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 grouped 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 from the same cycle in the Kress collection, in New York.
C. B.’s figurative culture appears highly complex: above all, his descent from Foppa and Bergognone is perceptible, while other antecedents are also recognizable in it (Longhi), among them Bonifacio Bembo and the Ligurian Donato de’ Bardi. This multiplicity of influences, together with a conscious awareness of Renaissance innovations, was understood by B. through a vivid sensibility, expressed in pronounced chromaticism, a preference for golds, subtle linearism, and an affectionate participation of feeling. The last record dates from 6 March 1501.