Virgin and Child

1500

Moves to Milan with his father

Together with his father, the landowner Giovanni Donato de Scapis, Bernardino de Scapis — a native of Runo (Dumenza) near Luino on Lake Maggiore, hence the name “Luini” — moves to Milan. Accounts of his teachers differ: according to Lomazzo he trained under Giovan Stefano Scotto, while others consider him a pupil of Ambrogio Bergognone.

1504–1507

Lives in the Veneto, probably in Treviso

Luini lived in the Veneto and, probably, in Treviso, where he associated with the city's Lombard architects — the Lombardo family and the brothers Lorenzo and Giovan Battista Bregno. This is apparently attested by a “Madonna with Child” signed “Bernardinus Mediolanensis faciebat”, whose attribution remains disputed.

1509

Returns to Milan with a commission for a polyptych

Of the polyptych he was commissioned to paint, only “St Anthony of Padua” in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli survives today. Luini's early paintings are in a late Gothic style reminiscent of Bergognone, who is considered his direct mentor.

c. 1510

Marries Margherita Lomazzo

They had four sons — Tobia, Evangelista, Giovanni Pietro and Aurelio; the last two became painters and carried on their father's work after his death in 1532.