Paris Bordone, the renowned sixteenth-century Venetian artist who worked at the time of Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto, is best known for his beautiful depictions of women in portraiture and in historical compositions. He was also celebrated for his monumental architectural settings for narrative paintings, and worked across easel and decorative paintings. He mainly produced works for the wealthy elite of northern Italy and Bavaria, and also for the courts of France and Poland.
Bordone was born in Treviso but after his father's death moved with his mother to Venice in 1508, where in 1516 he entered the studio of Titian. With a prodigious talent, within two years he had left the studio presumably due to Titian's hostility towards a student who assimilated his style so successfully. In this early period, Bordone's work was also influenced by Giorgione, enlivened in a manner evocative of Titian and his greatest rival in Venice, Pordenone.
Bordone's first public recognition came in 1534, winning a competition for the Scuola Grande di San Marco to execute the Presentation of the Ring to the Doge (Venice, Accademia), which marked the achievement of artistic maturity. In 1538, the artist was present at the court of Francis I in Fontainebleau, where he executed several paintings of mythological, religious and secular subjects, synthesising Venetian, Central Italian and French Mannerist elements. Bordone returned for a while to Italy (likely Venice and Milan) before travelling to Bavaria, probably between 1540 and 1543. During this time he undertook decorative cycles for churches and established a successful portrait enterprise. From 1543, he was active in the Veneto, and then Milan from approximately 1548, during which time his style began to incorporate the influence of Lorenzo Lotto, whom he had encountered in Venice.
During Bordone's late period, after 1550, his style changed once again, owing a debt to Leonardo and his Milanese school, as can be seen in his extensive fresco cycle in Saint Simon di Vallada, Venice. In the 1550s he was once again active in Bavaria, while also undertaking commissions in Venice and Milan. After 1560, Bordone worked mainly from his Venetian studio, with the majority of his commissions coming from Treviso.
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