Franco Bolognese

Franco Bolognese (14th century) was an Italian illuminator, cited by Dante as having supplanted Oderisio da Gubbio as the leading artist in his field.

There are no documents recording him nor any signed or documented works. Dante's name for him, Bolognese, likely indicates that he mainly worked elsewhere, probably in Padua. The accounts of his activity at the papal court by Vasari and Malvasia are thought to be fictitious; the signature on the Madonna of the Malvezzi collection signed and dated to 1313 is thought to be a forgery, as it has been attributed to the 15th century Michele di Matteo da Bologna by Robert Longhi.

While most art historians have considered him a 13th-century Byzantinising artist, Salmi suggested him to be a Giotto-influenced artist of choirbooks in Modena.

Dante's comparison indicates a 14th-century artist, and an intervention in Francesco da Barberino's Offizuolo similar to Dante's comparison suggests he might be the 'Maestro del 1328' working in an idiom parallel to, rather than dependent upon, Giotto. His influence upon Bolognese painters claimed by Malvasia was probably indirect.

Franco B. is described as having supplanted his predecessor, 'Oderisi', in Divine Comedy by Oderisi himself.

Sources

• {{cite book}} Alessandro Conti, Italic textLa miniature bologneseItalic text, ALFA, Bologna, 1981, esp. pp. 7, 39, 44.

Giovanni Valagussa in Dizionario Biografico dei miniatori italiani, ed. Milvia Bollati, Sylvestre Bonnard, Milan, 2004, pp. 239-40, and M. Medica, ibid., pp. 473-75. Officiolum di Francesco da BarberinoItalic text, ed. Carlo Bertoncello Brotto and Enrico Malato, Salerno, Rome, 2015, fols. 169-72 (out of original sequence),and Commentario, ed. Sandra Bertelli et al, Salerno, Rome, 2016.