He represented the Visconti in treaty negotiations at Florence, and participated in the conclave of 1431 that elected a successor to Martin V, Pope Eugenius IV. He participated in the Council of Florence, sitting at Ferrara and Florence, 1438 to 1442. In Florence he came to know the work of Masolino, occupied with the Brancacci Chapel; Branda convinced Masolino to accompany him to Hungary for three years (1425–28) and commissioned him to carry out frescoes for his Capella Castiglione in his titular church of San Clemente, Rome and decorative landscapes for Palazzo Branda in Castiglione Olona.C. Bertelli, Masolino: gli affreschi del Battistero e della Collegiata a Castiglione Olona, 1997.
