Francesco Benaglio

'Della Biada' (or 'a Blado') means 'of the oats' and was a reference to the profession of his father Pietro who was a grain merchant from Bergamo.

[2] He adopted his artist name Francesco Benaglio from a noble family then living in Bergamo.

[2] In 1475, Benaglio and another painter by the name of Martino were jailed for four months for painting one night some obscene or defamatory frescoes on the facade of the Sagramorso family palace, apparently at the behest of some enemies of the family.

[1][2] A group of five Madonnas ascribed to the artist show an ostentatious use of perspective foreshortening together with an almost geometric rigidity in the drawing of the figures.

The monumentality of the figures is further emphasized by the highly stylized landscapes in the background.