_Girolamo da Treviso_ (Venetian: 1497-1544).
Girolamo, the son and pupil of Piermaria Pennachi, was born
at Treviso. He painted at Venice, Genoa, Trent, Faenza, and
Bologna, at which latter place several of his frescoes and
paintings remain. Between the years 1535 and 1538 he returned
to Venice and became intimate with Titian, Sansovino, and
Aretino. "In 1542," says Vasari, "he repaired to England, where
he was so favoured by certain of his friends, who recommended
him to the king (Henry VIII.), that he was at once appointed to
the service of that monarch. Presenting himself to the English
sovereign accordingly, Girolamo was employed, not as painter,
but as engineer, and having given proofs of his ability in
various edifices, copied from such as he had seen in Tuscany
and other parts of Italy, the king admired them greatly.
Nay, furthermore, his majesty rewarded the master with large
gifts, and ordained him a stipend of four hundred crowns a
year, giving him at the same time opportunity and permission
to erect an honourable abode for himself, the cost of which
was borne by the king." Girolamo had, however, to erect also
some bastions at Boulogne, and there "he was struck by a
cannon-ball, which came with such violence that it cut him in
two as he sat on his horse. And so were his life and all the
honours of this world extinguished together, all his greatness
departing in a moment." His works are now scarce. No. 218 in
this gallery may be the copy made by Girolamo from Peruzzi's
drawing, No. 167.
This picture, formerly the altar-piece of the Boccaferri chapel in
S. Domenico at Bologna, is signed by the painter and is mentioned by
Vasari (iii. 287) as "the best of his works: it represents the Madonna
with numerous saints (Joseph, James, and Paul), and contains the
portrait of the person by whom the painter was commissioned to execute
the work." Girolamo, who, as we have seen, was a man of travel, "did
not remain faithful to the tradition of art as professed at Venice
and Treviso, and might be called rather a forerunner of the eclectic
schools.... The head of St. Paul is apparently copied from Raphael's
picture of St. Cecilia in Bologna. In the types of other figures, in
the colouring and in the landscape, we perceive the influence of Dosso
Dossi and of Garofalo" (Richter's _Italian Art, etc._ p. 87).