GIOVANNI da UDINE. – Painter and architect, born in Udine on 27 Oct. 1487 into the Ricamatori family, died in Rome in 1564.
Initially a pupil of Giovanni Martini da Udine, he later went to Rome to work in the workshop of Raphael, for whom he painted the small organ and the musical instruments appearing in the painting of St Cecilia (1516). G. da U. was especially renowned for the “grotesques” which he reworked, again for Raphael, from ancient Roman examples in the Vatican Loggias (1517–19). In this genre of art he was also active at Villa Madama, where he also executed small stucco panels with Stories of Polyphemus, at Palazzo Vecchio in Florence and at the Farnesina in Rome. Having returned to Udine around 1539, he devoted himself in particular to architecture and in 1552 was appointed general architect for all public works there. He returned to Rome in 1560, however, to continue decorating the Vatican Loggias, and remained in Rome until his death. He is to be considered among the best pupils of Raphael.