Bernardino Luini

Luini was the most famous Milanese painter of the early 16th century. He worked as a fresco painter in Milan, and also in Saronno and Lugarno and elsewhere in Lombardy. Luini was deeply affected by Leonardo da Vinci, who was in Milan from 1483. Many of his paintings, like 'Christ among the Doctors' and the 'Virgin and Child with Saint John' derive from Leonardo compositions. Luini also adopted Leonardo's use of chiaroscuro, and his facial types.

As a fresco painter, Luini worked in a style which was influenced by the 15th-century Lombard tradition and particularly by Foppa. In panel painting, Luini transcribed Leonardo's compositions with competence, but he lacked the subtlety of Leonardo's own approach. Leonardo's repertoire of figures and chiaroscuro are combined in the work of Luini with the harsher Lombard style that influenced his fresco paintings.