 In Rome, he is said to have been recommended by Jacopo Bonacossi, the Ferrarese doctor of the Pope, to enter training with Michelangelo.He worked for seven years under the master in Rome, then returned to Ferrara in 1553, where he enjoyed the general patronage of the arts by Duke Alfonso I d'Este and subsequently his son Alfonso II.He painted a "Madonna with Peter and Paul" for the church of Vigarano.