acquainted with Bertani, with whom he worked on altarpieces for S Barbara in Mantua; he received payments between 1569 and 1572 for the Baptism of Constantine and the Martyrdom of St Adrian, based on drawings by Bertani.

Part of the Costa family

See the Abbreviations for further details.

Holy Family by Lorenzo Costa, at the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon.

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Lorenzo Costa (1460 – March 5, 1535) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance. He was born at Ferrara, but moved to Bologna by the his early twenties, and would be more influential to the Bolognese school of painting. However, many artists worked in both nearby cities, and thus others consider him a product of the School of Ferrara. There are claims that he trained with Cosimo Tura.

In 1483 he painted his famous Madonna and Child with the Bentivoglio family, and other frescoes, on the walls of the Bentivoglio chapel in San Giacomo Maggiore, and he followed this with many other works. He was a great friend of Francesco Francia, who was much influenced by him. In 1509 he went to Mantua, where his patron was the Marquis Francesco Gonzaga, and he eventually died there. His Madonna and Child enthroned is in the National Gallery, London, but his chief works are at Bologna. His sons, Ippolito and Girolamo, were also painters, and so was Girolamo's son, Lorenzo the younger (1537-1583). Many contemporaries who worked with or below him include Cosimo Tura, Dosso Dossi, Ludovico Mazzolino and the painter, Niccolò Pisano (1470 – 1538).

Costa Paintings

Concert at National Gallery, London	Saint Sebastian, at Uffizi Gallery	Lady with Lap-Dog	Lesende Maria
Crowning of the Madonna with Saints	Saint Cecily's Charity	Allegory of the Court of Isabelle d'Este	The Reign of Comus

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

External links

• Lorenzo Costa at the Louvre.

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