BRESCIANINO, Andrea del

Italian painter (originally Andrea Piccinelli). The Brescianino brothers Andrea and Raffaello (active 1506-1545) were born in Siena and collaborated on various altarpieces there. Their work cannot be clearly separated. They painted mythological figures as well as altarpieces and small devotional works. Their father was a dancing-master at Siena, the family name derives from the birthplace of the father.

Andrea may have trained with Girolamo del Pacchia, but is first documented at Siena working with Battista di Fruosino (fl 1457-?1507) in the Compagnia di San Gerolamo in 1507. Immediately after, in Florence, he came under the influence of Raphael, Fra Bartolommeo and Leonardo da Vinci. His Virgin and Child with Two Saints (c. 1510; Buonconvento, Museo d’Arte Sacra della Val d’Arbia) shows this early influence from Florence both in colouring and close figure grouping.

Apart from a short visit to Rome (c. 1516) to assist Baldassare Peruzzi with the decoration of the Villa Farnesina, most of his time was spent in Siena. Frequent contact with Florence is suggested by his style of painting after 1510 and he probably had a workshop there run by his brother Raffaello Piccinelli. Works of slightly later date, such as the Three Virtues (c. 1517-18; Siena, Pinacoteca Nazionale), demonstrate that Andrea del Sarto became a dominant influence. In the Coronation of the Virgin (c. 1520; Siena, SS Pietro e Paolo) colours and compositional ideas from Sarto are combined with the local styles of Domenico Beccafumi and Girolamo del Pacchia. This altarpiece, with five predella panels depicting scenes from the Life of Christ, is one of his most substantial surviving works. He is last documented in 1525, in the confraternity of Florentine painters.