Brief Biography-Sebastiano del Piombo was born Sebastiano Luciani, in Venice in 1485. His early education was by his father in the profession of music. He received his early art inspirations from Giorgione, who persuaded him to enter the atelier of Giovanni Bellini; however, later, he went under the wing of Giorgione himself. He initially gained success with portraiture, which was similar in style to his master. The merchant Agostino Chigi of Siena, who traded out of Venice, took him to Rome, where his frescos and history paintings received great praise.
In Rome, his acquaintance with Michelangelo afforded him much credit. That master assisted him in painting the Resurrection of Lazarus in the same church as Raphael’s painting of the Transfiguration. The picture held him in high esteem and was considered equal to Raphael’s work by connoisseurs of the day.
After the death of Raphael, Luciani was the most exceptional artist in Rome. His paintings of Pope Clement VII, the Satirist Pietro Aretino, and the Martyrdom of Saint Agatha, which he painted for the Cardinal of Aragón, were equal to that of works by Raphael, Titian or any other Italian master of the time.
He was one of the first artists to paint frescoes in oil successfully; he famously fell out with Michelangelo over his suggestion to paint the Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel in oil. Clement VII selected him as keeper of the papal seals in 1531. His name, del Piombo, meaning ‘of lead,’ is derived from the lead papal seals. He died in Rome in 1547.