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Ercole
de' Roberti (c. 1451 – 1496), also known as Ercole
Ferrarese or Ercole da Ferrara, was an Italian artist
of the Early Renaissance and the School of Ferrara.
He was profiled in Vasari's Le Vite delle più
eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori.
The son of the doorkeeper at the Este castle, Ercole
later held the position of court artist for the Este
family in Ferrara. According to Vasari:
Ercole had an extraordinary love of wine, and his
frequent drunkenness did much to shorten his life,
which he had enjoyed without any accident up to the
age of forty, when he was smitten one day by apoplexy,
which made an end of him in a short time.
Paintings by Ercole are rare. His life was short and
many of his works have been destroyed.
By 1473, when he was 17, Ercole had left Ferrara and
was working in Bologna in the studio of Francesco
del Cossa. (According to Vasari, Ercole also apprenticed
under Lorenzo Costa in Bologna, but this seems unlikely
as he was Lorenzo's senior by seveal years).He is
known to have collaborated in the frescoes of Palazzo
Schifanoia.
Ercole's first mature works are his contributions
to the Griffoni Chapel for the San Petronio Basilica
in Bologna: a predella depicting the Miracles of St
Vincent Ferrer (c.1473) (now in the Pinacoteca of
the Vatican), and lateral pilasters for the altarpiece
commissioned from del Cossa.
In 1480, Ercole created a large altarpiece with a
Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints for Santa
Maria in Porto in Ravenna, which is now in the Brera,
Milan. Portraits of Giovanni II Bentivoglio and Ginevra
Bentivoglio attributed to Ercole de' Roberti (c. 1480)
are in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Ercole succeeded Cosmè Tura as court painter
to the Este family in Ferrara around 1486. His role
apparently went far beyond making art: he accompanied
Alfonso d'Este on a papal visit to Rome, served as
wardrobe manager for Isabella d'Este's wedding in
Mantua, and may even have made salamis.
A painting of Portia and Brutus (c. 1486-90), believed
to be painted for Eleonora of Aragon, duchess of Ferrara,
is in the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas. Ercole's
painting of Saint Jerome in the Wilderness from this
period is in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum,
Los Angeles.
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