He started work at the court of the Dukes of Este.
Later he travelled throughout Italy, especially in the Venice region where he discovered Giorgione's "chromatic" style and Titian's "chiaroscuro" style.
He mainly painted on mythological or fairy-tale subjects, as can be seen in some of his best known works: "The Circe witch" at the Borghese gallery in Rome, "Departure of the Argonauts" in the Contini-Bonacossi collection in Florence, "Jupiter" in a private collection in Vienna, and most of all the remarkable and controversial "Witchcraft or Allegory of Hercules" at the Uffizi.
Dosso also painted many religious themes, such as the three versions of the "Holy Conversation", at the Capitoline gallery in Rome, the Capodimonte Gallery in Rome and at Glasgow's Gallery; the "Virgin with saints" {4744}; "SS John the Baptist and Bartholomew" at the National Gallery in Rome and the "Doctors of the Church" in Dresden Gallery.
The colours used by Dosso are very bright, and flashes of light here and there contrast sharply with the suggestive areas of shade.
Dosso later worked with his brother, Battista, on the frescos at Buonconsiglio Castle in Trento and at the Villa Imperiale in Pesaro.
