Nicolò dell'Abate probably first trained with his father, a stuccoist. After serving as a soldier, he assisted a local painter in Modena in 1537, helping to decorate a slaughterhouse facade. Nicolò earned his first major success in 1546, with twelve frescoes of the *Aeneid* for a castle near Modena. In the next year, he moved to Bologna, where his projects included decorating four rooms in a palac
