LEONARDO DI BERNARDINO DEL SIGNORACCIO
Italian painter, son of Bernardino del Signoraccio, a minor Pistoian painter, and brother of the more famous Fra Paolino (Paolo di Bernardino del Signoraccio). Leonardo was the fourth son of Bernardino and three years younger than his famous brother Fra Paolino. He was baptised on 13th December 1491. In the Priorista Franchi he is named Lorenzo but in his baptismal certificate he is correctly named Leonardo. No further biographical details are known, the baptismal certificate is the only surviving document from his lifetime.
Only a handful of works have been assigned to him, each on the basis of stylistic considerations. The principal paintings attributed to Leonardo include: a St Irene (private collection), a Sacra Conversazione (Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta, Lizzano, Pistoia) and a damaged fresco in the Chiesa di Santa Maria a Ripalta, Pistoia.
Leonardo’s style is rooted in that of his father and, ultimately, in that of Fra Bartolomeo.
