BRIZIO Francesco

(Bologna about 1574 – 1623)

Son of Giovanni Ludovico and Orsolina Pizziroldi was born in Bologna around 1574. Initially he began his career as a shoemaker, but soon, seconded in his artistic tendencies by his stepfather, he became a pupil of the Bolognese painter Bartolomeo Passarotti. Subsequently he was first apprentice and then collaborator of Agostino and Ludovico Carracci. From Agostino he learned the art of engraving in which he was able to perform works of the highest quality. Together with Lucio Massari and Leonello Spada he collaborated on the frescoes of the Palazzo Bentivoglio lodges with stories of the Torquato Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberata.

He executed frescoes for the Conti Boschetti in Modena and for the Oratory of the Holy Trinity in Pieve di Cento. Under the guidance of Ludovico Carracci he painted decorations of the cloister of San Michele in Borgo in Bologna. Among his most prestigious works is the fresco with the Coronation of the Madonna del Borgo in the Cathedral of San Petronio. As an engraver he worked closely with Agostino Carracci so much that, according to some sources, he would have finished some of the master’s works.

Francesco Brizio died in Bologna in 1623 at the age of 49 leaving a son, Filippo, also a painter.