Giulio Clovio

(b Grisone [Grizane], Croatia, 1498; d Rome, 3 Jan 1578). Italian painter and illuminator of Croatian birth. The most important illuminator of the 16th century, he was a 'Michelangelo of small works', according to Vasari. Many of his documented works are dispersed or untraced, and some attributions are controversial, but his secure oeuvre gives a clear idea of his stylistic influences and development. Although much of his inspiration came from Raphael and Michelangelo, he developed his own visual language, brilliantly translating their monumental forms for work on the smallest scale.

 Source: Grove Art, Oxford University Press. ( Reference. )