Giovanni Pietro Birago

( fl c. 1471/4-1513). Italian illuminator and engraver. In 1894 he was tentatively associated with his principal work, the Hours of Bona Sforza (London, BL, Add. MSS 34294, 45722 and 62997), and became known as the Master of the Sforza Book of Hours or the Pseudo-Antonio da Monza; in 1956 he was conclusively identified by his signature PSBR IO PETR BIRAGVS FT on the frontispiece of a copy (Warsaw, N. Lib., Inc. F. 1347) of Giovanni Simonetta's life of Francesco Sforza, the Sforziada, published first in Latin and then in Italian translation at Milan in 1490.

See the Abbreviations for further details.