By Anne Leader
Italian painter Paris Bordone was baptized on 5 July 1500 in Treviso. He moved with his widowed mother to Venice in 1508 and was an excellent student in grammar and music before embarking on a painting career in 1516 when he joined the workshop of Titian. Unfortunately, he seems to have clashed with the great artist, reportedly because he too closely imitated his style, and Bordone was on his own by age 18. He also looked to Giorgione for inspiration and, like his mentors, he excelled at portraiture, mythologies, and history paintings. Working in both oil and fresco, Bordone worked for patrons in Venice, France, Poland, Spain, and the Netherlands. While eclipsed by his rivals Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto, Bordone found favor with elites and royals throughout Europe and is appreciated today for his attention to female beauty.
Reference: Corinne Mandel. “Bordone, Paris.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press.
Allegory (Venus, Flora, Mars and Cupid), 1558-60. Oil on canvas, The Hermitage, St. Petersburg
Sleeping Venus with Cupid, c. 1540. Oil on canvas, Galleria Franchetti, Ca’ d’Oro, Venice
Venus and Mars with Cupid, 1559-60. Oil on canvas, Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome
Bathsheba Bathing, c. 1549. Oil on canvas, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne
Annunciation, c. 1555. Oil on canvas, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena
Portrait of a Woman, 1550s. Oil on canvas, Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence
Portrait of Nikolaus Körbler, 1532. Oil on canvas, Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna
Portrait of a Bearded Man, 1533. Oil on canvas,Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna
Young Woman at Her Toilet, c. 1550. Oil on canvas, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Presentation of the Ring to the Doge, 1534. Oil on canvas, formerly Scuola Grande di San Marco (Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice)