Sebastiano del Piombo

Sebastiano del Piombo (sābästyä`nō dĕl pyôm`bō), c.1485–1547, Italian painter of the Venetian school, whose real name was Sebastiano Luciani. Although he was trained by Giovanni Bellini, his early work was influenced by Giorgione. His first important work is the frescoed altarpiece representing St. Chrysostom in the Church of San Giovanni Crisostomo, Venice. Called to Rome (c.1510), he painted a series of lunettes in the Farnesina. He allied himself with Michelangelo, under whose influence he painted the Raising of Lazarus (National Gall., London); Pietà (Museo Civico, Viterbo); Martyrdom of St. Agatha (Pitti Palace, Florence); Flagellation and Transfiguration, the latter a fresco (Church of San Pietro in Montorio, Rome). In 1531 he was appointed to the lucrative office of the piombo (keeper of the papal seals) and painted little thereafter. Piombo's portraits are famous for their characterization and coloring. Noted examples include Doge Andrea Doria (Doria Palace, Rome), Cardinal Pole (Hermitage, St. Petersburg), Christopher Columbus (Metropolitan Mus.), and portraits of cardinals (Vienna; Sarasota, Fla.).

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Sebastiano del Piombo

 orig. Sebastiano Luciani

(born c. 1485, Venice, Republic of Venice—died July 21, 1547, Rome, Papal States) Italian painter. While in Venice, he was highly influenced by his teacher, Giorgione. In 1511 he moved to Rome and became a member of Michelangelo's circle of Renaissance artists. Michelangelo thought so highly of him that he provided sketches for him to execute. In Sebastiano's Pietà (1513), Flagellation (1516–24), and Raising of Lazarus (1516–18), all based on Michelangelo's sketches, he combined the warm colouring of the Venetian school with Michelangelo's anatomical clarity and firm sculptural drawing. After Raphael's death, Sebastiano's reputation as a portraitist was unparalleled. In 1531 Pope Clement VII, the subject of one of his finest portraits (1526), appointed him keeper of the papal seal; his nickname derives from the fact that the seal was of lead (Italian, piombo). The lucrative post gave him financial security, and his output declined.