Now, after Benvenuto had been two years in Cremona, and had made much progress under the discipline of Boccaccino, he went off in the year 1500, at the age of nineteen, to Rome, where, having placed himself with Giovanni Baldini, a Florentine painter of passing good skill, who possessed many very beautiful drawings by various excellent masters, he was constantly practising his hand on those drawings whenever he had time, and particularly at night. Then, after he had been fifteen months with that master and had seen to his great delight the works of Rome, he travelled for a time over various parts of Italy, and finally made his way to Mantua. There he stayed two years with the painter Lorenzo Costa, serving him with such lovingness, that Lorenzo, after that period of two years, in order to reward him, placed him in the service of Francesco Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, for whom Costa himself was working. But Benvenuto had not been long with the Marquis, when, his father Piero falling ill in Ferrara, he was forced to return to that city, where he stayed afterwards for four years together, executing many works by himself alone, and some in company with the Dossi.

Then, in the year 1505, being sent for by Messer Geronimo Sagrato, a gentleman of Ferrara, who was living in Rome, Benvenuto returned there with the greatest willingness, and particularly from a desire to see the miracles that were being related of Raffaello da Urbino and of the Chapel of Julius painted by Buonarroti. But when Benvenuto had arrived in Rome, he was struck with amazement, and almost with despair, by seeing the grace and vivacity that the pictures of Raffaello revealed, and the depth in the design of Michelagnolo. Wherefore he cursed the manners of Lombardy, and that which he had learned with so much study and effort at Mantua, and right willingly, if he had been able, would he have purged himself of all that knowledge; but he resolved, since there was no help for it, that he would unlearn it all, and, after the loss of so many years, change from a master into a disciple. And so he began to draw from such works as were the best and the most difficult, and to study with all possible diligence those greatly celebrated manners, and gave his attention to scarcely any other thing for a period of two whole years; by reason of which he so changed his method, transforming his bad manner into a good one, that notice was taken of him by the craftsmen. And, what was more, he so went to work with humility and every kind of loving service, that he became the friend of Raffaello da Urbino, who, being very courteous and not ungrateful, taught Benvenuto many things, and always assisted and favoured him.

If Benvenuto had pursued his studies in Rome, without a doubt he would have done things worthy of his beautiful genius; but he was constrained, I know not by what cause, to return to his own country. In taking leave of Raffaello, he promised that he would, as that master advised him, return to Rome, where Raffaello assured him that he would give him more than enough in the way of work, and that in honourable undertakings. Having then arrived in Ferrara, Benvenuto settled the affairs and despatched the business that had caused him to return; and he was preparing himself to make his way back to Rome, when the Lord Duke Alfonso of Ferrara set him to decorate a little chapel in the Castle, in company with other Ferrarese painters. That work finished, his departure was again delayed by the great courtesy of M. Antonio Costabili, a Ferrarese gentleman of much authority, who gave him an altar-piece to paint in oils for the high-altar of the Church of S. Andrea; which finished, he was forced to execute another for S. Bartolo, a convent of Cistercian Monks, wherein he painted the Adoration of the Magi, which was beautiful and much extolled. He then painted another for the Duomo, full of figures many and various, and two others that were placed in the Church of S. Spirito, in one of which is the Virgin in the air with the Child in her arms, and some other figures below, and in the other the Nativity of Jesus Christ.

THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS
(After the painting by Benvenuto Garofalo. Ferrara: Pinacoteca, 1519)
Alinari
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In executing those works, remembering at times how he had turned his back on Rome, he felt the bitterest regret; and he had resolved at all costs to return thither, when, his father Piero's death taking place, all his plans were broken off; for, finding himself burdened with a sister ready for a husband and a brother fourteen years of age, and his affairs in disorder, he was forced to compose his mind and resign himself to live in his native place. And so, after parting company with the Dossi, who had worked with him up to that time, he painted by himself in the Church of S. Francesco, in a little chapel, the Raising of Lazarus, a work filled with a variety of good figures, and pleasant in colouring, with attitudes spirited and vivacious, which brought him much commendation. In another chapel in the same church he painted the Massacre of the Innocents, cruelly done to death by Herod, so well and with such spirited movements in the soldiers and other figures, that it was a marvel. Very well depicted, in addition, are different expressions in the great variety of heads, such as terror in the mothers and nurses, death in the infants, and cruelty in the slayers, and many other things, which gave infinite satisfaction. It is worthy of remark that in executing that work Benvenuto did a thing that up to that time had never been done in Lombardy—namely, he made models of clay, the better to see the shadows and lights, and availed himself of a figure-model made of wood, jointed in such a way that the limbs moved in every direction, which he arranged as he wished, in various attitudes, with draperies over it. But what is most important is that he copied every least detail from life and nature, as one who knew that the true way is to observe and imitate the reality. For the same church he executed the altar-piece of a chapel; and on a wall he painted in fresco Christ taken by the multitude in the Garden.

For S. Domenico, in the same city, he painted two altar-pieces in oils; in one is the Miracle of the Cross and S. Helen, and in the other is S. Peter Martyr with a good number of very beautiful figures, wherein it is evident that Benvenuto departed considerably from his first manner, making it bolder and less laboured. For the Nuns of S. Salvestro he painted an altar-picture of Christ praying to His Father on the Mount, while the three Apostles are lower down, sleeping. For the Nuns of S. Gabriello he executed an Annunciation, and for those of S. Antonio, in the altar-piece of their high-altar, the Resurrection of Christ. For the high-altar of the Frati Ingesuati, in the Church of S. Girolamo, he painted Jesus Christ in the Manger, with a choir of Angels on a cloud, held to be very beautiful. In S. Maria del Vado, in an altar-piece by the same hand, very well conceived and coloured, is Christ ascending into Heaven, with the Apostles standing in contemplation of Him. For the Church of S. Giorgio, a seat of the Monks of Monte Oliveto, without the city, he painted an altar-piece in oils of the Magi adoring Christ and offering to Him myrrh, incense, and gold; and this is one of the best works that Benvenuto ever executed in all his life.

All these works much pleased the people of Ferrara, by reason of which he executed pictures almost without number for their houses, and many others for monasteries and for the townships and villas round about the city; and, among others, he painted the Resurrection of Christ in an altar-piece for Bondeno. And, finally, he executed in fresco with beautiful and fantastic invention, in the Refectory of S. Andrea, many figures that are bringing the Old Testament into accord with the New. But, since the works of this master are numberless, let it be enough to have spoken of those that are the best.

Girolamo da Carpi having received his first instructions in painting from Benvenuto, as will be related in his Life, they painted in company the façade of the house of the Muzzarelli, in the Borgo Nuovo, partly in chiaroscuro and partly in colours, with some things done in imitation of bronze. They painted together, likewise, both within and without, the Palace of Coppara, a place of recreation belonging to the Duke of Ferrara; for which lord Benvenuto executed many other works, both by himself and in company with other painters.