Andrea Solario

(b Milan, c. 1465; d Milan, before 8 Aug 1524). Painter, brother of (5) Cristoforo Solari. The only painter in the family, he does not seem to have had an independent studio but worked with his four brothers. The documentation for Andrea, which consists mainly of records of payment for work done in France and of litigation and property transactions in Lombardy, has little bearing on his art. His surviving oeuvre consists of approximately 50 paintings and 20 drawings (London, BM; Rome, Gab. N. Stampe; Windsor Castle, Royal Lib.). These include a number of signed paintings dating from 1495 to 1515. The earliest signed and dated painting, The Virgin and Child with Saints (1495; Milan, Brera), shows the influence of Antonello da Messina and was originally in Murano, which supports the suggestion that Andrea accompanied his brother Cristoforo to Venice c. 1490. Returning to Milan after 1495, he soon established his reputation as a leading painter there. Early in 1507 he was called to France to decorate the chapel of Cardinal Georges I d'Amboise's ch?teau at Gaillon, the palace of the archbishops of Rouen in Normandy. Andrea was at Gaillon until at least September 1509, and surviving documents record payments he received for his work there, which included a series of frescoed portraits of the Amboise family (destr. in French Revolution). Other paintings presumably made for the Cardinal, such as the Salome (New York, Met.), indicate Andrea's important role in the introduction of the Renaissance style to France. After his return to Milan, Andrea worked briefly for Cardinal d'Amboise's nephew and heir, Charles II d'Amboise, Governor of Milan. Subsequently he probably visited Rome; a tablet bearing his name was set up in S Girolamo della Carit? in 1514. Also suggestive of a trip to Rome are drawings datable to this time and the fact that Andrea adopted antique sources for paintings, such as the Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1515; Milan, Mus. Poldi Pezzoli).

Part of the Solari family

See the Abbreviations for further details.