SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO Italian painter of the Venetian school, was born at Venice in 1485. His family name was Luciani. At first a musician, chiefly a solo player on the lute, he soon showed a turn for painting, and became a pupil of Giovanni Bellini and afterwards of Giorgione. His first painting of note was done for the church of San Giovanni Cris&tom° in Venice. It represents Chrysostom reading aloud at a desk, a grand Magdalene in front, and two other female and three male saints. Towards 1511 Sebastiano was invited to Rome by the wealthy Sienese merchant Agostino Chigi, and came under the powerful influence of Michelangelo.
Four leading pictures which Sebastiano painted in pursuance of his admiration for Buonarroti are the "Pieta," (earliest of the four), in the church of the Conventuali, Viterbo ; the "Trans figuration" and the "Flagellation," in the church of S. Pietro in Montorio, Rome; and, most celebrated of all, the "Raising of Lazarus," now in the National Gallery, London. This grand work is more than 12 by 9 ft. in dimensions, with the principal figures of the natural size; it is inscribed "Sebastianus Venetus faciebat," and was transferred from wood to canvas in 1771.
It was painted in 1517-1519 for Giulio de' Medici, then bishop of Narbonne, afterwards Pope Clement VII. ; and it remained in Narbonne cathedral until purchased by the duke of Orleans early in the 18th century—coming to England with the Orleans gallery in 1792. How much of the design is directly due to Michelangelo is a matter of speculation. Among other important works are "The Holy Family" in the National Gallery and in the Naples Museum; "the Visitation" in the Louvre (1521) ; the "Martyrdom of St. Agatha" (1520) in the Pitti, Florence ; and the "Birth of the Virgin" a late work, in S.M. del Popolo, Rome.
After the elevation of Giulio de' Medici to the pontificate, the office of the "piombo"—that is, the office of sealer of briefs of the apostolic chamber—became vacant ; two painters competed for it, Sebastiano Luciani and Giovanni da Udine. Sebastiano,
assuming the habit of a friar, secured the very lucrative appoint ment—with the proviso that he should pay out of his emolu ments 30o scudi per annum to Giovanni. If he had heretofore been slow in painting, he now became supine in a marked degree. One of the few subject-pictures which he executed after taking office was "Christ carrying the Cross" for the patriarch of Aquileia, also a "Madonna with the body of Christ." The former painting is done on stone, a method invented by Sebastiano him self. He likewise painted at times on slate—as in the instance of "Christ on the Cross," now in the Berlin gallery, where the slate constitutes the background. In the same method, and also in the same gallery, is the "Dead Christ supported by Joseph of Arimathea, with a weeping Magdalene"—colossal half-length figures. Late in life Sebastiano had a serious disagreement with Michelangelo with reference to the Florentine's great picture of the "Last Judgment." Sebastiano encouraged the pope to insist that this picture should be executed in oil. Michelangelo, de termined upon nothing but fresco, replied to his holiness that oil was only fit for women and for sluggards like Friar Sebastian; and the coolness between the two painters lasted almost up to the friar's death, which took place in Rome in Numerous pupils sought training from Sebastiano del Piombo; but, owing to his dilatory and self-indulgent habits, they learned little from him, with the exception of Tommaso Laureti. Sebas tiano was celebrated as a portrait painter : the likeness of Andrea Doria, in the Doria Palace, Rome, is one of the most renowned. In the National Gallery, London, are also two fine specimens.
See F. Propping, Die kiinstlerische Laufbahn des Sebastiano del Piombo (Leipzig, 1892) ; E. Bonhard, Die Venezianische Friihzeit des Sebastiano del Piombo (Heidelberg, 19°7) ; G. Bernardini, Sebastiano del Piombo (Bergamo, 1908) ; B. Berenson, Drawings of Florentine Painters (1904).