Jacopo Bassano
(b Bassano del Grappa, c. 1510; d Bassano del Grappa, 13 Feb 1592).
Son of Francesco Bassano il
vecchio. He was apprenticed to his father, with whom he collaborated
on the Nativity (1528; Valstagna, Vicenza, parish church). In the
first half of the 1530s Jacopo trained in Venice with Bonifazio de’
Pitati, whose influence, with echoes of Titian, is evident in the
Flight into Egypt (1534; Bassano del Grappa, Mus. Civ.). He
continued to work in the family shop until his father’s death in
1539. His paintings from those years were mainly altarpieces for
local churches; many show signs of collaboration. He also worked on
public commissions, such as the three canvases on biblical subjects
(1535–6; Bassano del Grappa, Mus. Civ.) for the Palazzo Communale,
Bassano del Grappa, in which the narrative schemes learnt from
Bonifazio are combined with a new naturalism. From 1535 he
concentrated on fresco painting, executing, for example, the
interior and exterior decoration (1536–7) of S Lucia di Tezze,
Vicenza, which demonstrates the maturity of his technique.
