Francesco del Cossa

(Ferrara 1435 - 1477)

Francesco del Cossa was an Italian painter. He was disciple of Cosme Tura. He realized his first artwork, which was the painting from the high altar of the Episcopal Palace in Ferrara, when he was the assistant of his father Cristofano del Cossa.

He distinguished himself by the realization of the frescoes of the Palazzo Shifanoia (Ferrara). He gave up this work, which was completed following his projects, and moved to Bologna, where the powerful Bentivoglio family commissioned from him several artworks, which can be considered as the best ones. Cossa was at the front of the School of Ferrara with Hercules Roberti and Cosme Tura. This school distinguished itself by the austerity of the compositions, the simplification of the flats and the calm distribution of the colours as well as by the mastery in the indication of fleeting movements and the treatment of the articulations with great skill.

Cossa's main artworks are preserved in Bologna: Virgin with Saint Petronio, Saint John the Evangelist and Alberto De’ Catanei, 1474. In San Juan in Monte we can find two wonderful stained glass windows: Saint John in Patmos and The Virgin; and the frescoes of the Madonna del Baracano. Some important artworks by Cossa are in the museums of Berlin, Dresden, London (Saint Vincent Ferrer), Venice, Milan, the Spiridon collection in Paris and The Vatican Museums, in Rome. In the new catalogue of El Prado Museum there are some paintings, which are marked with the numbers 123-126, that have been attributed to some artists from the Cossa’s school. Actually, the works are previous to Cossa, so they are trying to investigate the real authorship.