William Michael Rossetti

“ A dignified suavity is the most marked characteristic of Luini’s works. They are constantly beautiful, with a beauty which depends at least as much upon the loving self-withdrawn expression as upon the mere refinement and attractiveness of form. This quality of expression appears in all Luini’s productions, whether secular or sacred, and imbues the latter with a peculiarly religious grace—not ecclesiastical unction, but the devoutness of the heart. ”

“ Bernardino, who hardly ever left Lombardy, had some merit as a poet, and is said to have composed a treatise on painting. The precise date of his death is unknown; he may perhaps have survived till about 1540. A serene, contented and happy mind, naturally expressing itself in forms of grace and beauty, seems stamped upon all the works of Luini. The same character is traceable in his portrait, painted in an upper group in his fresco of “Christ crowned with Thorns” in the Ambrosian library in Milan—a venerable bearded personage. ”

“ The frescoes exhibit more freedom of hand than the oil pictures; and they are on the whole less like the work of Da Vinci, having at an early date a certain resemblance to the style of Mantegna, as later on to that of Raphael. Luini’s colouring is mostly rich, and his light and shade forcible. ”