giulio clovio b grisone grizane croatia d rome jan italian painter and illuminator of croatian birth the most important illuminator of the th 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