FERRARI, GAUDENZIO (c. 1480-1546), Italian painter of the Lombard school, was born at Valduggia, Piedmont, then in the duchy of Milan. His mother was a member of the Vincio family of Varallo, and her name is used in the signatures of his early works. Lomazzo, who must have been a lad at the time of Gaudenzio's death, and who as a pupil of one of Gaudenzio's pupils was certainly well informed, says that he studied at Milan under Stefano Scotto, a painter of whom little is known, and then under Bernardino Luini. He was also influenced by Bramantino. Before going to Milan he may have studied at Vercelli, which seems to have been an artistic centre of followers of the original Lombard school, who here continued in their local traditions, while Leonardo da Vinci's influence was revolutionizing art at Milan. Although Gaudenzio is not so well known as other masters of the Italian Renaissance, and has not received the appreciation which he deserved owing to the circumstance that his chief work was executed in fresco in remote country districts, he was un doubtedly the leading artist of the Lombard-Piedmontese school. Giovanni Morelli says of him : "He does not possess the charm of Luini, neither is his work so finished, but he occupied a far higher place in all that regards invention, dramatic life and pic torial gift. He loses his equilibrium sometimes owing to his fiery temperament and becomes affected and baroque ; his large com positions are often overcrowded with figures; at his best, however, he need not fear comparison with even Raphael." Lomazzo went so far as to place him seventh among the chief painters of Italy.
His early work was don e chiefly at Varallo, where he painted frescoes in the chapel of St: Margaret in the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (c. 1508), and a screen across that church representing 21 scenes from "the Life of Christ" (1513) . He also undertook the decoration of the chapels which were being built on the Sacro Monte, a task which occupied him at intervals for many years. In 1510 and 1511 he painted an ancona for the church of Santa Maria at Arona, in 1514 he worked at Novara on the altar piece of San Gaudenzio, which established his fame, and secured him further commissions at Novara and Morbegno. In 1528 he settled at Vercelli and there painted for the church of St. Christo pher an altarpiece (152 9) and frescoes representing scenes from "the Life of St. Mary Magdalene" (153o to 1532) and from "the Life of the Virgin" (1532-34). In 1535 he was at Saronno deco rating the cupola of the church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli with the fresco of "a Choir. of Angels." After spending two more years at Varallo, he went to Milan in 1539 where he painted various frescoes in the churches of Santa Maria delle Grazie, della Pas sione, etc. He died in Milan on Jan. 31, 1546. During the last period he employed as assistants Bernardino Lanino, Fermo Stella, G. B. della Cerva. G. Giovenone was one of his pupils. Gaudenzio combined painting and modelling to a certain extent by the use of gesso in his early frescoes to represent metal in armour and trappings. In his decorations for the chapels of the Sacro Monte at Varallo he made an ambitious attempt to wield the two arts with one intention by placing coloured terra cotta groups against a frescoed background. Further important works of the master, who was a prolific worker, are to be found in the national collections of London, Paris, Berlin, Milan, Turin and Bergamo, in the cathedrals of Como and Casale Monferrato, and in the churches of Bergamo, Bellagio, Buto Arsizio and Canobbio; and the fine "Nativity" of Dorchester house, sold at Christi's auction rooms. A good many of Gaudenzio's drawings and car toons are to be found in the Royal library at Turin and the Biblioteca Albertina.