BORDONE, PARIS (15oo-1 S71), Venetian painter, was born at Treviso, and entered the bottega of Titian at an early age. In 1538 he was invited to France by Francis I., at whose court he painted many portraits, though no trace of them is to be found in French collections, the two portraits at the Louvre being later acquisitions. He also is said to have visited Augsburg and worked for the Fuggers, probably in 1548. A true child of the Renaissance, he painted a number of religious pictures, numerous mythological scenes, allegories, nymphs, cupids and subjects from Ovid's fables, but he excelled as a portraitist. His principal historical painting, signed and dated 1 S4o, is the "Fish erman and Doge" at the Venice academy. The National Gallery, London, has a "Daphnis and Chloe" and a portrait of a lady. Other important works are the "Madonna" in the Tadini collec tion at Lovere, the "Adoration of the Shepherds" in the Duomo of Treviso, two mythological pictures at the Villa Borghese and the Doria palace in Rome, the "Chess Players" in Berlin, "Christ among the doctors" in the Gardner collection at Boston and a "Baptism of Christ" in Philadelphia. Besides these, there are examples of his art in Bergamo, Milan, Genoa, Padua, Siena, Venice, Florence, Munich, Dresden, Vienna and in private col lections in England. Bordone died in Venice on Jan. 19, 1571.
Beyond some references in general works on Italian paintings, very little has been written on Paris Bordone since the days of Vasari, who knew him and visited him in 1566. In 'goo the committee of the fourth centenary of Paris Bordone, Treviso, published L. Bailo and G. Biscaro's Della Vita e delle Opere di Paris Bordone; and the Nuova Antologia (Nov. 16, 'goo) contains a '6-page paper on Paris Bordone by P. G. Molmenti.