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Giorgio Giulio Clovio (1498–1578), known in Croatian as Juraj Julije Klović, was an illuminator, miniaturist, and painter, of Croat origin, who worked in Italy ((Republic of Venice, Grand Duchy of Tuscany and Papal States). [1] He was also called Macedo or Il Macedone because of his Macedonian origin, and was also a priest. He was the greatest illuminator of the Italian High Renaissance, and arguably the last very notable artist in the long tradition of the illuminated manuscript, before some modern revivals.

Origins

Clovio was born in Grižane, in the Kingdom of Croatia (some local people claim that his birth place was Drivenik), near Crikvenica in Kvarner bay in what was then the diocese of Modruš [2]. Vasari says [3] that at baptism Clovio's name was Giorgio Iulio, his family name was Clovi and he was a Macedonian. Croatians claims that his Croatian name was likely Juraj Klović Croatia's government pages. However, other sources [4] state that his original name was perhaps Glović, while J.W.Bradley (see the References) speculates that Clovio's surname was Glovičić.

Career

He was said to have trained in Dalmatia, and to have studied afterwards at Rome under Giulio Romano, and at Verosia under Girolamo dai Libri. He excelled in historical pieces and portraits, painting in minute detail, much of which needs to be seen with a magnifying-glass, and yet contriving to handle his subjects with great force and precision.

He worked in Venice, Florence and elsewhere, with a long active period in Rome where he died. He worked mostly for royal and clerical private collectors. His grave is in the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli, the same church that contains celebrated Michelangelo's Moses. Under Clovio's bust, beside his name, is written the name of his homeland: Pictor de Croatia[5] (Painter from Croatia).

Clovio arrived at Venice from Croatia at the age of 18 [6]. There he became a protege of Cardinal Domenico Grimani and engraved medals and seals for him, as well as the Grimani Commentary Ms., an important early illuminated book (now Sir John Soane's Museum, London). By 1524 Clovio was at Buda, at the Hungarian court of King Louis II, for whom he painted the "Judgment of Paris" and "Lucretia". After Louis' death in the Battle of Mohács, Clovio travelled to Rome where he continued his career.

El Greco, the celebrated Greek artist from Crete, who later worked in Spain painted two portraits of Clovio whilst still in Rome: one shows the four painters whom he considered as his masters; in this Clovio is side by side with Michelangelo, Titian and Raphael. Giorgio Giulio Clovio was also known as Michelangelo of the miniature. Books with his miniatures became famous primarily due to his skilled illustrations. He was persuasive in transferring the style of Italian high Renaissance painting into the miniature format.

His most famous work is the Farnese Hours, completed in 1546 for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, which was nine years in the making (now Morgan Library, New York). He is pointing to this work in the El Greco portrait (above). This contains twenty-eight miniatures, mostly of Old and New Testament scenes, but with a famous double-page picture representing the Corpus Christi procession in Rome. It has splendid silver-gilt covers, although they are not by Benvenuto Cellini, as Vasari claimed. The British Library has his twelve miniatures of the victories of the Emperor Charles V, and other works. The Vatican library has a manuscript life of Frederigo III di Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, superbly illustrated by Clovio.

Other illustrations by him are kept in libraries in Vienna, New York, Munich, and Paris, and other works are in many private collections. A small part of his work is viewable in Klovićevi Dvori ("Palace of Klović"), the art gallery dedicated to him in Zagreb.

500th Anniversary

Croatia celebrated the 500th anniversary of his birth in 1998. The Croatian National Bank issued a special 200 kuna silver coin in commemoration. A monument to Clovio/Klović was also raised in Drivenik. The Croatian government recently made news by purchasing Clovio's/Klović's The Last Judgement, a painting Clovio/Klović gave as a gift to Pope Clement VII. Bernardin Modrić released his film The Gospel According to Klović in 2006.

References

Renaissance and Reformation, 1500-1620: A Biographical Dictionary (The Great Cultural Eras of the Western World) by Jo Eldridge Carney (editor) Greenwood Press 2001. Clovio Giulio p. 88-89
Histoire des arts industriels an moyen age et a l'epoque de la Renaissance: 2:e ed. [Illustr.] by Charles Jules Labarte - 1866 - Clovio (Giulio), miniaturiste italien, p. 256-8
The Life and Works of Giorgio Giulio Clovio, Miniaturist: with notices of his contemporaries, and of the art of decoration in the Sixteenth Century - by John William Bradley - 1891
Painters and Their Works: A Dictionary of Great Artists who are Not Now Alive by Ralph N James - 1896 - Clovio Giulio - p. 201-3
Memoirs of the early Italian painters, and of the progress of painting in Italy by Jameson (Anna) - 1859 Clovio Giulio-p. 269-270

External links

International

Croatian

Italian

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 [[Image:Julije Klovic 2.jpg|right|thumb|280px|Portrait of Giorgio Giulio Clovio, pointing to his ''Farnese Hours'', by [[El Greco]]]]
-'''Giorgio Giulio Clovio''' ([[1498]]&ndash;[[1578]]), known in [[Croatian]] as '''Juraj Julije Klović''', was an illuminator, miniaturist, and painter, of [[Croat]] origin, who worked in [[Republic of Venice]], [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany]]  and elsewhere, but mostly in  [[Papal States]]. [http://www.getty.edu/vow/ULANServlet?english=Y&find=Clovio&role=&page=1&nation=] He was also called ''Macedo'' or ''Il Macedone'' because of his Macedonian origin, and was also a priest.  He was the greatest illuminator of the Italian High Renaissance, and arguably the last very notable artist in the long tradition of the [[illuminated manuscript]], before some modern revivals.
+'''Giorgio Giulio Clovio''' ([[1498]]&ndash;[[1578]]), known in [[Croatian]] as '''Juraj Julije Klović''', was an illuminator, miniaturist, and painter, of [[Croat]] origin, who worked in Italy (([[Republic of Venice]], [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany]] and [[Papal States]]). [http://www.getty.edu/vow/ULANServlet?english=Y&find=Clovio&role=&page=1&nation=] He was also called ''Macedo'' or ''Il Macedone'' because of his Macedonian origin, and was also a priest.  He was the greatest illuminator of the Italian High Renaissance, and arguably the last very notable artist in the long tradition of the [[illuminated manuscript]], before some modern revivals.
 ==Origins==