Teodoro Ghisi

Teodoro Ghisi (1536–1601) was an Italian painter and engraver of the Renaissance Period, mainly active in his native Mantua.

The Duke's extensive natural history collection attracted a visit in 1571 from Ulisse Aldrovandi, for whom he executed some animal paintings, including those of two parrots.

Between 1579 and 1581 he contributed to the decoration of the Galleria dei Mesi in the Palazzo Ducale and probably worked with Lorenzo Costa the younger in the Sala dello Zodiaco there.

From 1587 to 1590 he was court painter to Guglielmo Gonzaga's brother-in-law Archduke Charles II of Austria (1564–90), in Seckau and Graz, where he painted the altarpiece Symbolum apostolorum (1588; Graz, Alte Gallery), showing the creation of Eve surrounded by depictions of articles of the Nicene Creed.

There, he and Ippolito Andreasi decorated the cathedral for Bishop Francesco Gonzaga, with frescos that accorded with the dictates of the Counter-Reformation.