Updated October 2026 · ranked by our popularity score (searches, visits and orders for each work) · 28 works by Dosso Dossi in our catalogue
In short
To the gallery's eye, Dosso Dossi's most famous painting is Portrait of a Gentleman (1520), whose original hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia. The Holy Family, with the Young Saint John the Baptist, a Cat, and Two Donors (1512) and The Holy Family (1516) complete the trio every eye recognises. Of the 28 works by Dosso Dossi in our catalog, the gallery presents the 28 most famous below, each original with its year, its museum and what makes it unique.
A middle-aged man emerges from a deep, somber darkness, his presence defined by the sharp application of light upon his face and hands. He wears a dark cap with heavy, sculptural folds and a high-collared garment that absorbs the surrounding shadows. His expression is intense, directed away from the viewer toward an unseen point to the left. This chiaroscuro effect isolates the figure, creating a profound psychological weight that separates…
The Holy Family, with the Young Saint John the Baptist, a Cat, and Two Donors is a work by Dosso Dossi, the artist also known as Giovanni de' Luteri. Executed in 1512, the painting was conceived as an altarpiece, characterized by its large scale and vertical format.
The Holy Family is a painting created by the artist Dosso Dossi. This work belongs to the category of paintings and was executed using oil on canvas. The composition depicts a group of figures, including Joseph, Mary, and the Christ Child, situated within a landscape that features both classical architecture and dense foliage.
Portrait of a Man Wearing a Black Beret1530 · Nationalmuseum
12
Portrait of a Man1519
13
Portrait of Ercole I d'Este1526 · Galleria Estense
14
Learned Man of AntiquityChrysler Museum of Art
15
Sapiente con compasso e globoPinacoteca Nazionale
16
Adoration of the Christ ChildGalleria Estense
17
Scenes from the Aeneid: The Sicilian GamesBarber Institute of Fine Arts
18
Madonna and Child with Saints John the Baptist and Jerome.
19
Ceres (Bildnis der römischen Göttin Ceres)
20
Female portrait
21
Allegory
22
Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara1530 · National Gallery of Victoria
23
Ercole e i pigmei1535 · Universalmuseum Joanneum
24
Mythological Scene1524 · J. Paul Getty Museum
25
Landscape with saints1527 · Pushkin State Museum
26
Aeneas at the Entrance to the Elysian Fields1520 · National Gallery of Canada
27
An Allegory of Fortune1530 · J. Paul Getty Museum
28
Travellers in a Forest1520 · Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie
The four subjects that come back most often in these originals, each with its finest example.
The 8 museums that hold the most of the paintings on this page.
| Museum | City | Works by Dosso Dossi | Paintings from this list |
|---|---|---|---|
 Philadelphia Museum of Art |
Philadelphia | 2 | Portrait of a Gentleman, The Holy Family, with the Young Saint John the Baptist, a Cat, and Two Donors |
 Royal Collection |
London | 2 | Saint William, The Holy Family |
 Galleria Estense |
Modena | 2 | Portrait of Ercole I d'Este, Adoration of the Christ Child |
 J. Paul Getty Museum |
Los Angeles | 2 | Mythological Scene, An Allegory of Fortune |
 Detroit Institute of Arts |
Detroit | 1 | The Holy Family |
 Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya |
1 | Triumph of Bacchus | |
 Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art |
Providence | 1 | Entry into the Ark |
 Kunsthistorisches Museum |
Vienna | 1 | Saint Jerome |
Pick a decade to see the original that defines it.
The Holy Family, with the Young Saint John the Baptist, a Cat, and Two Donors is a work by Dosso Dossi, the artist also known as Giovanni de' Luteri. Executed in 1512, the painting was conceived as an altarpiece, characterized by its large scale and vertical format.
A middle-aged man emerges from a deep, somber darkness, his presence defined by the sharp application of light upon his face and hands. He wears a dark cap with heavy, sculptural folds and a high-collared garment that absorbs the surrounding shadows. His expression is intense, directed away from the viewer toward an unseen point to the left. This chiaroscuro effect isolates the figure, creating a profound psychological weight that separates…
Portrait of a Gentleman (1520), Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia. The Holy Family, with the Young Saint John the Baptist, a Cat, and Two Donors (1512) and The Holy Family (1516) come next.
40 years old: Portrait of a Gentleman dates from 1520, and Dosso Dossi was born in 1480.
Portrait of a Gentleman, The Holy Family, with the Young Saint John the Baptist, a Cat, and Two Donors, The Holy Family, Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, Triumph of Bacchus, Entry into the Ark, Ceres, Saint William, The Holy Family and Saint Jerome. The ranking above gives each one's year and museum.
Our catalog holds 28 works by Dosso Dossi, dated from 1510 to 1535.
Mostly in Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia), Royal Collection (London) and Galleria Estense (Modena). The museum table above lists them all.
In 1520s: 9 of the 28 works on this page were made then, Portrait of a Gentleman among them.
On this page, the earliest is Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian (1510) and the latest Ercole e i pigmei (1535).
Man (4), Landscape (4) and Tree (3), across the 28 works on this page.
Oil On Canvas, for 4 of the 28 works on this page.
High renaissance and Renaissance, judging by the originals on this page.
Portrait of a Gentleman and The Holy Family, with the Young Saint John the Baptist, a Cat, and Two Donors: the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia holds 2 of the works on this page.
Giovanni di Niccolò de Luteri, known to history as Dosso Dossi, lived a life defined by the courtly rhythms of Ferrara and Modena. Born around 1489 in Tramacchio, Italy, his early years were shaped by the influence of Lorenzo Costa. This apprenticeship provided him with a foundation in the traditions of the School of Ferrara, yet his spirit moved toward the luminous, atmospheric qualities found in Venetian painting. He did not merely replicate the styles of Giorgione or Titian; he absorbed their light and reconfigured it through a more enigmatic lens.
His professional existence was closely tied to the Este dukes, serving as a court artist under Alfonso I d'Este and later Ercole II d'Este. This position allowed him to inhabit a world of mythological narratives and complex allegories. Alongside his brother, Battista Dossi, he participated in a creative environment where classical legends were transformed into something more personal and often unsettling. His work frequently featured:
The brushwork of Dosso Dossi possessed a peculiar ability to blend color and space. He utilized the soft, ethereal qualities of nature to create landscapes that felt more like dreams than physical places. While his roots were in the precision of the early Renaissance, he moved toward a style that anticipated Mannerism through his use of striking disharmonies in color and unusual figure poses. His portraits often departed from the expected decorum of courtly art, presenting subjects with expressions that felt strikingly human.
In works such as The Trojans Repairing Their Ships in Sicily, one sees his attention to the minute details of costume and setting, from the brick-red and canary-yellow turbans to the way light hits a gilded sleeve. He had a talent for placing figures within environments where the boundaries between the heroic and the supernatural were blurred. This approach made him a central figure in the Ferrarese school, bridging the gap between the structured clarity of his predecessors and the more emotive, color-driven innovations of the later sixteenth century.
By the time of his death in 1542, Dosso Dossi had left a distinct mark on the artistic landscape of Northern Italy. His influence reached beyond his immediate circle, touching pupils such as Gabriele Capellini and Jacopo Panicciati. He remained a painter of the court, yet his true legacy lies in the way he manipulated light and myth to create a visual language that was entirely his own. He did not seek to perfect reality, but rather to interpret it through a lens of mystery and profound psychological depth.
