GAROFALO, BENVENUTO TISI called Il. - Painter, born probably in Ferrara in 1481, died there on 6 July 1559. He was called Il G. from his father’s hometown in the Polesine region. Initially a pupil of the Ferrarese Domenico Panetti, he then went to Cremona with Boccaccino; but for a considerable period he followed the style of Lorenzo Costa, as is evidenced, among other works, by the small, exquisitely naive Nativity of his youth in the Pinacoteca of Ferrara. He then came into direct contact with Giorgione, though he was also influenced by his fellow-countryman Dosso Dossi and by Raphael and the Roman school in general, incorporating into his figurative repertoire—naturally inclined to amiable idylls and realistic touches—schemes of learned archaeology and academic frigidity, of which a typical example is the Deposition (1527) in the Pinacoteca of Brera.
For several decades Il G. alternated between moments of pure convention, without further development, to the point of appearing a provincial and isolated laggard. Yet he attained a clear degree of elegance and expressive skill, a sure command of composition, and a polished palette.
In 1550 he became completely blind. Il G. left a large number of works, among which stand out the altarpieces in the Pinacoteca of Ferrara (the so-called Madonna delle Nubi [1514], del Pilastro, and del Riposo; the Slaughter of the Innocents [1516]; the Raising of Lazarus; the Adoration of the Magi [1537]; the Mantegnesque ceilings in the Ferrarese Palazzi Costabili and del Seminario [1539]; the imposing, almost veristic Madonna in Glory [1533] in the Galleria Estense of Modena; the Sacred Conversations in the Roman galleries of Doria, Capitolina, Borghese, and in the Museo Civico of Padua; a group of mythological subjects in the Dresden Gallery, among which the Triumph of Bacchus is especially noteworthy for its restrained and serene humanistic spirit, painted in his late period.