Machuca was active at an early age in Italy. It is likely that he was connected from 1515 to 1516 with Raphael's workshop. His interest in strong nocturnal effects and his sometimes exaggerated use of gesture and pose indicate the influence of Leonardo da Vinci. His eclecticism, which made him receptive to the art of Rosso Fiorentino, Andrea del Sarto and Sebastiano del Piombo, makes his work rather impersonal, and yet he has a surprising continuity of form. His later works show little general stylistic change from his early work in Italy.