Altar Bentivoglio

Francesco Francia, who became the leading painter of Bologna, celebrated for his serene Madonnas and was praised by contemporaries including Raphael, created this work around 1498, now in the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna. This work reflects the artistic culture of Bologna during the High Renaissance, when the innovations of the early fifteenth century reached their mature expression in works of unprecedented technical and compositional sophistication.

The work shows methodical tempera application with careful underdrawing, layered pigment building, and the attention to proportional relationships and spatial coherence characteristic of Italian Renaissance painting.