Palma Vecchio (c. 1480 – 30 July 1528), born Jacopo Palma, also known as Jacopo Negretti, was a

Venetian painter Venetian painting was a major force in Italian Renaissance painting and beyond. Beginning with the work of Giovanni Bellini (c. 1430–1516) and his brother Gentile Bellini (c. 1429–1507) and their workshops, the major artists of the Venetian ...

of the Italian High Renaissance. He is called Palma Vecchio in English and Palma il Vecchio in Italian ("Palma the Elder") to distinguish him from

Palma il Giovane Iacopo Negretti (1548/50 – 14 October 1628), best known as Jacopo or Giacomo Palma il Giovane or simply Palma Giovane ("Young Palma"), was an Italian painter from Venice and a notable exponent of the Venetian school. After Tintoretto's death ...

("Palma the Younger"), his great-nephew, who was also a painter.

Life

Palma was born at Serina Alta near Bergamo, a dependency of the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...

, but his recorded career all took place in or near

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

. He is first recorded in Venice in 1510, but had probably already been there for some time. He was perhaps apprenticed to Andrea Previtali, who also came from Bergamo, and who returned there in 1511. Palma's earlier works show the influence of Giovanni Bellini, Previtali's master and by then the aged ''doyen'' of Venetian painting, but Palma came to follow the new style and subjects pioneered by

Giorgione Giorgione (, , ; born Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco; 1477–78 or 1473–74 – 17 September 1510) was an Italian painter of the Venetian school during the High Renaissance, who died in his thirties. He is known for the elusive poetic quali ...

and

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian (Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, nea ...

. After the deaths of Bellini and Giorgione, and the removal from Venice of

Sebastiano del Piombo Sebastiano del Piombo (; c. 1485 – 21 June 1547) was an Italian painter of the High Renaissance and early Mannerist periods famous as the only major artist of the period to combine the colouring of the Venetian school in which he was trained ...

Lorenzo Lotto Lorenzo Lotto (c. 1480 – 1556/57) was an Italian painter, draughtsman, and illustrator, traditionally placed in the Venetian school, though much of his career was spent in other north Italian cities. He painted mainly altarpieces, religiou ...

and Previtali, before long Palma found himself, after Titian, the leading painter in Venice, much in demand until his early death at the age of 48 (according to

Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work '' The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculp ...

; his date of birth is calculated from this). His stock has been rising somewhat in recent decades, as more attributions are removed from Giorgione and Titian and given to him; his "sheer painterly capacity" in the handling of paint and colour is extremely fine. He painted the new pastoral mythologies and half-length portraits, often of idealized beauties who, then as now, were enticingly suspected of being portraits of Venice's famous

courtesan Courtesan, in modern usage, is a euphemism for a "kept" mistress or prostitute, particularly one with wealthy, powerful, or influential clients. The term historically referred to a courtier, a person who attended the court of a monarch or other ...

s. He also painted religious pieces, in particular developing the ''

sacra conversazione In art, a (; plural: ''sacre conversazioni''), meaning holy (or sacred) conversation, is a genre developed in Italian Renaissance painting, with a depiction of the Virgin and Child (the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus) amidst a group of sain ...

'' (the Virgin and Child with a group of saints and perhaps

donors A donor in general is a person, organization or government which donates something voluntarily. The term is usually used to represent a form of pure altruism, but is sometimes used when the payment for a service is recognized by all parties as r ...

