BUTINONE, BERNARDINO. — Painter, born in Treviglio (Milan) before 1463; recorded until 1507.
He is one of the major representatives, together with Zenale and after Foppa, of pre-Leonardesque Lombard painting, known above all for the triptych (Madonna Enthroned and Saints), signed and dated 1484, in the Brera Gallery (Milan). The “Gualino” Triptych, formerly in Cereseto Monferrato, is probably his earliest work. Other works preceding the Brera altarpiece are: the Resurrection and the Deposition in the Morbio Collection in Milan, the Adoration of the Magi formerly in Paris, the Nativity in London, the Circumcision in the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, and the Wedding at Cana in the Borromeo collection in Milan. These demonstrate how this painter, starting from an initial empirical Mantegnesque manner, upon which individual accents are grafted, moved toward forms derived from Foppa. Subsequently B., who proves in essence to be an eclectic, also adopted Flemish influences (Nativity in the Malaspina Gallery, Pavia), Ferrarese influences (Madonna, on Isola Bella), and Bramantesque influences, transmitted to him by Zenale, with whom he executed the frescoes of S. Pietro in Gessate in Milan (now half destroyed) and the grandiose altarpiece of S. Martino in Treviglio, later than 1493, a genuine expression of Lombard decorative luxuriance.