Bonifacio Bembo

Bonifacio Bembo, also called Bonfazio Bembo, or simply just Bembo, was an Italian Renaissance artist born in Brescia in 1420. He was the son of Giovanni Bembo, an active painter during his time. As a painter, Bonifacio mainly worked in Cremona. He was a patron of the Sforza family and was commissioned to paint portraits of Francesco Sforza and his wife Bianca Maria. He is also attributed with producing a tarot card deck for the Visconti-Sforza families. In the past century; however, art historians have begun to question the authenticity of his works believing his only two secure works to be the portraits of Francesco and Bianca Maria Sforza. He is believed to have died sometime before 1482.

Bonifacio Bembo was born in Brescia, Italy in 1420 to an Italian family of painters. He was the son of Giovanni Bembo, a painter active in Cremona from 1425-1449. His brothers Benedetto and Andrea were also painters active in Cremona. Bonifacio also had a nephew named Giovanni Francesco Bembo who became a painter. In all, there are thought to be 9 artists with the last name Bembo who were active in Cremona from 1425 until the early 1600s. Based on letters written by Bembo, he claimed to be a supporter of the Francesco Sforza in 1447 following the death of Filippo Maria Visconti, the Duke of Milan. Sforza eventually became Duke of Milan in 1450 and because of the support Bembo had shown him a few years prior, commissioned him to many works. On April 23, 1474, Galeazzo Sforza, the Duke of Milan, granted Bembo and his descendants Milanese citizenship. The patronage of the Sforza family continued until 1477 when Bembo seems to disappear from the historical record.

Bonifacio was active between 1447 and 1478. He painted portraits, frescoes, biblical scenes, and also designed tarot cards. He is known for the frescoes found in the ducal chapel of the Castello Sforzesco in Milan. He also painted portraits of Francesco Sforza and his wife Bianca Maria Visconti. These portraits hang in the church of Saint Agostino in Cremona.

His earliest attributed work is the Cavalcabo chapel in San Agostino, Cremona. Giovanni Cavalcabo paid for the decoration of the chapel in 1447 and it took approximately five years to complete. Strangely, there is no connection between Bembo and the chapel; however, following the publication of Wittgen in 1936, the chapel has been attributed to him. While painting the decorations of the chapel, Bembo showed fine style demonstrating the influence of Michelino da Besozzo and the Zavattari brothers. The frescoes in the chapel depict Evangelists and the coronation of Christ and the Virgin. Bright colors illuminate the frescoes while all of the figures are drawn using thin, curving lines.

He painted an altarpiece commemorating the wedding day, October 25, of Bianca and Francesco Sforza for their chapel in San Agostino, Cremona in 1462. Yet he had still not been paid for the altarpiece by 1469. Bembo also painted the altarpiece of Cremona Cathedral in 1467.

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