BARTOLOMEO VENETO. – Painter; records of his activity range from 1502 (Madonna with the Bannino, Correr Museum, formerly Donà delle Rose collection) to 1530 (Portrait of Martinengo, National Gallery, London). Of Cremonese origin, Bartolomeo first worked in the Venetian circle of Giovanni Bellini, distinguishing himself by his incisive plastic research, which suggests a direct recourse to Mantegna before any relationship with the art of Dürer (Circumcision in the Louvre, 1506). Called to Ferrara, he painted in the rooms of Lucrezia Borromata (1505–1507); after a stay in Bergamo (Pietà in S. Pietro at Orzio) he went to Milan, where he felt the influence of Leonardo’s masters, particularly Boltraffio (Madonna in the Ambrosiana, c. 1512; St. Catherine in the Städel Institute, Frankfurt). In his final period (after 1520) he participated in the precious Mannerist taste of the time, accentuating certain typically Northern harshnesses and the decorative richness of clothing.
Bartolomeo Veneto – Portrait of an Unknown Man. Rome, National Gallery of Ancient Art.
Among his best works are his portraits, famous among them being that of a gentleman in the Corsini Gallery in Rome.