GIULIO CLOVIO (attr. A)

(Grizane, 1498 - Rome, 1578) Sant'Antonio Abate Miniature on parchment, cm 16X13,7 There is no precise information about Giulio Clovio's education, ancient sources say he was a pupil of Titian, we know that in 1516 he was in Venice in the service of Cardinal Domenico Grimani and later moved to Rome where he attended the workshop of Giulio Romano. Around 1523 he moved to Hungary at the court of King Louis II and returned to Rome in 1526, but after the sack of the city he moved to Mantua, becoming a Benedictine monk. In 1538 he returned to Rome and in 1540 entered the service of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, nephew of Pope Paul III, for whom he illuminated some codices. With the same cardinal he lived in Florence between 1551 and 1553, executing on parchment a Crucifix with Mary Magdalene and a Pietà for Duke Cosimo de' Medici. Although he was often inspired by the works of Raphael, Michelangelo and other masters. Clovio's works give the impression of being conceived as 'small' paintings rather than true miniatures in the medieval sense of the term, and attest to a remarkable artistic personality, who was able to breathe the last true breath of life into a painting technique that seemed to have exhausted its expressive possibilities. Clovio revealed himself to be a master capable of creating a new spiritualised and refined vision within Mannerism, achieving extraordinary success. Returning to the parchment in question, we can see an interesting analogy with the works of Girolamo Muziano, (Acquafredda, 1528/1532 - Rome, 1592), an artist of Brescian origin, but Roman by adoption, who in 1560 was responsible for the great painting yards of the Quirinale, Montegiordano and Villa d'Este in Tivoli on behalf of Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este.