Bonifacio Bembo

Bonifacio Bembo, also known as Bonfazio Bembo, or simply just Bembo, was a northern Italian Renaissance artist born in Brescia in 1420. He was the son of Giovanni Bembo, an active painter during his time. As a painter, Bonifacio mainly worked in Cremona. He was patronized by the Sforza family and was commissioned to paint portraits of Francesco Sforza and his wife Bianca Maria Visconti. Scholars have credited him as the artist who produced a tarot card deck for the Visconti-Sforza families, now held in the Cary Collection of Playing Cards at Yale University. In the past century, art historians have begun to question the authenticity of his works, believing his only two secure works to be the portraits of Francesco and Bianca Maria Sforza. He is believed to have died sometime before 1482. Bonifacio Bembo was born in Brescia, Italy, in 1420 to an Italian family of painters. He was the son of Giovanni Bembo, a painter active in Cremona from 1425 to 1449. His brothers Benedetto and Andrea were also painters active in the areas of Cremona and Parma.