Giorgio Giulio Clovio
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Giorgio Giulio Clovio (1498-1578), Italian painter, was by birth a Croat and by profession a priest.
He was said to have learned the elements of design in his own country, and to have studied afterwards with intense diligence at Rome under Giulio Romano, and at Verosia under Girolamo dai Libri. He excelled in historical pieces and portraits, painting as for microscopical examination, and yet contriving to handle his subjects with great force and precision.
His book of twenty-six pictures representing the procession of Corpus Domini, in Rome, was the work of nine years, and the covers were executed by Benvenuto Cellini. The British Museum has his twelve miniatures of the victories of the emperor Charles V.
In the Vatican library is preserved a manuscript life of Frederick, duke of Urbino, superbly illustrated by Clovio, who is facile princeps among Italian miniaturists. He was called Macedo, or Macedone, to connect him with his supposed Macedonian ancestry.