PALMA, Antonio
(b. 1515, Serina, d. after 1574, Venezia)

Biography

Italian painter, nephew of Palma Vecchio. He was apprenticed to Bonifacio Veronese (Bonifazio de' Pitati), whose niece Giulia he married c. 1545. He probably assisted Bonifazio in the decoration of the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi, Venice, and the sacristy of San Sebastiano, Venice. A signed Pietà (S Annunziata, Serina), a processional banner dated 1565, is too damaged to be indicative of his style. One other signed work, the Resurrection (Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart), forms the basis for gathering a small number of stylistically similar works under Antonio's name. The remainder of what must have been a substantial oeuvre is submerged in the proliferation of painting influenced by Bonifacio in the mid-16th century. A late painting, Esther and Ahasuerus (1574; Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota), testifies to the longevity of the style of Bonifacio. Titian's Portrait of a Man with a Palm (1561; Gemäldegalerie, Dresden) is generally thought to represent Antonio Palma.