Francesco Bonsignori

Place: Verona

Born: 1460

Death: 1519

Biography:

Francesco Bonsignori was debatable until the last century because of the similarity in techniques used by Bonsignori and his teacher Mantegna. During the phase of his career in Mantua, there is an undocumented period between 1495 and July 1506 with no official record regarding his activities by the court of Mantua. Bonsignori’s late style was decisively influenced by Lorenzo Costa in terms of form and color. He produced his last monumental altarpiece the Adoration of the Blessed Osanna Andreasi (Pal.Ducale, Mantua) in 1519 shortly before his death.
Francesco Bonsignori was born in Verona in 1455, the eldest among three sons in the Bonsignori family. His father Albertus Bonsignori was a well-known amateur painter. In childhood, Francesco was the most artistically talented of the Bonsignori children. His brothers, Bernardino (c.1476–1520) and Girolamo (c.1479 – unknown) also became painters. His younger brother Girolamo was highly appraised for his fine copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper.
Bonsignori was the pupil and apprentice of Liberale da Verona (1451–1536). Liberale da Verona was at first a miniaturist, who developed a larger style based on a following of Mantegna's work. There are Venetian influences observed in the coloring and background of his paintings. Liberale da Verona has contributed to the spread of the Squarcione style to Siena, and played an important role in influencing some Sienese painters such as Girolamo da Cremona. His appreciation of Francesco Squarcione, founder of the Paduan school and teacher of Andrea Mantegna, subsequently influenced Bonsignori’s early style and taste. Liberale da Verona was well-known for painting frescoes and altarpieces. Although he was renowned for his inventiveness and verve, his later works expose a shortage of consistent innovation and originality compared to his earlier period.
Bonsignori’s early career is the most fully documented period of his life. Account of his early life is found in Giorgio Vasari’s book Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects. Vasari includes the painter in a group of minor virtuosi from Verona. Bonsignori bears another name, "Monsignori", as he was miscalled by Vasari in his book. His pseudonym has appeared in several documentations from the Renaissance period, while he signed all his committed artwork with “Bonsignori”. Fewer than a dozen drawings attributed to Bonsginori during his early career have survived. Most paintings mentioned in Vasari’s account have perished.
He often integrated subtle elements observed in nature and daily life into religious paintings. In 1483, he produced his first signed work, Virgin and Child (Castelvecchio,Verona). The style of this work is similar to that of Madonna with Saints (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin), produced by his teacher Liberale de Verona. Influenced by his teacher, Bonsignori produced several altarpieces from 1484 to 1492. He completed the Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints (Castelvecchio,Verona) in 1484.
During Bonsignori’s early career, he was inspired and influenced by different artists, including his early models Giovanni Bellini, Alvise Vivari, Antonello da Messina, and Andrea Mantegna. Integration of styles from different contemporary masters is notable in Bonsignori’s early pieces, which were characterized by his concentration on human figures in devotional picture and portraits. Landscape and architectural settings in the background are often less significant in his paintings. Although derivative, Bonsignori's early style was recognizably his own.
Bonsignori's middle career period began after he moved to Mantua in 1487. The Portrait of a Venetian Senator (National Gallery, London) was signed and dated in 1487. Successively, he produced several altarpieces depicting The Virgin and Child Enthroned with Music-making Angels and SS George and Jerome (Banda Chapel, S Bernardino,Verona) in 1488. The Virgin and Child Enthroned with SS Anthony of Egypt and Onofrio, signed and dated in 1488, is known only through a 19th-century copy preserved in Florence. Accounts of Bonsignori’s middle period are sourced from the official documents from the Gonzaga court in Mantua, but there is no official record of Bonsignori between 1495 and July 1506.

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