COSTA, Lorenzo the Younger

Italian painter, probably the son of Ippolito Costa (1506-1561), grandson of Lorenzo Costa the Elder. It is likely that his early training was with his father in Mantua in the period after the death (1546) of Giulio Romano, when the architect Giovanni Battista Bertani was a major influence. Three of Lorenzo's paintings are mentioned in a document dated 1560; in 1561 he was paid for a banner (untraced) for the chapter houseGLOSSARYin English cathedrals and monasteries, a room or hall for meetings of the chapter (governing body); usually polygonal or round in plan. of Mantua CathedralGLOSSARYThe principal church of a province or diocese, where the throne of the bishop is placed. For reasons lost to time and tradition, a cathedral always faces west - toward the setting sun. The altar is placed at the east end. The main body, or nave, of the cathedral is usually divided into one main and two side aisles. These lead up to the north and south transepts, or arms of the cross, the shape in which a cathedral is usually formed..

From 1561 to 1564 he was in Rome, where he worked at the Vatican with Federico Zuccaro on decorations for the Borgia tower, the tribunal of the Ruota, the Belvedere and the Casino of Pius IV. In 1564 he was still in Rome, painting a series of papal portraits for Alfonso Gonzaga of Novellara. In this period he became acquainted with Bertani, with whom he worked on altarpieces for Santa Barbara in Mantua; he received payments between 1569 and 1572 for the Baptism of Constantine and the MartyrdomGLOSSARYthe sufferings, torture and death inflicted on a person on account of his faith or convictions. of St Adrian, based on drawings by Bertani.