Giovanni "Giampietrino" Pietro Rizzoli

Giampietrino, whose full name was probably Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli, was a northern Italian painter of the Lombard school and part of Leonardo da Vinci’s circle. He was born in Milan and is believed to be active around 1500 to 1530. According to the National Gallery, the use of his name is conjectural, because it had been applied to a group of paintings as a result of its appearance in Leonardo’s Codex Atlanticus. Scholarly consensus, however, has equated the ‘gian pietro’ of Leonardo’s Codex with Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli. He was a painter of large altarpieces, Madonnas, holy women in half figure, and mythological women. The artist’s similarities to works by Leonardo suggest a relationship with him during his second Milanese period (mid. 1508-1513). Giampietrino was among the most faithful and celebrated disciples of Leonardo “renowned during his lifetime for images characterized by their accentuated physicality and expressiveness. His paintings strike a fine balance between the devotional and the sensual, pairing bold colors and strong physiognomies with highly refined, softly illuminated features and virtuoso effects of pictorial delicacy...” (Christie’s) While he is best known today as a follower and copyist of Leonardo, Giampietrino’s work was often copied itself.