LUINI, BERNARDINO

Luini also spelled Luvini died 1532, Milan 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. 1455after 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 (150613), 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).