Palma Vecchio, Jacopo (Giacomo) d'Antonio de Negreti (1480-1528)

Italian painter. Active in Venice, he was strongly influenced by his contemporaries Giorgione and Titian. He painted mostly religious subjects and portraits, including The Holy Family with Saints (completed by Titian; Accademia, Venice) and Portrait of a Poet (probably Ariosto; National Gallery, London), a work formerly attributed to Titian.

Among Palma's most important works are the St Barbara Altarpiece in the Church of Sta Maria Formosa, Venice; Portrait of a Lady (Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan); and The Three Sisters (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden).

He was born in Serinalta, near Bergamo, and probably studied under Giovanni Bellini. He adopted the name Palma and was later called Vecchio to distinguish him from his grand-nephew Palma Giovane.