School of Ferrara. Pupil of Costa. Called “the Ariosto of painting,” from his powerful fancy and grandiose imagination. A minor example of his work is in the National Gallery-No, 1234, A Muse instructing a Court Poet, and two at Hampton Court-the Holy Family, and St. William. His best picture is the Circe noticed below.
ROME, SORGHESE GALLERY
CIRCE A square picture. The enchantress is seated in the centre of a magic circle, facing us, richly dressed in a brocaded robe and gold turban. Her right hand holds up a large tablet on her right knee, her left hand plunges a wand into a fire on her right. She looks upwards at some trees on the left, on which are hung dead children, and at the foot of which are a dog, a duck, and a pigeon, perched on a cuirass. The background is a most beautiful and varied landscape.