old master drawings - Museum of Fine Arts - Florida State University

Bernardino Campi(1522-1591)ItalianBernardino Campi (1522 - 1591) was anItalian Renaissance painter from Reggio Emilia, whoworked in Cremona. His father, Pietro Campi, washis first teacher and instructed the boy in his ownart, that of the goldsmith. However, whenBernardino saw Titian's drawings, prints, anddesigns for tapestries, he at once abandoned thesculptural arts to study painting. He commencedpainting when nineteen years old, and soon excelledhis masters. Deeply impressed by the works ofCorreggio, Titian, Raphael, and Romano, heendeavored to unite all their merits into a style andestablished a standard of excellence. Afterward,Bernardino acquired his own style, painted excellent portraits, and decoratedSofonisba Anguissolo, BernardinoCampi Painting SofonisbaAnguissola, 1550s, oil on canvas,Siena.many of the Lombardy churches.His masterpiece is at Cremona in the cupola of S.Sigismondo. Here are depicted the multitude of saintsand the blessed, with their symbols. He finished thisprodigious composition, exhibiting great invention,variety, and harmony in seven months. He alsosuccessfully managed the drawing and perspective sothat the figures seem to be of natural size, whereas theyare ten feet high.In 1580 or 1584 at Cremona he published Pareresopra la pittura, a book full of valuable information forartists. Bernardino had many pupils, and this insuredhis influence on Italian art in the sixteenth century. Hewas the teacher of the first professional women painterof the period, Sofonisba Anguissola. Anguissola painteda portrait of Campi painting her portrait. Noteworthyamong his works are the Descent from the Cross in theBrera gallery at Milan, Mater Delorosa in the Louvre atParis, and the frescoes in the cupola of S. Sigismondoat Cremona.Bernardino Campi, The HolyFamily with St. Lucy, 1522-1591,pen and brown ink with brush andbrown wash heightened with whitegouache, The John and MableRingling Museum of Art.Artist Biographies Page 14