The painters who practised in Milan in the fourteenth century were
little better than provincial craftsmen who had come within the range
of the Giottesque tradition without grasping the more vital of its
principles. Those who worked in Milanese territory in the first half of
the fifteenth century acquired some of the reflected influences which
passed from the work of Pisanello and Jacopo Bellini in Verona, and
from the more striking achievements of the Paduan and early Venetian
schools, but their work lacked all trace of originality.
A painter of the name of Michelino Molinari da Besozzo (fl. 1394-1442),
or Michele da Pavia, was painting at Milan about 1420. However,
there cannot be said to have been a school of painting, but only an
aggregation of painters in Milanese territory, prior to the arrival at
Pavia and Milan of the Brescian-born master, Vicenzo Foppa, about 1458.
Previous to that important event, if not throughout the whole range of
its activity, Milanese art lacked the higher elements of genius in all
matters æsthetic. As a school it was to the end too inclined to mere
prettiness and superficial sweetness.
The Umbrian-born architect and painter, Bramante (1444-1514), who had
received his education in Florence, painted in Lombardy from 1472-1474,
as his Panigarola frescoes now in the Brera testify. Bramante also
influenced Foppa, whose work is well defined and whose colouring is
subdued.
Side by side with Foppa at the head of the Milanese school comes
Bernardino Butinone (fl. 1450-1507), a great deal of whose work may
still be seen at Milan. A _Madonna and Child_ (No. 1523), which is
doubtfully ascribed in the Catalogue to Gregorio Schiavone, a pupil of
Squarcione at Padua, may possibly be by Butinone, whose art is marked
by an austerity and dryness which are absent from the paintings of
Zenale, who was the partner and perhaps a pupil of Butinone.
The _Circumcision, with the Portrait of the Donor_ (No. 1545), although
catalogued under the name of Bramantino, may be by Zenale (1436-1526).
This panel is inscribed “XL. ANNO 1491. F͞R] I͞A LAPUGNANVS P͞P HVMIL
CAN̄.” Bramantino (1455?-1536?), whose name was Bartolommeo Suardi,
came under the influence of Foppa and Bramante, and from the latter
acquired his _sobriquet_.
The pictures of Borgognone (1455?-1522?) are easily recognised
by the ashen grey pallor of his faces, relieved occasionally by
eyelids reddened by grief. He was a prolific painter of religious
pictures which show simple pathos. With the possible exception of
the _Family Portraits_ in the National Gallery (Nos. 779-780), which
are indeed fragments of a standard, and may have been painted by
Zenale, Borgognone, whose name was Ambrogio da Fossano, is not known
to have painted a secular subject. This typical Milanese painter
was another of the pupils of Foppa. Being an architect as well as a
painter, Borgognone delighted in giving an architectural setting to
his compositions. He also loved to introduce brightly coloured carpets
and draperies, and minutely painted jewellery into his pictures. These
characteristics are seen in his companion pictures of _St. Peter Martyr
and a Donoress_ (No. 1182), and _St. Augustine and a kneeling Donor_
(No. 1182A). The latter of this pair of panels of his early period was
purchased from Lord Aldenham in 1899 for 1000 guineas. They originally
formed part of a dismembered altarpiece, the centre panel of which is
now lost or unidentified. His _Presentation of Christ in the Temple_
(No. 1181), although originally painted on panel, was transferred to
canvas in 1885. Borgognone might almost be termed the Perugino of the
Milanese school.