LICINIO, Bernardino
Venetian painter of Bergamese descent, he was trained within the tradition of Giovanni Bellini, possibly in his workshop, and followed a successful career in the city. His own workshop produced half-length panels of the Virgin and Child, altarpieces and numerous individual and group portraits. Although not an innovator, Bernardino remained open to developments in contemporary Venetian painting.
Whereas his early paintings, such as the Adoration of the Shepherds (Brescia, Pinacoteca Civica Tosio-Martinengo) and the Portrait of a Courtesan (private collection), are close in mood to Giorgione, the religious paintings from the 1520s and 1530s frequently reflect the work of Titian. For example, the signed and dated triptych of the Resurrection (1528; Lonato, San Giovanni Battista) was influenced by Titian’s polyptych of the same subject (1522; Brescia, SS Nazzaro e Celso).
Increasing workshop intervention occurs in the paintings from the 1530s onwards and the workshop paintings frequently repeat established formal models. Bernardino’s signed and dated Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints (1535; Venice, Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari) recalls Titian’s work in the pose and expression of the saints but, in contrast to Titian’s innovative treatment of altarpiece conventions, Bernardino adheres to the traditional figurative scheme, arranging the saints symmetrically around the central figures of the enthroned Virgin and Child.
