SANTACROCE, Girolamo da

Italian painter. He was a pupil of Gentile Bellini, who in his will (1507) left him half of the drawings of oriental figures that he had lent to Bernardino Pinturicchio. Afterwards Santacroce was probably employed in the workshops of Giovanni Bellini and Cima and was evidently influenced by Titian and by Palma Vecchio. He was typical of the jobbing painters who produced copies of the works of the great contemporary masters for sale to sometimes quite discerning clients.

There are many signed and often dated examples of his prolific output. The earliest of these is the Ryerson Madonna and Child (1516; Chicago, Art Institut), the latest the Last SupperGLOSSARYChrist's last meal with His disciples before His arrest and trial; the rite of communion is based on this. One of most famous depictions of the event is a fresco painted by Leonardo da Vinci. (Venice, S Martino) and a polyptychGLOSSARYA painting (usually an altarpiece) made up of a number of panels fastened together. Some polyptychs were very elaborate, the panels being housed in richly carved and decorated wooden frameworks. Duccio's "Maestà" (1308-1311) is a well-known example. depicting the Virgin and Child with Saints (Split, Our Lady of Poljud), both dated 1549. Many other paintings are traceable to his workshop or attributable to either Girolamo or his son Francesco (1516-84) with whom he is easily confused in his last phase. Among his lost works is the Virgin and Child with St Lorenzo Giustiniani, painted for the church of the Madonna dell'Orto, Venice, in 1525 and two paintings of the Head of the Saviour, executed in collaboration with Lorenzo Lotto for SS Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, in 1542.