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Gaudenzio Ferrari was a Northern Italian painter and sculptor of the Renaissance. Gaudenzio was born at Valduggia, Piedmont, and allegedly learned painting at Vercelli from Girolamo Giovenone. He next studied in Milan, in the school of the Cathedral artisan Stefano Scotto, and some say of Bernardino Luini; towards 1504 he proceeded to Florence, and afterwards (it used to be alleged) to Rome. He ultimately died in Milan. He is not family of either of two Northern Italian painters of the same name, the Piedmontese Defendente Ferrari (c1490-1535) and the Vercelli native Eusebio Ferrari (1508-33).

His initial pictorial style may be considered as derived mainly from the old Milanese school, which had imbibed the classic influence of Leonardo and pupils such as Bramantino. However, the provincial impetus was also strong, as is demonstrated in his emotive work at the Sacro Monte of Varallo.

By 1513, Gaudenzio had depicted Christ’s Passion in a fresco at Santa Maria della Grazie in Varallo. He returned to work in the chapels of the Sacro Monte of Varallo by 1524. The chapels are dispersed over a hilltop sanctuary, connected by a winding path, and containing a combination of diorama and wax museum with life-size terracotta figures. He executed his most memorable work, a fresco of the Crucifixion, with a multitude of figures, no less than twenty-six of them being modeled in actual relief, and colored; on the vaulted ceiling are lamenting angels. The figures include goitrous bestial assailants.

There are other works which show flashes of innovation such as the crowded chorus decorating duomo of Santa Maria dei Miracoli in Saronno or his fresco of St Anne. This painting shows the overlap of Milanese realism and Venetian colorism.

He was a very prolific painter, distinguished by strong animation. In general character, his work suggests more to the 15th than the 16th century. His subjects were always of the sacred order. Besides his pLanini already mentioned, Andrea Solario, Giovanni Battista Cerva, Gian Paolo Lomazzo, and Fermo Stella were his principal students. Selected works:

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