
Bernardo (or Bernardino) Zenale (c. 1460 – 1526) was an Italian painter and architect.
Biography
Zenale was born in
Treviglio
Treviglio (; ) is a town and (i.e. municipality) in the province of Bergamo, in Lombardy, Northern Italy. It lies south of the province capital, in the lower territory called .
It is also part of the geographic area named , included among the r ...
,
Lombardy
The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...
, where in 1485 he finished the great
polyptych
A polyptych ( ; Greek: ''poly-'' "many" and ''ptychē'' "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) which is divided into sections, or panels. Some definitions restrict "polyptych" to works with more than three sections: a diptych is ...
for the church of St. Martin, together with his fellow
Bernardino Butinone. Like Butinone, he is said to have trained with
Vincenzo Civerchio. Later he collaborated to the decoration of the
Certosa di Pavia
The Certosa di Pavia is a monastery complex in Lombardy, Northern Italy, situated near a small village of the same name in the Province of Pavia, north of Pavia. Built from 1396 to 1495, it was once located at the end of the Visconti Park a l ...
. Subsequently, he was engaged by
Ludovico Sforza
Ludovico Maria Sforza (; 27 July 1452 – 27 May 1508), also known as Ludovico il Moro (; 'the Moor'), and called the "arbiter of Italy" by historian Francesco Guicciardini, ,
Duke of Milan
Milan was ruled by dukes from the 13th century to 1814, after which it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia by the Congress of Vienna.
List of dukes of Milan House of Visconti
In 1395, Gian Galeazzo Visconti was titled Duke ...
, to paint a room in the
Castello Sforzesco
The Sforza Castle ( ; ) is a medieval fortification located in Milan, northern Italy. It was built in the 15th century by Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, on the remnants of a 14th-century fortification. Later renovated and enlarged, in the 1 ...
of that city. Also with Butinone, he frescoed the Grifi Chapel in the church of
San Pietro in Gessate.
After circa 1500, Zenale seemed to abandon the Ferrarese-expressionist style of Butinone, a strong influence from
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...
starting to appear in his works. This is
manifest
Manifest may refer to:
Computing
* Manifest file, a metadata file that enumerates files in a program or package
* Manifest (CLI), a metadata text file for CLI assemblies
Events
* Manifest (convention), a defunct anime festival in Melbourne, Au ...
in the polyptych that he painted for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception of
Cantù
Cantù (; Brianzöö: ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Como, located at the center of the Brianza zone in Lombardy. It is the second largest city in Brianza.
History
The name could stem from that of the Canturigi, a population of I ...
(1502
[Now divided between the J. Paul Getty Museum of Los Angeles]
the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum, Milan and the Museo Poldi Pezzoli of Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
). He was influenced also by
Bernardino Luini's style: works like the ''Pala Busti'' and the large ''Annunciation'' (both in the
Pinacoteca di Brera
The Pinacoteca di Brera ("Brera Art Gallery") is the main public gallery for paintings in Milan, Italy. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian paintings from the 13th to the 20th century, an outgrowth of the cultural program of ...
) have indeed raised disputes about the attribution to Luini or Zenale.
Zenale worked also in
Brescia
Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...
(the noteworthy ''Deposition'' in the church of St. John the Evangelist). In 1510 he painted a ''Madonna with Child between St. Ambrose and St. Jerome'', for the church of St. Francis in Milan, now in
Denver
Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
. In 1522 he replaced
Giovanni Antonio Amadeo in the direction of works of the
Duomo di Milano
Milan Cathedral ( ; ), or Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Nativity of Saint Mary (), is the cathedral church of Milan, Lombardy, Italy. Dedicated to the Nativity of St. Mary (), it is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan, currently Archbi ...
.
Sources
*
*
See also
*
Church of San Francesco Grande
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zenale, Bernardo
1460s births
1526 deaths
People from Treviglio
15th-century Italian painters
Italian male painters
16th-century Italian painters
16th-century Italian architects
Italian Renaissance architects
Architects from Milan
Painters from Lombardy