Braccesco, Carlo

BRACCESCO, CARLO. - Lombard painter, named "magister Carolus de Mediolano" in a document of 14 Nov. 1481. His first work, signed Carolus Mediolanensis, is a polyptych in the sanctuary of Montegrazie (Imperia), dated 1478. Around this painting recent criticism has gathered other works, namely the very beautiful Annunciation in the Louvre, the Manna of St. Andrew in the Musée de Cluny, the Crucifixion of St. Andrew at the Ca' d'Oro, and a fragment of the same cycle in the Kress collection in New York.

C. B.'s figurative culture appears very complex: above all one senses his descent from Foppa and from Bergognone, and other antecedents are still recognized in him (Longhi), among them Bonifacio Bembo and the Ligurian Donato de' Bardi. This multiplicity of influences, together with a conscious awareness of Renaissance innovations, is understood by B. through a lively sensibility, resolved into an accentuated chromatism, a preference for golds, a subtle linearism, and an affectionate participation of feeling. The last notice of him is dated 6 March 1501.