The same influences which formed the art of Giorgione inspired the
pictures of Palma Vecchio (1480-1528), whose _Adoration of the
Shepherds with a Female Donor_ (No. 1399, Plate XI.) is brilliant in
colour. The signature in the right foreground of this canvas, TICIAN,
is false. Palma left a large number of pictures unfinished at his death.
The _Visitation_ (No. 1352) is an admirable example of the art of
Sebastiano del Piombo (1485-1547), and is signed
SEBASTIANVS VENETVS FACIEBAT
ROMAE MDXXI.
It was purchased in the year indicated in the inscription by François
I., who added it to his collection at Fontainebleau, whence it was
removed by Louis XIV. to Versailles. The canvas, which has been a good
deal injured, has at some time been cut into three pieces. The name
by which this artist is generally known was derived from the office
which he held late in life at the Papal Court. There he forsook the
traditions of his native school and gradually came under the influence
of Michelangelo. In Rome he also met Raphael, who was much impressed
by his colour schemes: the _St. John the Baptist in the Desert_ (No.
1500), here catalogued under the name of Raphael, and a few pictures
similarly attributed in other galleries, were painted by Sebastiano in
his Roman manner.
A prominent place among the less important artists generally included
in this school must be accorded to Cariani (1480?-1547?). A large
proportion of the pictures of this Bergamask painter usually pass under
more imposing names, and it is a remarkable fact that we do not find
any work attributed to him in the official Catalogue. He, however,
painted a _Holy Family_ (No. 1135), here assigned to Giorgione, as
well as the _Madonna and Child and St. Sebastian_ (No. 1159) given to
Giovanni Bellini. The _Portrait of Two Men_ (No. 1156), which for no
very apparent reason was once regarded as the portraits of Gentile and
Giovanni Bellini, must be by Cariani, although still placed to the
credit of Gentile.
Another of the less efficient pupils of Giovanni Bellini was Niccolò
Rondinelli (fl. 1480-1500), whose _Madonna and Child, St. Peter, and
St. Sebastian_ (No. 1158) masquerades as a work by Giovanni Bellini,
whose full name, IOANNES BELLINVS, is inscribed in capitals (not,
however, placed in a _cartellino_) on the parapet which runs across the
front of the panel.