Roberti, Ercole (d’Antonio) de’ [Grandi, Ercole (di Giulio Cesare) de’]
(b Ferrara, c. 1455–6; d 18 May–1 July 1496).
Italian painter and draughtsman. He was, together with Cosimo Tura and Francesco del Cossa, one of the most important painters working in Ferrara and Bologna in the 15th century. Although many of his works have been destroyed, those that survive show that he raised the depiction of human emotion and narrative drama to remarkable heights. From 1486 he worked as court painter to Ercole I d’Este, Duke of Ferrara.
Kristen Lippincott