) in a horizontal form with a landscape background. In other, secular, groups something seems to occurring between the figures, though exactly what is unclear. All these types of painting were patronized by wealthy Venetians for their homes. He also painted traditional vertical altarpieces for churches inside Venice and around the Venetian territories on the mainland such as the Presentation of the Virgin Altarpiece now in Serina. However, he was not commissioned to paint a main altar in Venice until 1525, at Sant'Elena, Venice (now Brera, Milan). He was quick to absorb influences from other parts of Italy, sometimes copying poses from Michelangelo, and taking influence from Central Italy from about 1515 into the 1520s. Palma's mature work from the 1520s shows a "

High Renaissance In art history, the High Renaissance was a short period of the most exceptional artistic production in the Italian states, particularly Rome, capital of the Papal States, and in Florence, during the Italian Renaissance. Most art historians stat ...

style, characterized by his mastery of contrapposto, the enrichment of his high-keyed palette and the development of a dignified and diverse repertory of ideal human types in conservative compositions. These qualities dominated his work to the exclusion of dramatic chiaroscuro, spatial experiment, expressionism and innovative composition." Critical opinion is rather divided as whether the art from shortly before his sudden death was continuing to develop, or had lost energy and direction. S. J. Freedberg sees his career as oscillating between the influences of Titian and other north and Central Italian trends, including Mannerism. He had a workshop about which little certain is known, and may have taught

Bonifazio Pitati Bonifacio Veronese, birth name: Bonifacio de' PitatiAlso known as Bonifazio Veneziano (1487 – 19 October 1553) was an Italian Renaissance painter who was active in the Venetian Republic. His work had an important influence on the younger ge ...

, who he certainly influenced, as he did

Giovanni Busi Giovanni Cariani (c. 1490–1547), also known as Giovanni Busi or Il Cariani, was an Italian painter of the high-Renaissance, active in Venice and the Venetian mainland, including Bergamo, thought to be his native city. Overview His father, a ...

Works

:''See also :Paintings by Palma Vecchio'' His paintings frequently feature his (so-called) daughter Violante, of whom Titian was said to be enamoured. Famous works by Palma include a composition of six paintings in the Venetian church of

Santa Maria Formosa Santa Maria Formosa, formally The Church of the Purification of Mary, is a church in Venice, northern Italy. It was erected in 1492 under the design by Renaissance architect Mauro Codussi. It lies on the site of a previous church dating from the ...

, with St Barbara in the centre, under the dead Christ, and to right and left SS. Dominic, Sebastian, John Baptist and Anthony. A second work is in the

Dresden Gallery Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth lar ...

, representing three sisters seated in the open air; it is frequently named ''The Three Graces''. A third work, discovered in Venice in 1900, is a portrait supposed to represent ''Violante''. Other leading examples are: the ''Last Supper'' in the

National Gallery for Foreign Art The National Gallery for Foreign Art ( bg, Национална галерия за чуждестранно изкуство, ''Natsionalna galeriya za chuzhdestranno izkustvo'') of Bulgaria is a gallery located on St. Alexander Nevsky Square in ...

; a Madonna, in the church of Santo Stefano in Vicenza; the ''Epiphany'', (

Brera Gallery The Pinacoteca di Brera ("Brera Art Gallery") is the main public gallery for paintings in Milan, Italy. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian paintings from the 13th to the 20th century, an outgrowth of the cultural program of ...

, Milan); the ''Holy Family with a young shepherd'' (Louvre, Paris), ''The Holy Family with St. Catherine, St. John and Donor '' and ''Self Portrait'' ( Beli Dvor, Belgrade), ''St Stephen and other Saints, Christ and the Widow of Nain'' and the ''Assumption of the Virgin'', (

Gallerie dell'Accademia The Gallerie dell'Accademia is a museum gallery of pre-19th-century art in Venice, northern Italy. It is housed in the Scuola della Carità on the south bank of the Grand Canal, within the sestiere of Dorsoduro. It was originally the gallery o ...

, Venice), '' Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist and Saint Mary Magdalene'' (Uffizi), ''Lady with a Lute'' (

Alnwick Castle Alnwick Castle () is a castle and country house in Alnwick in the English county of Northumberland. It is the seat of the 12th Duke of Northumberland, built following the Norman conquest and renovated and remodelled a number of times. It is a G ...

, England), ''Christ at Emmaus'' (

Pitti Palace The Palazzo Pitti (), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present ...

