GIOVANNI da UDINE. - Painter and architect, b. at Udine on 27 Oct. 1487, of the Ricamatori family, d. at Rome in 1564.
At first a pupil of Giovanni Martini da Udine, he later went to Rome to the workshop of Raffaello, for whom he painted the small organ and the musical instruments appearing in the picture of S. Cecilia (1516). G. da U. achieved particular renown for the “grotesques” which, again for Raffaello, he reworked after ancient Roman models in the Vatican Loggias (1517–19). In this genre of art he was also active at Villa Madama, where he also made small stucco panels with Stories of Polyphemus, at Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, and at the Farnesina in Rome. Having returned permanently to Udine around 1539, he devoted himself particularly to architecture and in 1552 was appointed there general architect for all public works. He returned to Rome in 1560, however, once more to undertake the decoration of the Vatican Loggias, and remained in Rome until his death. He should be considered among Raffaello’s best pupils.