Palma Vecchio

Venetian Renaissance painter Palma Vecchio (c. 1480-1528), born Jacopo Palma near Bergamo, became a leading painter in Venice after the deaths of Bellini and Giorgione. His nickname "Vecchio" (the Elder) distinguishes him from his great-nephew Palma il Giovane, also a painter. He arrived in Venice by 1510 and was influenced by Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione, and especially Titian, whose dominance in Venetian colorito shaped his rich palette and sensual modeling of forms.

Palma painted pastoral mythologies, half-length portraits, and idealized beauties often suspected of being Venice's famous courtesans. He developed the sacra conversazione in a distinctive horizontal format with landscape backgrounds. His so-called daughter Violante modeled for many paintings and was reportedly beloved by Titian. Recently, scholars realized Titian completed a sacra conversazione that Palma left unfinished at death, overpainting figures and modifying the background; it now hangs at the Gallerie dell'Accademia. His famous Three Sisters is at the Dresden Gallery, and his Saint Barbara altarpiece cycle remains in Venice's Santa Maria Formosa church. Works also hang at the National Gallery in London.