Not much is known about Bernardino Zaganelli's life except through his works. He was born in Cotignola and worked in Parma and Ravenna. His brother Francesco da Cotignola was also a painter, and he is possibly related to Girolamo Marchesi as well. He primarily painted religious-themed paintings for church commissions, sometimes working with his brother Francesco. One work executed by Bernardino Zaganelli Saint Sebastian is part of the National Gallery collection in London.^[1]

One of his pupils in Ferrara was thought to be Antonio Pirri.^[2]

• Bryan, Michael (1886). Robert Edmund Graves (ed.). Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical. Vol. I: A-K. London: George Bell and Sons. p. 189.
• Boni, Filippo de' (1852). Biografia degli artisti ovvero dizionario della vita e delle opere dei pittori, degli scultori, degli intagliatori, dei tipografi e dei musici di ogni nazione che fiorirono da'tempi più remoti sino á nostri giorni. Second Edition. Venice; Googlebooks: Presso Andrea Santini e Figlio. p. 234.