The Italian architect Donato Bramante was born in Urbino in about 1444. He moved to Milan shortly after 1480, where he was in the circle of artists in the court of Ludovico il Moro Sforza which included Leonardo da Vinci.
After the French invasion of 1498 he moved to Rome, where he became architect to Pope Julius II, for whom he began the rebuilding of St Peter's. He died there in 1514.
His earliest known works are paintings, in which his style is revealed as sculptural and illusionistic. Paintings by him can be found in the Palazzo del Podesta, Bergamo. These paintings were influential on Bramantino.