_Beltraffio_ (Lombard: 1467-1516).
Giovanni Antonio Beltraffio came of a noble family in Milan
(his epitaph is in the Brera) and filled public offices in
his native town. He fell under the influence of Leonardo, and
when that master settled at Milan, Beltraffio lodged in his
house, and became his ardent disciple. "His most ambitious
creation, where he lamentably fails, is the Louvre altar-piece,
the redeeming features of which are the fine portraits of the
Casio family, his friends and patrons. When he confined himself
to portraiture he was often strikingly successful, and the
older Milanese families still possess a number of ancestral
portraits by him, some of which are of great charm. He seems
to have become the pet artist of the society of his day,
often painting the portraits of his friends in the guise of
a St. Sebastian, or as Sta. Barbara. He accompanied Leonardo
to Rome in 1514. Although not a great artist, and entirely
lacking in imagination and dramatic power, he exhibits singular
refinement. His cultured intellect enabled him to appreciate,
and in a measure reflect, the fastidious spirit of his master.
His works charm by their high finish, and by the absence of
all vulgarity or display. His portraits do not reveal much
penetration, and he never caught the subtleties of character or
the intellectual qualities of his sitters" (_Catalogue of the
Burlington Fine Arts Club Exhibition_, 1898, p. lviii.). His
pictures are for the most part on a small scale. Good specimens
are to be seen in the Morelli collection at Bergamo, and the
Poldi-Pezzoli collection at Milan. To delineate the human
figure on a large scale, or human passions, was not his forte;
he succeeded better in expressing naïve innocence in children,
and gentle grace in the Mother of God, or devoted women
(Morelli's _German Galleries_, pp. 425-48; _Roman Galleries_,
p. 163).
Of Beltraffio's powers in the respect last mentioned this charming
picture is perhaps the best specimen extant. The child with its quaint
belly-band, and still more the noble but slightly languishing grace of
the mother, at once recall Leonardo.