Franco Bolognese

Franco Bolognese (14th century) was an Italian illuminator, cited by Dante as having supplanted Oderisio da Gubbio as the leading artist in his field.

by [[Giorgio Vasari] and Carlo Cesare Malvasia are thought to be fictitious; the signature on the Madonna in the former Malvezzi collection signed and dated to 1313 is clearly a forgery, as it is clearly much later and was attributed to the 15th century artist Michele di Matteo da Bologna by Roberto Longhi.

While most art historians have considered him a 13th-century Byzantinising "Second Style" artist, Mario Salmi suggested him to be a Giotto-influenced artist of choirbooks in Modena. Dante's comparison with Giotto indicates a 14th-century artist, and an intervention in Francesco da Barberino's Offizuolo similar to Dante's comparison between Oderisio and Franco suggests he might be the 'Maestro del 1328' working in a modern idiom parallel to, rather than dependent upon, Giotto.

His influence upon Bolognese painters claimed by Malvasia was probably indirect, since by the 1330s the two professions were usually practiced by different artists, and certainly no illuminations by Vitale are known.

Franco Bolognese is described as having supplanted his predecessor, 'Oderisi', in Divine Comedy by Oderisi himself in Purgatory.