Barnaba da Modena was active in Genoa (Liguria) from about 1353 to about 1383. These years marked the high point of Genoa's power in the 14th century - rivalled only by Venice, the Genoese fleet controlled Mediterranean trade, though the city was still riven by factional rivalry.
Although a native of Modena (Emilia), he was first recorded as a Genoese citizen in 1363 - after the required ten years residency - hiring Tuscan assistants in 1361 and 1362. He was paid for paintings (now lost) for the Palazzo Ducale, Genoa, in 1364 and restored a panel for the Genoese Loggia de' Banchi in 1370.
His earliest certain painting is the damaged polyptych of the Virgin and Child with Saints, signed, unlike later works, in capital letters.
He was invited to Pisa in 1380 to complete the fresco cycle by Andrea da Firenze depicting scenes from the Life of St Ranieri in the Camposanto. Although it seems unlikely that he carried out this work (which was completed by Antonio Veneziano some years later), he evidently went to Pisa around this time.
Barnaba witnessed the sale of a house in Modena in 1380 but had returned to Genoa by 1383. Commissions are also recorded in Sicily both for Barnaba and his follower Nicolò da Voltri, who perpetuated Barnaba's imagery and much of his style in Liguria into the 15th century.