The Lombard painter Giovanni Agostino da Lodi, who was working in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, is one of the more elusive artists of the Italian Renaissance. His works were long ascribed to a ‘pseudo Boccaccino’ or ‘Agostino di Bramantino’, and not until 2001 did he gain recognition under his own name outside scholarly circles, when an entry devoted to him was included in the Italian encyclopaedia Treccani. Having begun his career under the influence of Bramantino (c. 1460–1530), Agostino has come to be seen as a bridge between the refined Milanese school of Leonardo and the colourful, expressive Venetian style developed by Bellini and Giorgione. The Pinacoteca di Brera – home to Agostino’s only signed work, the panel painting Saint Peter and Saint John the Evangelist (n.d.) – is putting on the first exhibition dedicated to the painter, presenting his greatest known works alongside others by Bramantino, Dürer, Giorgione, Lotto and others (until 13 September).
Find out more from the Pinacoteca di Brera’s website.
Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary
