Domenico CAMPAGNOLA
Venice c.1500 - Padua 1564
Biography
Probably born in Venice of German parents, Domenico Campagnola was taken as an apprentice (and probably adopted) at about the age of ten by the engraver Giulio Campagnola. Like his master, Domenico worked primarily as an engraver and designer of woodcuts. He seems to have been a precocious artist, as at least ten engravings signed and dated 1517 are known; indeed, almost all of his dated prints were executed in that year. After Giulio’s death in 1516, Domenico became the leading engraver in Venice before moving to Padua in around 1520. He was also a gifted draughtsman, and is perhaps best known for his landscape views which were often sold as finished, independent works of art. His figural drawings, however, are less well known. Campagnola’s drawing style is at times quite close to, and was certainly strongly influenced by, that of Titian, and the work of the two artists has often been confused. Although known today primarily as an engraver and draughtsman, Campagnola was also active as a painter. In 1531 he received a commission to paint the ceiling of the Oratory of the Confraternity of Santa Maria del Parto in Padua, much of which is now lost or destroyed.
