LUINI, Bernardino
(b. 1480, Luino, d. 1532, Milano)

Madonna and Child with Sts Catherine and Barbara (detail)

1522-25
Oil on panel
Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest

Luini was a great painter of religious images, including frescoes, wood panels, large altarpieces, and small devotional works for the home. He was obviously very popular in his own time, as there are countless copies of his paintings. Then he regained popularity in the 19th century when the famous critic John Ruskin decided that Luini was greater than Leonardo, and many readers went to Italy looking for his works.