Francesco Benaglio

Francesco Benaglio (c. 1432 - 1492) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period.

His original name was Francesco di Pietro della Biada. 'Della Biada' (or 'a Blado') means 'of the oats' and was a reference to the profession of his father Pietro who was a grain merchant from Bergamo. Francesco moved with his family to Verona, where he is documented from 1456 until his death. He adopted his artist name Francesco Benaglio from a noble family then living in Bergamo.

The artist was active in Verona.

Precise information about his artistic training is lacking, but it is reasonably certain that he began his career during a period of crisis for Veronese art, initiated by the death of Pisanello in 1455. Benaglio's work contributed to guiding the local artistic scene toward new horizons, anticipating by a few years the full emergence of the Renaissance in the Veronese school with Liberale and Domenico Morone.

The so-called Madonna del Ventaglio, preserved at the Castelvecchio Museum in Verona, is also attributed to Francesco Benaglio (although unsigned and previously attributed to other authors), considered a «small work of synthesis» in which the artist demonstrates having achieved significant autonomy from Mantegna's stylistic canons.

Influences from the works of Antonio Vivarini and Gentile Bellini are instead noticeable in the Renaissance architecture serving as background for a Saint Anthony, signed "Franciscus Benalius", now part of the Kress Collection in New York.

Last years and artistic legacy

The last documentary record relating to Francesco Benaglio dates to 1492 in an estimo; in the same year, his son Girolamo is mentioned in a register as fatherless, allowing the assumption of the artist's death in that year. It was his son who inherited the workshop of his father, although no works by his hand are known with certainty. However, numerous subsequent works show Francesco's stylistic influence, suggesting he had established a true school in which, in addition to his son Girolamo, several painters trained, probably including Domenico Morone. Despite some contrasting critical judgments, Francesco Benaglio «retains the merit of being the first in Verona to understand the importance of the pictorial renewal underway in the Paduan school by the brilliant Mantegna and of having given a jolt to the late Gothic still widespread in the Veronese school».