a gifted but inconsistent artist, countering Vasari’s bias with modern archival research and highlighting a few masterpieces amid more routine fresco work. It establishes his Vercelli origins, clarifies confusions around his surname, traces his apprenticeship with Martino Spanzotti, notes likely early exposure to Leonardo’s influence, and explains his move to Siena, where the field was ripe for a new talent. It surveys early Sienese panels (including the Deposition and Nativity tondi), his eccentric animal-filled household, and the Monte Oliveto fresco cycle—praised for individual heads and color yet criticized for crowded compositions—along with related convent pieces. It then follows him to Rome for contributions to the Camera della Segnatura (ceiling framework and grisaille scenes preserved by Raphael) and the Farnesina frescoes of Alexander and Roxana and the Family of Darius, alongside closely related Madonnas and drawings. Back in Tuscany, it highlights the powerful Christ bound to the Column, the San Bernardino frescoes, and notable panels such as the Adoration of the Magi and a lyrical St. George painted for Ferrara. A brief “unknown period” weighs signs of travel through Mantua, Ferrara, and Lombardy (including the debated Vaprio fresco) before placing him in Siena in 1525 to produce the famed St. Sebastian banner, admired and valued above its original fee. Throughout, the author pinpoints hallmarks of his style—tapering fingers, almond-shaped eyes, luminous Lombard landscapes, and crisply waved hair—supported by comparisons to drawings and paintings. (This is an automatically generated summary.)