Melozzo da Forli

Melozzo da Forlì , 1438-94, Umbrian painter. His extant works, though few, reveal him as a painter of power and individuality. He is especially notable for his bold foreshortening, in the use of which, particularly in vaultings, he was a pioneer. His known works include the great fresco of the Ascension, in the cupola of the Church of the Santi Apostoli, Rome (Quirinal Palace, Rome); a fresco, Pope Sixtus IV Giving Custody of the Vatican Library to Platina, painted for the Vatican Library, and Angels Making Music, a fragment (Vatican).

Melozzo da Forlì (1438–94). Italian painter from Forlì in the Romagna, active mainly in Loreto, Rome, and Urbino. He was an attractive and idiosyncratic painter who achieved a high reputation in his time, but little of his work survives intact and he has been a neglected figure until fairly recently. His style was indebted to Piero della Francesca and he was renowned for his skill in perspective and illusionism; he was, indeed, credited with being the inventor of the extreme form of foreshortening known as di sotto in sù, of which Mantegna was another great exponent. Melozzo's skill in this field is seen in his fresco of the Ascension (1478–80) for the dome of SS. Apostoli in Rome, fragments of which are in the Quirinal Palace and the Vatican.

Melozzo da Forlì (b Forlì, 8 June 1438; d Forlì, 8 Nov. 1494). Italian painter, active mainly in Loreto, Rome, and Urbino. He was an attractive and idiosyncratic painter who achieved a high reputation in his time, but little of his work survives intact and he has been a neglected figure until fairly recently. His style was indebted to Piero della Francesca and he was renowned for his skill in perspective and illusionism; he was, indeed, credited with being the inventor of the extreme form of foreshortening known as sotto in sù, of which Mantegna was another great exponent. Melozzo's skill in this field is seen in his fresco of the Ascension (1478–80) for the dome of SS. Apostoli in Rome, fragments of which are in the Quirinal Palace and the Vatican.