Painter, born 1477 in Vercelli, Piedmont, Italy; died on February 14, 1549 in Siena, Italy. He was a follower of Leonardo da Vinci after living several years in Milan in his youth. After 1500 he lived and worked mainly in Siena, being famous for fresco characterized by sumptuous color and unusual beauty in the faces. In 1507 he was invited to Rome by Pope Julius II to assist in decorating the Vatican, and from 1513 to 1515 he executed the noble frescoes of the "Life of Alexander" in the Villa Farnesina in Rome. Among his greatest works in Siena are incidents from the life of Saint Catherine, in her chapel at San Domenico, and frescoes in the Oratory of San Bernardino, and the chapel of San Spirito. One of his masterpieces is the great banner of Saint Sebastian now in the Uffizi gallery in Florence. He is considered to have been an extraordinary but uneven genius.