Biography
Although most of his early works dating from the 1480s are to be found in his native Verona, Bonsignori is first documented in Mantua in 1477, where he was a pupil in the workshop of Andrea Mantegna, the outstanding artistic talent in the region at the time. Although his mature style is distinctive, he was hardly original: his stylistic development is characterised by a series of responses to other painters, be it Giovanni Bellini, Alvise Vivarini or Lorenzo Costa, but Mantegna remained the dominant influence. For much of his career Bonsignori was in the employ of the Gonzaga, rulers of Mantua, producing portraits, devotional paintings and some mural decorations. His limited talents are evident in his last and probably best-known work, the rather old fashioned altarpiece of the Adoration of the Blessed Osanna Andreasi of 1519 in the Palazzo Ducale, Mantua.