GIROLAMO da SANTACROCE. — Painter, probably born around 1480, perhaps died in July 1556. He can be identified with the “Jerolimo, de maistro Bernardin, depen-” to whom Gentile Bellini bequeathed some drawings in his will dated 18 February 1507. Traces of this apprenticeship under Gentile are discernible in the profile of a young man in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli.
He later moved to the workshop of Giovanni Bellini, and the influence of that master is indeed found in many of his works, such as the *Sacra Conversazione* in Liverpool and the *Madonna between St Joseph, the Baptist, and a Donor* (signed Giovanni Bellini) in the Accademia of Turin. In other works, however, influences of Cima are evident (e.g., *St Gregory and St John the Evangelist* in the National Gallery, London), while in 1542 he is recorded among the assistants of Lorenzo Lotto. The Zante painter is repeatedly mentioned for works in Venetian churches: an *Last Supper* is in S. Francesco della Vigna, a *Madonna with Monks and Saints* in the Frari, *Four Saints* in S. Giovanni Crisostomo, a *Coronation* in S. Giuliano, a *St Thomas of Canterbury with the Baptist*, and a *St Francis with Angel Musicians* in S. Silvestro (1520). Other works, all displaying the eclecticism that reveals the multiple influences to which the painter was subject throughout his life, are to be found not only in towns and cities of the Veneto but also in numerous collections in Italy and abroad.