CARIANI mk170
circa 1520
Oil on canvas
108.6x83.2cm
Portrait of Francesco Albani Italian Painter, ca.1490-1547
was an Italian painter of the high-Renaissance, active in Venice and the Venetian mainland, including Bergamo, thought to be his native city. His father, also Giovanni Busi, was born in Fuipiano Valle Imagna and was appointed a local magistrate for the Venetian authorities. His son, probably born in Bergamo, is known to have lived in Venice starting in 1509, and may have trained with either Giovanni Bellini or Giorgione, and almost certainly was influenced by them. Though he worked often in Bergamo, he died in Venice in 1547. He was strongly influenced by Palma il Vecchio, but had a provincial love of scenery as seen in his Sacra conversazione with a youthful donor. While working in Bergamo (1517-1523),