( fl Milan, c. 1490–c. 1500). Italian painter. The Master’s oeuvre centres around the Pala Sforzesca (Milan, Brera), which was painted for the church of S Ambrogio ad Nemus, Milan, on the orders of Ludovico Sforza, il Moro, guardian of the Duke of Milan and, in 1494, Duke of Milan himself. It depicts the Virgin and Child, the four Doctors of the Church, Ludovico il Moro, his wife, Beatrice d’Este, and Ludovico’s two sons. The painting is identifiable with an artist’s plan that the Duke’s secretary Stanga submitted to Ludovico on 22 January 1494 (Malaguzzi Valeri, p. 45). The painter’s name is not mentioned, and attempts to identify him with Vincenzo Foppa, Bernardino de Conti, Ambrogio de Predis and others are untenable on stylistic grounds (Malaguzzi Valeri; Romano, Binaghi and Collura, 1978).

Part of the Masters, anonymous, and monogrammists family