Palma Vecchio

Palma Vecchio (1480?–1528) was a leading painter of the Italian Renaissance in Venice. As a contemporary of Titian, his short career unfolded at the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Golden Age of Venetian art that includes the work of Palladio, Tintoretto, Sansovino and Veronese. Like Giorgione and the young Titian, Palma participated in a crucial period of transition from an Early to a High Renaissance pictorical style in Venice. His paintings are famous for their sensual appeal: idealized saints in verdant landscapes, female nudes, beautiful and sensual women in half length portraits, grandiose altarpieces, and a rich and warm palette of vibrant colours. All documents are taken into consideration, and the fully illustrated catalogues establish a chronology and identify the autograph work. A substantial text in six chapters deals with the artist's work according to his characteristic subject matter: altarpieces, Madonnas and Saints, and portraits (male and female).