Born near Bologna, Zoppo was probably a pupil of Tura and later, at the age of twenty-one, he became the adopted son of and assistant to Squarcione in Padua. Zoppo was also active in Venice (1455, 1468-73) and executed further works in Bologna, including a triptych for the Collegio di Spagna. Influenced by Mantegna and by Jacopo and Giovanni Bellini, Zoppo produced paintings in a distinctively harsh and precise style and an album of drawings formerly attributed to Mantegna (British Museum, London).