Name Zanetto Bugatti | Died 1476 | |
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Zanetto Bugatto ( Milan 1433- Pavia or Milan 1476), also known as Zanetto Bugatti, was one of the most well documented court portraitists of the 1400’s, working for 15 years for the first two Sforza Dukes of Milan, particularly Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza and his Duchess Bona of Savoy. His work was influenced by artists such as Rogier van der Weyden, Andrea Mantegna, and Jean Fouquet, all of whom he met during his travels for his patron. Bugatto’s work was also described by Galeazzo’s ambassador Leonardo Botta as being similar enough to Sicilian painter Antonello da Messina that Messina was recommended to replace Bugatto as court portraitist upon Bugatto’s death in 1476.
Bugatto studied for three years under Rogier van der Weyden in Brussels and his Flemish influenced figures and landscape backgrounds reflect the blend of Netherlandish and Italian styles that interested his patrons. It is not clear whether Bugatto painted works other than portraits and he is notable for being one of the first Italian artists, along with Antonello da Messina, to focus on portraiture in the Netherlandish style to such an exclusive extent.
A key painter in the Lombardy region, Bugatto worked primarily for his patron Galeazzo Sforza and his wife Bona of Savoy for whom he helped established official likenesses of through several portraits, medals, and coins. Surviving documentation shows Bugatto was commissioned as a portraitist and designer for several Sforza paintings on canvas, panels, frescos, medals, and coins and also sold works to Louis XI of France. Though he has no surviving signed or directly accredited works, the unusual level of documentation from Bugatto’s commissions with the Sforza have allowed art historians to attribute a surviving painting and set of coins to him including ducat coins of Galazzo Maria Sforza and a the ex-Treccani fragment of a ducal portrait in the Castello Sforzesco. Several other surviving works are argued to be either direct copies or heavily influenced by Bugatto’s works. No surviving portratits of Zanetto Bugatto are known to exist.
Biography
Born in Milan in 1433, little is known about Zanetto Bugatto’s early life and childhood. The first documentation of Bugatto’s work are records in the Milan Cathedral’s account-books for a small commission for a procession in 1458. In 1460 Bugatto painted his first commission for the Milan court, a portrait of Ippolita Sforza, the eldest daughter of his of his patrons Francesco and Bianca Maria Sforza. After this work Bugatto was sent to Brussels from December 26, 1460 to May 1463 to study under Flemish painter Rogier van der Weyden.
The Brussels Guild would not allow a master painter to take more than one apprentice at a time, so it is likely that Bugatto studied as a journeyman apprentice under van der Weyden, a position which was less restricted. Initially van der Weyden and Bugatto argued frequently, causing Bugatto to leave the studio for a time until then Dauphin of France- the later King Louis XI- intervened. As an assistant Bugatto likely worked on underdrawings for commissions, designing and painting patterns, and eventually taking more responsibility for entire commissions. Bugatto was likely heavily influenced by van der Weyden’s style of painting, as can be seen in later attributed works such as the ex-Treccani fragment, in which he combines Italian styles such as the profile and dark shading with Rogier-like elongation of the figure, definition of facial features, and patterning of the background. Upon his return to Milan in 1463 the Sforza noticed van der Weyden’s influence on Bugatto’s painting and on May 7, 1463, Duchess Bianca Maria Visconti wrote a letter of thanks to Rogier, showing a surprising influence of Northern European art styles on Italian Renaissance work. It has been suggested that the Duke and Duchess of the younger Duchy of Milan may have been interested in copying some of the detail and smooth styles of court portraiture from the longer established Flemish regimes.
Documents show that in 1460 he was sent by the Duke of Milan with a stipend to work for Phillip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. In 1465, along with Giacomo da Lodi, he made estimates for the quality of the frescoes by Giacomo Vismara and the Zavattari for the presbytery of the church of San Vincenzo in Prato, Milan.
After his return to Milan Bugatto began to work more for his patron Galeazzo Maria Sforza, the son of Bianca Maria and new Duke with Bianca Maria as regent. Zanetto’s commissions begin to reflect the wide array of contracts expected from a court portraitist of the time. Bugatto worked not only as a painter but as a designer of medals and coins, including designing the portraiture used on ducats with Duke Galeazzo and regent Bianca. In particular, Bugatto is arguably credited with designing or overseeing the official image of Galeazzo in 1467 for a new series of ducats which were to have only the Duke in preparation for his investiture. A letter from the master of the Milanese mint on March 4, 1467, which asks the duke for the lettering to be used for the new coins, mentions the design being finished after meeting with a committee of artists including Zanetto and the engraver. There is some debate however among art historians as to which of two surviving coins this letter is referring to. In addition, there are conflicting interpretations of this letter which alternately interpret Zanetto as the designer of the portraiture of the coin or as a official opinion as court portraitist to ensure that the likeness was close enough to Galeazzo to establish the coin as a cypher of rule.
In 1468, Bugatto was sent to Paris to paint a portrait of Bona of Savoy, sister of the Queen of France Charlotte of Savoy, and intended bride of Galeazzo Maria Sforza. While in France Bugatto may have seen and been influenced by Jean Foquet and other French artists’ works. The trip to Paris was also financially beneficial for Zanetto Bugatto, who brought with him a portrait of Francesco and Galeazzo Maria Sforza, which he sold to King Louis XI of France.
From November 12, 1470 to March 3, 1471 upon his return to Milan, Bugatto was involved as a designer in the creation of ten medals for the Duke and Duchess of Milan, five with the portrait of Galeazzo and five with a portrait of Bona of Savoy. Records indicate that these medals were extremely expensive, almost life sized and made of solid gold; costing a nearly 10,000 ducats to make each. Together with Francesco da Mantova and Maffio Civate, the mould-maker and goldsmith respectively, Zanetto created the medals based on the likeness of the Duke and Duchess at that point. Records from the notary Lorenzo Costa at the Genoa mint in 1495, after the death of Galeazzo and exit of Bona indicate that Zanetto signed the back of at least one of the gold medals of Bona, accrediting the design of the portrait to him.
In 1472 Bugatto worked with Bonifacio Bemo and Leonardo Ponzoni to create his last known completed work, frescos in the Santa Maria delle Grazie located outside of Vigevano. The chapel is now destroyed. In 1473 Bugatto was commissioned to paint a portrait of Galeazzo, Bona, and their child for the choir of San Celso, Milan.
After Bugatto’s death in 1476, Galeazzo attempted to find a replacement court portraitist. At the suggestion of his ambassador in Venice, Leonardo Botta, Galeazzo wrote to hire Antonello da Messina who also worked in the Flemish-style as Bugatto did. However, the Duke was assassinated in 1476 shortly after and there is no record of da Messina ever accepting Galeazzo’s patronage.