Bernardino Luini
(b ?Luini, c. 1480–85; d ?Lugano, before 1 July 1532)
Renaissance painter of Lombardy, best known for his mythological and religious
frescoes.
Little is known of Luini's life; the earliest surviving painting that is
certainly his work is a fresco (1512) of the “Madonna and Child” at the
Cistercian monastery of Chiaravalle, near Milan. It shows the dependence upon
the style of the Lombardian painter Il Bergognone (c. 1455–after 1522), which
Luini retained throughout his life. The majority of his panel paintings depict
the Virgin.
Luini was influenced by Leonardo da Vinci during the latter's second stay in
Milan (1506–13), as is seen in the facial types and the composition of Luini's
“Holy Family” (Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan). Of his frescoes, many of which are
now detached and dispersed, the most notable are the “Story of Europa” (c. 1520;
Berlin) and the “Story of Cephalus and Procris” (c. 1520; National Gallery of
Art, Washington, D.C.) from either the Casa Rabia or the Villa Pelucca (both in
Milan) and the “Story of Moses” and various mythological subjects from the Villa
Pelucca (Brera, Milan).
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