) and Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Catherine. It has recently been realized that Titian completed a ''sacra conversazione'' by Palma, probably after his death; he had probably done the same for Giorgione after his death. He overpainted two of the figures, and made changes to the background. It is now in the

in Venice.

Gallery

File:Palma Vecchio - Portrait of a Poet - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Portrait of a Poet'', c. 1516 File:Palma il Vecchio 009.jpg, ''Young Woman in Profile'', c. 1512-1514 File:Resting Venus, by Jacopo Palma Vecchio.jpg, '' Nymph in a Landscape'', c. 1518-1520 File:Jacopo Negretti, called Palma il Vecchio - Young Woman in a Blue Dress, with Fan - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Young Woman in a Blue Dress, with Fan'', 1512-1514 File:Palma Vecchio, Allegory.jpg, ''Allegory'', by 1515, Philadelphia Museum of Art File:Tiziano, i bravi.jpg, '' The Bravo'', an example of a painting often attributed to

, but also to Palma.Steer, 114-116 File:Accademia - Assumption of the Virgin by Palma il Vecchio.jpg, '' Assumption of the Virgin'', a large altarpiece, 1512-1514. File:Palma Vecchio, The Raising of Lazarus.jpg, ''The Raising of Lazarus'', c. 1514 File:Palma Vecchio Sacra Conversazione.jpg, Sacra Conversazione, 1516–1518 File:La Bella by Palma il Vecchio.png, ''La Bella'', 1518–1520 File:Palma il Vecchio - A Blonde Woman.jpg, ''A Blonde Woman'', c. 1520 File:Palma Salvator Mundi.jpg, ''

Salvator Mundi , Latin for Saviour of the World, is a subject in iconography depicting Christ with his right hand raised in blessing and his left hand holding an orb (frequently surmounted by a cross), known as a . The latter symbolizes the Earth, and the wh ...

'', c. 1518-1522 File:Jacopo Negretti called Palma the Elder - Portrait of a Woman known as Portrait of a Courtesan - Google Art Project.jpg, An unusually explicit '' Portrait of a Courtesan'', 1520 File:Palma il Vecchio (Jacopo Negretti) - Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist and Magdalene - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene'', 1520–1522 File:Santa Maria Formosa, cappella laterale, opere di Palma il Vecchio..jpg, St. Barbara polyptych, 1523–24,

File:Sacra Conversazione con donatori, Jacopo Palma il Vecchio 001.JPG, '' Madonna and Child with Donors'' File:1525 il Vecchio Frau mit entbloesster Brust anagoria.JPG, Woman with a breast uncovered, 1525 File:Palma il Vecchio - Adoration of the Magi in the Presence of Saint Helen, 1525 - 6, 140.jpg, '' Adoration of the Magi with Saint Helena'', 1525–1526 File:Palma il Vecchio - Judith - WGA16936.jpg, '' Judith'', 1525–1528 File:Palma il Vecchio - Christ and the adulteress - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery'', 1525–1528

Notes

References

* Freedberg, Sydney J. ''Painting in Italy, 1500–1600'', 3rd edn. 1993, Yale, *Jaffé, David (ed), ''Titian'', The National Gallery Company/Yale, London 2003, *"RC", Lucy Whitaker, Martin Clayton, ''The Art of Italy in the Royal Collection; Renaissance and Baroque'', Royal Collection Publications, 2007, *Rylands, Philip, "Palma."

Grove Art Online ''Grove Art Online'' is the online edition of ''The Dictionary of Art'', often referred to as the ''Grove Dictionary of Art'', and part of Oxford Art Online, an internet gateway to online art reference publications of Oxford University Press, ...

. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 26 Feb. 2017
subscription required
* Steer, John, ''Venetian painting: A concise history'', 1970, London: Thames and Hudson (World of Art), *

Life

Works

Gallery

Notes

References

Further reading