Palma, Giacopo (1), called IlVecchio ("the el- der''), to distinguish him from his great-nephew, a cel- ebrated Italian painter of the 16th century, was a na- tive of Serimalta, in the Vallc Brembana, in the Bergamese territory. There is uncertainty as to the exact time when this artist flourished. Lanzi, in his last edition, says, ".Jacopo Palma, called II Vecchio, was invariably considered the companion and rival of Lorenzo Lotto, who was born about 1490, and died in 1560, until M. La Combe, in his Dictionnaire Portatif, confused the historical dates relating to him. Bj' Ki- dolfi we. are told that Palma was employed in complet- ing a picture left unfinished by Titian at his death in 1576. Upon this and other similar authorities. Combe takes occasion to postpone the birth of Palma until 1540, adding to which the forty-eight years assigned him by Vasari, he places the time of his death in 1588. Others put it 1596 and 1623. In such arrangements the critics seem neither to have paid attention to the style of Jacopo, still retaining some traces of the an- tique, nor to the authority of Eidolfi, who makes him the master of Bonifazio Veneziano, who died in 1553; nor to the testimony of Vasari, who, in his work pub- lished in 1568, declares that Palma died at Venice sev- eral years before that period, aged forty-eight." Lanzi still further settles the matter by the date 1514, which he read on one of his ])ictures at Milan, representing the Saviour icith several Saints, which he pronounces a juvenile production. Palma's manner, at first, accord- ing to Ridolfi, partook of the formality and dryness of Giovanni Bellini. He afterwards attached himself to the method of Giorgione, and aimed at attaining his clearness of expression and rich and harmonious color- ing, visible in his celebrated picture of St. Barbara, in the church of S. IMaria Formosa at Venice. In some of his other pieces he more nearly approaches Titian in the tenderness and impasto of his carnations, and the peculiar grace which he acquired from studying the earlier productions of that great master. Of this kind is his Last Sujiper, in the church of S. INIaria Mater Domini at Venice, and a Holy Family in S. Stefano at Vicenza, esteemed one of his happiest productions. Lanzi says, "The distinguishing character of his pieces is diligence and a harmony of tints so great as to leave no traces of his pencil ; an<l it has been obser\'ed by one of his historians that he long occupied himself in the production of each piece, and frequently retouched it. In the mixture of his colors, as in other respects, he of- ten resembles Lotto, and if he is less animated and sub- lime, he is, perhaps, generallj- more beautiful in the forms of his heads, especially of tliose of women and boys. It is the opinion of some that in several of his countenances he expressed the likeness of his daughter Violante, verv nearly related to Titian, a portrait of whom, b}- the hand of her father, was to be seen in the gallery of Sera, a Florentine gentleman. A variety of pictures intended for private rooms, met with in differ- ent places in Italy, are attributed to Palma, besides por- traits, one of whicli was commended by Vasari as truly astonishing for its beauty ; and Madonnas, chietly drawn along with other saints on oblong canvas, a practice in common use by many artists of that age." The genu- ine pictures of Palma are exceedingly scarce, and highlj' prized. Thcj- are found in all the (jfincipal collections on the Continent, iiarlicidarly at Paris, Dresden, Mu- nich, Berlin, and St. Petersburg. But, above all, Eng- land is richest in works of his that are considered genu- ine ; and they are not only to be found in the royal col- lections, but in many of those belonging to the nobility. It is evident that many of these are spurious, for he
PALMA
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never could have executed half of them, even had his process been less tedious. Lanzi explains this : " The least informed among people of taste, being ignorant of his contemporary artists, the moment they behold a picture between the dryness of Giovanni Bellini and the softness of Titian, pronounce it to be a Palma; and this is more particularly the case when they find the countenances well rounded and colored, the landscape exhibited with care, and roseate hues in the drapery occurring more frecjuently than those of a more san- guine dye. lu this way I'alma is in the mouths of all, while other artists, also very numerous, are only men- tioned when their names are attached to their produc- tions." Vasari describes in high terms of commenda- tion a picture of his in the church of S. Marco at Venice, representing the ship in which the body of St, Mark was brought from Alexandria to Venice exposed to a frightful tempest, "Tlie picture is des-igned with great judgment; the vessel is seen struggling against the impetuous tempest, the waves burst with violence against the sides of the ship, the horrid gloom is only enlivened by flashes of lightning, and every part of the scene is filled up with images of terror, so strongly and naturally that it seems impossible for the power of art to rise to a higher pitch of truth and perfection." Lanzi says Palma's most beautiful work is a picture preserved at the Servi. It represents the Viq/in, with a group of beautiful spirits and a choir of angels, and other angels at her feet engaged in playing in concert upon their harps. " It is an exceedingly graceful production, de- lightfuU}' ornamented with landscape and figures in the distance, very tasteful in tints, which are blended in an admirable manner, equal to the most studied produc- tions of the contemporary artists of Bergamo." An- other admirable picture is his Adoration oj" the Magi, formerly in the Isola di S. Elena, now in the I. E. Pina- coteca of Milan. See Spooner, Bioff. Hist, of the Fine A rts, ii, G45.