Pinturicchio

Pinturicchio, or Pintoricchio (US: , Italian: [pintuˈrikkjo]; born Bernardino di Betto; 1454–1513), also known as Benetto di Biagio or Sordicchio, was an Italian Renaissance painter. He acquired his nickname (meaning "little painter") because of his small stature and he used it to sign some of his artworks that he produced during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Pinturicchio was born the son of Benedetto or Betto di Biagio, in Perugia. In his career, he may have trained under lesser-known Perugian painters such as Bonfigli and Fiorenzo di Lorenzo. According to Vasari, Pinturicchio was a paid assistant of Perugino.

The works of the Perugian Renaissance school are very similar and often paintings by Perugino, Pinturicchio, Lo Spagna, and a young Raphael may be mistaken, one for the other. In the execution of large frescoes, pupils and assistants had a large share in the work, either in enlarging the master's sketch to the full-sized cartoon, in transferring the cartoon to the wall, or in painting backgrounds or accessories.