Sebastiano del Piombo

Sebastiano del Piombo (c. 1485–1547), born Sebastiano Luciani, was probably born in Venice and first made a name there as a lutenist. He came to painting relatively late, training with Giovanni Bellini and then Giorgione, and in 1511 the papal banker Agostino Chigi brought him to Rome, where he remained for the rest of his life. He is the only major painter of the period to combine Venetian colour with the monumental forms of the Roman school. In Rome he allied himself with Michelangelo, who supplied designs and encouraged him to compete with Raphael, most pointedly in the Raising of Lazarus, painted against Raphael's Transfiguration. After Raphael's death in 1520 he was the leading painter in the city. In 1531 he became keeper of the papal seal, the office that gave him his name, and thereafter painted mostly portraits. His friendship with Michelangelo ended in 1534, after he urged that the Last Judgment be painted in oil on plaster. Here: Christ Carrying the Cross and Christ Descending Into Limbo.