Bernardino Luini (Born between 1480 and 1482) was a painter from North Italy. He worked with Leonardo directly and he took much from him since his native roots enabled him to understand. Consequently, many of his works were attributed to Leonardo. Luini is especially known for his Luinesques - graceful female figures with elongated eyes. Luini moved with his father to Milan in 1500. Here, he trained under Giovan Stefano Scotto (some also claim that he trained under Ambrogio Bergognone). As his art titled “Madonna with Child” attests, he was probably in Trevisco between 1504 and 1507. His first fresco works are in San Pietro of Luino (an Adoration of the Magi), which he did in 1505. Luini was noted for his fresco work in the city buildings and chapels throughout Milan. He also completed several oil paintings that are noteworthy. These include “Madonna of the Rose Hedge”, and “Herodias” which he painted between 1527 and 1531, and many others.
This latter piece shows his classical style and one that implores a sense of suffering and pathos; seen beautifully in his frescos. Luini was never described as an intellectual painter, but as a light hearted man of high religious ideals. In 1509, Luini returned to Milan where he received a commission for a polyptych. What remains of this project today is a St. Anthony of Padua in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli. In the 1510s Luini painted frescoes in Pilastrello in the Oratory of Santa Maria Nuova. Luini died in Milan and was succeeded by a son who was also a painter.
