SCHIAVONE, ANDREA MELDOLLA, known as lo
Painter and engraver, born in Zara at the beginning of the 16th century, died in Venice in 1563.
The exact date of birth is uncertain; Ridolfi places it in 1522, but various indications suggest it should be brought forward by about twenty years. Having gone young to Venice, he often had to adapt to humble collaborative work. He adorned numerous palace facades with frescoes, now all lost, and distinguished himself especially as a painter of cassoni. In his engravings, he faithfully reflected the fantastical world and the compositional taste of Parmigianino, contributing significantly to the spread of Mannerism in Venice. In his paintings, he was chiefly influenced by Bonifacio and Titian, achieving an individual interpretation of Mannerism with a lively taste for the macchia, a loose and confident brushstroke, and luministic solutions that anticipate those of Tintoretto and Jacopo Bassano. Among his best works are the Pietà in Dresden, the decoration of the organ at the Carmini in Venice, and an Annunciation in S. Pietro, Belluno; less successful are the paintings in which the pronounced Parmigianinesque Mannerism leads to a superficial search for effects: the Adoration of the Magi at the Ambrosiana, and the Fall of St. Paul at the Querini Stampalia in Venice.
Typical and very numerous are the decorations of cassoni, in which, with fresh invention and a taste varying between Bonifacesque, Mannerist, or even pre-Scenographic styles, he represents mythological and sacred scenes full of delightful details: works in Venice (Accademia and Brass collection), Vienna, Turin, Hampton Court, Dublin, etc.