Garofalo

Benvenuto Tisi - called Garofalo - was one of the leading painters working in Ferrara in the earlier 16th century, about the same time as Dosso Dossi.

Garofalo is best known for his many small and carefully painted representations of religious subjects. He was also the author of altarpieces and mythological scenes, and fresco decorations, such as those in the Palace of Lodovico il Moro in Ferrara.

Garofalo was probably trained by Boccaccini of Cremona, who was in Ferrara from 1497 to 1500. According to Vasari, Garofalo twice visited Rome, and knowledge of classical art and recent Roman painting is apparent in some of his work. Even so, and unlike Dosso, Garofalo appears cautious and old-fashioned in his style and technique. In this he resembles his lesser contemporaries in Ferrara, Ludovico Mazzolino, who also specialised in small-scale religious works, and Ortolano, with whose paintings those of Garofalo are sometimes confused.

Text © The National Gallery, London, 2021