BONFIGLI, Benedetto Italian painter, Umbrian school (b. ca. 1420, Perugia, d. 1496, Perugia)
Benedetto Bonfigli (c. 1420?CJuly 8, 1496) was an Italian painter of the Quattrocento born in Perugia, and active around Umbria. He is also known as Buonfiglio. He was the teacher of the painter Pietro Perugino.
His earliest work was an ' Annunciation,' originally in the Orfanelli at Perugia. His masterpiece is a series of frescoes in the Palazzo del Consiglio in the same city, which represent the Lives of St. Louis of Toulouse and St. Herculanus; they were begun in 1454 and not finished in 1496, in which year Bonfigli's will is dated. An Adoration of the Magi (c. 1460) was painted for San Domenico. A Banner (gonfalone) was painted in 1465 for the brotherhood of San Bernardino, and representing the deeds of their patron saint; another Gonfalone painted for the brotherhood of San Fiorenzo in 1476, in honor of the Virgin, who had been prayed to intercede for the cessation of the plague. He painted a Virgin of Mercy' (1478) for the church of the Commenda di Santa Croce; and several others in and around Perugia. He was much influenced by Domenico Veneziano and Pietro della Francesca. He also painted frescoes of Sant Ercolano and San Ludovico (1454) for the Palazzo del Consiglio. He died in Perugia.
Annunciation ghku 1455-60
Tempera on panel, 227 x 200 cm
Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia
