The Assumption of the Virgin

Although a contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci in Milan, Bergognone seems to have been little affected by Leonardo’s dramatic atmospheric effects and subtle compositions as he looked back to the more luminous and lucid style of an earlier generation of Milanese painting dominated by the painter and architect Donato Bramante (1444–1515). Borgognone ran a highly successful practice, making ten paintings for the Certosa (Charterhouse) of Pavia alone. Made in the early part of the sixteenth century, this elegant painting was cut down at the bottom. It was originally the central panel of what must have been a large altarpiece with other elements, none of which survive.