SOLARIO, ANDREA DA (c. 1460—c. 1520), Italian painter of the Milanese school, was probably born at Milan, and received his early training from his brother Christofano, a dis tinguished sculptor and architect, who was employed extensively on work at the cathedral, Milan, and at the Certosa di Pavia. In 1490 he accompanied his brother to Venice, where he seems to have been strongly influenced by Antonello da Messina, who was then active in the city. The fine portrait of a Venetian Senator (National Gallery, London) displays Antonello's plastic conception of form and was probably painted about 1492. The two brothers returned to Milan in 1493. The "Ecce Homo" at the Poldi Pezzoli, notable for its strong modelling, may have been painted soon after his arrival. Solario's earliest dated work is a "Holy Family and St. Jerome" (Brera, Milan), with a fine land scape background, executed for S. Pietro at Murano in The Leonardesque type of the Madonna proves that Andrea after his return from Venice became strongly influenced by the great Florentine artist who was then carrying everything before him. To this period of Andrea belong a small "Crucifixion" (1503, Louvre) and the portrait of Charles of Amboise (Louvre) ; the portrait of Longono (1505, National Gallery, London) ; "The An nunciation" (1506, Fitzwilliam museum, Cambridge) ; and the beautiful "Vierge au coussm vert" (Louvre), for which a sen sitive drawing of the Virgin's head is in the Ambrosiana at Milan; and the "Head of the Baptist in a silver charger" (1507, Louvre).
In 1507 Andrea went to France with letters of introduction to the Cardinal of Amboise, and was employed for two years on frescoes in the chapel of his castle of Gaillon in Normandy (demolished during the French revolution). According to Morelli's suggestion Andrea may have visited Flanders before returning to his native country, and this may account for the Flemish char acter of his later work. The artist was back in Italy in 1515, the date of the "Flight into Egypt" (Poldi Pezzoli collection) with its harmonious and detailed landscape background. To this period belong the "Procession to Calvary" (Borghese Gallery, Rome) ; the portrait of the Chancellor Domenico Morone (Palazzo Scotti, Milan) ; and the "Woman playing a guitar" (Hertz col lection, Rome). Andrea's last work was an altarpiece represent ing "The Assumption of the Virgin," left unfinished at his death and completed by Bernadino di Campi about 1576.