Melozzo Da Forli, an Italian painter, born at Forli in 1438, died about 1492. He was the first who applied the art of foreshortening to the painting of vaulted ceilings. About 1472 he painted the Ascension in the great chapel of the Santi Apostoli at Rome for Cardinal Riario. In 1711, when the chapel was being rebuilt, this painting was cut out of the ceiling and placed in the Quirinal palace, where it still remains.