Con Parmigianino a Viadana: Gerolamo Bedoli (1508? – 1569) nella bottega dei Mazzola

The essay speaks about the beginnings of Gerolamo Bedoli in the atelier of the Mazzolas, parallel to the activity of Parmigianino between the years 1520 and 1521, suggesting a datebirth for Bedoli different from the year 1500. In the essay, first, the juvenile paintings of Parmigianino are taken into consideration with particular attention to a Marriage of the Virgin of the Parma National Gallery and to three fresco fragments kept in Lovere. Then, after observing that there is no news of any works by Bedoli before the year 1531, the author dwells upon the painters of the Mazzola family (Filippo, Pierilario, Michele, Zaccaria and Francesco) and analyzes the family atellier, founded by Filippo Mazzola, the adopted child of painter Francesco Tacconi and the pupil in Venice of Giovanni Bellini. When Filippo dies, the atelier goes to his brother Pierilario who eventually adopts his orphan nephews Zaccaria and Francesco. As a tutor, Pierilario signs the contracts with Parmigianino until he is under age but he also signs the contracts with Bedoli until 1533. Thus if Bedoli was under age in 1533 and was referred to by Vasari as a “putto” when he was in Viadana, between 1521 and 1522, then his birthdate will not be 1500 but 1508, and consequently in 1521 he was a just a boy entering, as an apprentice, the atelier of the Mazzolas.