CRIVELLI, TADDEO. - Illuminator and painter, also known as Taddeo da Ferrara, born between 1420 and 1430 (whether in Mantua or Milan is uncertain), died between 1476 and 1485. In 1451 he was in Ferrara, where he executed, among other works, the famous Bible of Borso d'Este (Modena, Biblioteca Estense), completed between 1455 and 1461, with the collaboration of other illuminators, including Franco de' Russi, Giorgio d'Alemagna, and Marco dell'Avogaro (v. BIBBIA). After the death of Borso, his patron, he lived in straitened circumstances in Bologna, producing the Choir Books for S. Procolo and beginning those for S. Petronio, which were completed by Martino da Modena.
Also attributed to him are the Decameron in Lord Leicester's library at Holkham and the Treatise of s. Agostino on the Gospel of s. Giovanni in the Biblioteca Malatestiana at Cesena.
An extremely refined artist, he enriched his initial Lombard training with Venetian, Piero della Francesca, and Florentine elements, blending late-Gothic decorative richness with Renaissance restraint and clarity.