FUNGAI, BERNARDINO CRISTOFANO. — Painter, born in Siena to Nicolò Pizzicciolo and baptized there on 14 September 1460; died there in 1516. In 1482 Benvenuto di Giovanni (v.) in decorating the interior of the drum of Siena Cathedral’s dome with monochrome frescoes of Prophets; in 1488 he married. In 1494–95 he painted two banners (now lost) in honor of Charles VIII, and between 1494 and 1496 executed the panel with the Stigmata of s. Caterina in the saint’s oratory at Fontebranda.
Documented between 1498 and 1501 is the large panel with the Coronation of the Virgin on the high altar of the church of the Servi in Siena, while the other large altarpiece with the Madonna, ss. Girolamo, Nicolò, Sebastiano, Antonio da Padova, and angels, formerly in the Carmine and now in the Pinacoteca of Siena (no. 431), bears his signature and the date 1512. In addition to these, numerous other works are securely attributed to him, including the Gabella cover with the Sacrifice of Isaac in the State Archives of Siena, dated 1485; the predella of the panel with the Adoration of the Magi in S. Domenico in Siena; and two Stories of s. Marco (predella panels) in the Strasbourg Museum, which are among his finest creations. Belonging to a later period are the Assumption (no. 441) in the Pinacoteca of Siena and the altarpiece with the Nativity in the cathedral of Chiusi. Museums and private collections in Amsterdam, Bergamo, Budapest, Cambridge (U.S.A.), Chambéry, Cologne, Florence, Grosseto, Leningrad, London, Milan, New York, St. Louis (U.S.A.), Toulon, Turin, and Venice possess paintings reasonably attributed to F. A modest but pleasing and careful artist, especially in works of small dimensions, F. is one of the last representatives of the Sienese tradition, by then extensively permeated by Umbrian influences, which are especially apparent in the broad, serene landscapes forming the backgrounds of his compositions, still conceived according to archaic schemes.