IPPOLITO SCARSELLA, CALLED SCARSELLINO (FERRARA 1560-1620)

This representation of Saint Helen was recognized as the work of the Ferrarese painter Scarsellino first by Giuliano Brianti (private communication, 2 September 1984), an attribution endorsed in turn by Frederico Zeri (private communication, 28 January 1985). It was likely painted around 1600, the same time as Scarsellino’s altarpiece depicting the Virgin and Child with Saints Mary Magdalene, Peter, Clare, Francis and an Abbess in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (inv. no. 97.118).

Born in Ferrara in the mid-sixteenth century, Scarsellino became one of the city's foremost painters. According to Girolamo Baruffaldi, he had an early apprenticeship with his father, Sigismondo Scarsella, an architect and painter. Scarsellino’s earliest works combine Mannerist elements from both the Ferrara and Parma Schools, probably influenced by Girolamo da Carpi. He then went to Venice, where from circa 1570 he reputedly trained for four years in Paolo Veronese’s workshop. Upon his return to Ferrara, Scarsellino received commissions for a considerable number of church altarpieces, as well as cabinet pictures and small, elegant scenes of courtly life. In the works that the artist made after 1600, Emilian influences are more clearly evident. While the impact of his Venetian sojourn was evident in his work, after 1600 the influences of his fellow Emilian painters became more pronounced.