Castello del Buonconsiglio monumenti e collezioni provinciali

Marcello Fogolino (1483/88-1558?)

The exact date of Fogolino’s birth is unknown, although he was probably born in Vicenza around the period of 1483 to 1488, to a family of Friuli origin. Marcello Fogolino was the longest serving artist to the Prince-Bishop Bernardo Cles. He contributed towards the presence of Renaissance style painting in the region of Trentino, together with Romanino and Dossi, putting to work his particular aptitude of rapidly assuming diverse pictorial languages.

His artistic background came mainly from his father, who was also an artist. He was later in Venice, where he declared to have worked for eight years, before which it appears he worked in Pordenone in the early 1520s where he carried out different jobs, including that of the two altarpieces in the Cathedral. In 1526, along with his brother Matteo who was also a painter, he was accused of having murdered a barber in Friuli, and so the two escaped justice in Udine, and were banned from the Venetian Republic. They arrived in Trento in 1527, obtaining immunity from arrest, which was granted them by the Venetian Republic on different occasions in exchange for political information.

After a difficult period caused by the lack of work, the occasion arose for Fogolino to participate in the works being carried out for the decoration of Bernardo Cles’s Magno Palazzo. Once the Venetian artist had won the Cardinal’s favour in 1531 when he started in his service, he began frescoing some of the friezes on the façade of the building. He continued his work with the series of Roman emperors and episodes in the life of Julius Caesar in the Terrena Room of the Torrion da Basso, showing himself not indifferent to the suggestions of the style of Dosso and Romanino.

The activity carried out for the Prince-Bishop was not limited to work in the Buonconsiglio Castle, but until 1535-36 also extended to the surrounding buildings owned by the Prince-Bishop, including Castle Selva near Levico, Cavalese Palace, Castle Cles and Castle Toblino.

Fogolino’s work in Trento can be seen in the frescoes in the ground floor rooms of Palazzo Sardagna and part of the façade of the Casa Cazuffi in piazza Duomo. He also carried out intensive work on sacred paintings, realising altarpieces for churches in the city (the Cathedral and S.Marco) and in the surrounding areas (Sardagna, Povo, Caneve, Calavino). Fogolino’s stay in Trento was often interrupted by trips back to Friuli, and in 1547 he decorated the salon of the bishop’s residence in Ascoli Piceno, having probably previously met Bishop Roverella during his works for the Council in Trento.

Once again in Trento in the 1540s, he concluded work for the then new Prince-Bishop, Cristoforo Madruzzo, finishing the decoration for his newly built suburban villa, Palazzo delle Albere. In 1548 he frescoed the Prince-Bishop’s chapel in Brixen which was later destroyed.
In 1558 a letter arrived in Trento from Innsbruck regarding Fogolino's account and the amount for work carried out in the decoration of the imperial residence of the same city. This is the last document regarding Fogolino, and it is yet unknown if he was still alive at the date of writing.