Bernardino Fungai (1460– c. 1516) was an Italian painter whose work marks the transition from late Gothic painting to the early Renaissance in the Sienese school.Biography of Bernardino Fungai
at the Getty Museum He maintained a fairly archaic style in his works, which are mainly of a devotional nature.Paolo Moreno, Chiara Stefani, ''Galleria Borghese''
Ediz. Inglese, Touring Editore, 2000, p. 290

Life

Bernardino Fungai - The dead Christ supported by two Angels

Fungai's real name was Bernardino Cristofano di Niccolò d'Antonio di Pietro da Fungaia. His family came originally from a village near Siena called Fungaia.'Bernardino Fungai', in: Federico Zeri, Elizabeth E. Gardner, ''Italian Paintings: Sienese and Central Italian Schools'', Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980, p. 14-15 He is recorded as a pupil of

Benvenuto di Giovanni Benvenuto di Giovanni, also known as Benvenuto di Giovanni di Meo del Guasta (13 September 1436 – c. 1518) was an Italian painter and artist known for his choral miniatures, pavement designs, and frescoes. Working chiefly in Siena, he was first ...

in 1482 while working on frescoes for the cupola in the

Siena Cathedral Siena Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Siena) is a medieval church in Siena, Italy, dedicated from its earliest days as a Roman Catholic Marian church, and now dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. It was the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Siena, and ...

.Carolyn C. Wilson. "Fungai, Bernardino." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 5 April 2016 Fungai was commissioned in 1494 to decorate ceremonial banners with azure and gold. He also created an altarpiece in 1512 for a Sienese church.

Work

A fairly sizeable oeuvre has been ascribed to Bernardino Fungai on the basis of a signed and dated altarpiece executed for San Niccolò al Carmine in Siena depicting the ''Virgin and Child Enthroned with the Saints Sebastian, Jerome, Nicholas and Anthony of Padua'' (1512, Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena, Siena). Bernardino Fungai - The Beloved of Enalus Sacrificed to Poseidon and Spared - Google Art Project

Bernardino Fungai - The Beloved of Enalus Sacrificed to Poseidon and Spared - Google Art Project

He is described as a retardataire follower of

Sassetta ''For the village near Livorno, see Sassetta, Tuscany'' Stefano di Giovanni di Consolo, known as il Sassetta (ca.1392–1450 or 1451) was an Tuscan painter of the Renaissance, and a significant figure of the Sienese School.Judy Metro, ''Italia ...

and

Giovanni di Paolo Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia (''c.'' 1403–1482) was an Italian painter, working primarily in Siena, becoming a prolific painter and illustrator of manuscripts, including Dante's texts. He was one of the most important painters of the 15th cent ...

. His paintings evince an influence from local

Sienese Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

painters and contemporary artists such as

Pietro Perugino Pietro Perugino (, ; – 1523), born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance Painting, painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pup ...

Pietro di Francesco degli Orioli Pietro di Francesco degli Orioli (approx. 1458–1496) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period. Biography Pietro Orioli was born in Siena in Tuscany. The art of Siena has previously been celebrated primarily for its late medieval mast ...

Luca Signorelli Luca Signorelli ( – 16 October 1523) was an Italian Renaissance painter from Cortona in Tuscany, who was noted in particular for his ability as a draftsman and his use of foreshortening. His massive frescos of the ''Last Judgment'' (1499–15 ...

and

Bernardino Pinturicchio Pinturicchio, or Pintoricchio (, ; born Bernardino di Betto; 1454–1513), also known as Benetto di Biagio or Sordicchio, was an Italian painter during the Renaissance. He acquired his nickname (meaning "little painter") because of his sma ...

. The many devotional paintings of Bernardino Fungai are rather conventional but his few

cassone A cassone (plural ''cassoni'') or marriage chest is a rich and showy Italian type of chest, which may be inlaid or carved, prepared with gesso ground then painted and gilded. ''Pastiglia'' was decoration in low relief carved or moulded in gesso ...

paintings and the landscapes in his larger devotional compositions show his narrative gift. The quality of his landscapes is already clear in Bernardino Fungai's earliest recorded work dated to 1495–97, a ''Stigmatisation of St Catherine'' in the Santuario Cateriniano at Fontebranda. The composition reveals a panorama of graceful buildings, gentle hills and tall trees with an extensive sea in the back enlivened with small boats. The contrast in the composition between the solid, hard-edged and hieratic figures of the main scene and the small background and

predella In art a predella (plural predelle) is the lowest part of an altarpiece, sometimes forming a platform or step, and the painting or sculpture along it, at the bottom of an altarpiece, sometimes with a single much larger main scene above, but oft ...

figures with dancelike poses and freely moving drapery is also typical of his style.

Notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fungai, Bernardino 15th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 16th-century Italian painters Painters from Siena 1460 births 1516 deaths