Bernardino Lanino Reimagined

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Renaissance Reminiscence
This is a project and a work in progress, that I have wanted to do since graduating from Pratt Institute, when I also studied a semester abroad at SACI in Florence, Italy and saw the exhibition of Bernardino in Vercelli, Italy. The catalog is pictured left.  These works are now emerging in abstract and impressionistic paintings inspired by themes such as Faith, Hope and Love that reflect a contemporary view of traditional subject matter seen in Renaissance art. I use techniques such as chiaroscuro (lights and darks) and sfumato (blurring the edges) with a soft misty style, much like my direct ancestor Bernardino Lanino (1512-1582) Vercelli, Italy. 

I thank God for the gift of art and the joy it brings.   

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Bernardino Lanino - 1512- 1583

After training locally with a little-known artist, Bernardino Lanino was associated with Vercelli's most important painter from 1530. Three years later he had already reached the rank of master painter. His early work displays his teacher's gentle figure style and delicate effects, but Lanino added his own soft, misty brushstrokes. After his teacher left to establish himself in Milan, Lanino became the region's leading painter. Between 1540 and 1560, Lanino made several visits to Milan, creating altarpieces and frescoes. There he absorbed the strong influence of Leonardo da Vinci's chiaroscuro. During this period Lanino made many of his finest drawings, creating startling chiaroscuro effects using black chalk and white bodycolor heightening on brown prepared paper. He often used pen and wash with white highlights in his accomplished compositional studies. Throughout the 1560s and 1570s, patrons eagerly sought Lanino's paintings, and his workshop was amazingly prolific. Examples of his soft style spread throughout the eastern Piedmont and Milan, and his sons also became painters in Vercelli. (The Getty Center)

Doves 

Symbols in Renaissance Art 

Throughout the centuries doves have appeared as symbols in numerous religious and secular settings but may be best known for its wide use in Christianity. Renaissance artists, such as Bernardino Lanino, utilized doves primarily in religious artwork to depict the third element of the trinity, the Holy Spirit. Shown above the figures in the painting, as seen in the painting on the right, wings spread and often in a burst of light gives the dove an ethereal appearance, indicating its religious significance.   

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Deborah Lanino

2019

18" x 36"

Dove III

Acrylic on canvas 

Deborah Lanino

2021

12" x 12"

Dove IV

Acrylic on canvas 

Greek Cross

This series of paintings signifies hope for a better future and the possibility for change. When times are dark, there is a tendency to want to just give up. Remember from history that the Dark Ages led to the Renaissance. This series was painted during the pandemic and to me it signifies hope for a better future. In these works, there is a composition based on the Greek Cross, that is orderly where priority is given to the whole over it's parts giving the work a sense of unity.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 

Deborah Lanino

2020

Love

38" x 38"

Acrylic on canvas 

Deborah Lanino

2020

Hope

38" x 38" 

Acrylic on canvas

Deborah Lanino

2020

Faith

38" x 38"

Acrylic on canvas 

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Angels

Artists of the Renaissance era painted characters called "putti," which looked like male babies or toddlers. These characters represented the presence of pure love around people and often sported wings like angels. 

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Bernardino Lanino

National Museum of Science and Technology

Milan, Italy

1540

Three Musician Angels Beneath a Canopy​

Fresco transferred to canvas

Deborah Lanino

2018

8" x 10"

Musician Angel I

Acrylic on canvas  (SOLD) 

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Deborah Lanino

2021

Three Musician Angels II 

9" x 12"

Acrylic on Paper  (SOLD) 

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Deborah Lanino

2021

Two Angels  

 9” x 12”

Acrylic on paper

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Deborah Lanino

2022

Madonna 

20" x 23"

Acrylic on canvas 

Deborah Lanino

2020

Madonna with a Yellow Rose

20" x 23"

Acrylic on canvas 

Deborah Lanino

2019

Pastel Madonna

9 x 12 

Pastel on paper