Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio

Background

Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio was born into an aristocratic Milanese family in 1466 in Milan, Umbria, Italy.

Education

Boltraffio was taught in the old Milanese school of Vincenzo Foppa and Vincenzo Civerchio but matured under the teaching of Leonardo da Vinci, of whom he was a disciple and ardent admirer as well as a pupil.

Career

Boltraffio was independently wealthy and was able to devote himself to painting without economic restraints. He worked in the workshop of Leonardo da Vinci, which he must have entered shortly after Leonardo arrived in Milan, remaining as an assistant and collaborator until the end of the 15th century. His first works depended to such an extent on Leonardo that it has been suggested that the latter was partly responsible for them, for example, the "Madonna" in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan.

Boltraffio soon, however, developed his own style and his skills as a portraitist were particularly outstanding. In 1500 he traveled to Bologna where he painted an altarpiece of "The Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist, Saint Sebastian and two Donors" for the church of Santa Maria della Misericordia (Paris, Musée du Louvre). This work revealed his new interest in the work of other artists such as Pietro Perugino and Francesco Francia.

Shortly after, in 1502, he was again documented in Milan where he was commissioned to paint a Saint Barbara for the congregation of Santa Maria presso San Satiro (Berlin, Gemäldegalerie), a work that combined his Bolognese style with other new influences derived from artists such as Bramantino and Andrea Solario. Boltraffio’s permanent residence in Milan was confirmed in a document of 1503 in which he appeared as one of the members of the jury that selected the projects for the door of the north transept of the cathedral.

Boltraffio’s last documented work was "The Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist and a Donor" (Budapest, Szépmüvészeti Múzeum), which was commissioned in 1508 for the Da Ponte chapel in Lodi cathedral. His activities between that date and his death in 1516 were difficult to reconstruct although his residence in Milan, in the San Paolo in Compedo quarter, was documented. That has led to the assumption that he only accepted the occasional commission or that he ceased working as a painter. The artist died in 1516.

Achievements

• Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio was distinguished for his paintings "Madonna Litta", "A Youth Crowned with Flowers", "Portrait of Gerolamo Casio", and "Portrait of a Youth Holding an Arrow."

Works

More photos

• painting

  • A Youth Crowned with Flowers

  • Saint Sebastian

  • Portrait of Gerolamo Casio

  • St. Barbara

  • Portrait of a Lady

  • Girl with Cherries (also attributed to Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis)

  • Portrait of a Young Woman

  • Madonna and Child

  • Madonna Litta

  • Portrait of a Lady as St. Lucy

  • Portrait of a Youth Holding an Arrow

  • The Adolescent Saviour

  • Francesco Sforza, count of Pavia?

  • Portrait alleged to be of Anne Whateley (in fact likely to be Girolamo Casio)

  • The Poet Casio

  • The Virgin and Child (The Madonna of the Rose)

Views

Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio adhered to the artistic traditions of High Renaissance.

Connections

teacher:

Leonardo da Vinci

colleague:

Marco d’Oggiono

References

• Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio: Un pittore milanese nel lume di Leonardo (Archivi arte antica) (Italian Edition)
  2000
• Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio,: A stylistic study of his work
  1959