2. Il Pordenone
Il Pordenone, byname of Giovanni
Antonio de' Sacchis (c. 1484–1539), was
an Italian painter of the Venetian school,
active during the Renaissance. Vasari, his
main biographer, wrongly identifies him
as Giovanni Antonio Licinio.
3. Biography
His name derives from being born
in Pordenone, even if his family came from
Corticelle (Brescia,Lombardy). He ultimately
dropped the name of de' Sacchis, having
quarrelled with his brother Bartolomeo, who
had wounded him in the hand. He then
called himself Regillo, or De Regillo. His
signature runs Antonius Portusnaonensis, or De
Portunaonis. He was knighted as
a cavaliere by the king of Hungary John
Zápolya.
4. As a painter, Pordenone was a scholar of Pellegrino da San
Daniele, but a leading influence of his style was Giorgione;
the popular story that he was a fellow-pupil
with Titian under Giovanni Bellini is false. It was claimed that
Pordenone's first commission was given him by a grocer in
his home town, to try his boast that he could paint a picture
as the priest commenced High Mass, and complete it by
the time Mass was over; he completed the picture in the
required time.[1] The district about Pordenone had been
somewhat fertile in capable painters; but Pordenone is the
best known, a vigorous chiaroscurist and flesh painter. The
1911 Britannica states that "so far as mere flesh-painting is
concerned he was barely inferior to Titian in breadth,
pulpiness and tone". The two were rivals for a time, and
Giovanni Antonio would sometimes affect to wear arms
while he was painting. He excelled in portraits; he was
equally at home in fresco and in oil-color. He executed
many works in Pordenone and elsewhere in Friuli, Cremona,
and Venice; at one time he settled in Piacenza, where one
of his most celebrated church pictures, St. Catherine
disputing with the Doctors in Alexandriais located. The
figure of St. Roch, in the Dome of Pordenone is considered
his own portrait.
5. He was invited by Duke Ercole II of Ferrara to court;
here soon afterwards, in 1539, he died, not without
suspicion of poisoncommitted by Titian. His later
works are comparatively careless and superficial;
and generally he is better in male figures than in
female-the latter being somewhat too sturdy-and the
composition of his subject-pictures is scarcely on a
level with their other merits. Pordenone appears to
have been a vehement self-asserting man, to which
his style as a painter corresponds.
Three of his principal pupils were Bernardino Licinio,
named Il Sacchiense, his son-in-law Pomponio
Amalteo, and Giovanni Maria Calderari.
6. Bust of Il Pordenone. Castle
of Udine.
BornGiovanni Antonio de'
Sacchis
circa 1484
PordenoneDied1539
FerraraNationalityItalianKnown
forPaintingMovementItalian
Renaissance
