Jacopo Bassano

Jacopo Bassano , known also as Jacopo dal Ponte, was an Italian painter who was born and died in Bassano del Grappa near Venice, from which he adopted the name. A pupil of Bonifazio Veroneses, he painted mostly landscapes and genre scenes. Bassanos pictures, and those of his two sons, Leandro Bassano and Francesco Bassano the Younger, who followed him closely, were very popular in Venice because of their depiction of simple country life. Bassano is considered to be the first modern landscape painter.

He was born around 1510 in the town of Bassano del Grappa, located about 65160km from the city of Venice. His father, Francesco il Vecchio, was a locally successful painter who had established a family workshop which primarily produced religious works in the local style. During his early youth Bassano was an apprentice in his fathers workshop. He eventually made his way to Venice in the 1530s, during which he studied under Bonifazio de Pitati and was exposed to such famous artists as Titian and il Pordenone. After his fathers death in 1539 he returned to Bassano del Grappa and permanently set up residence there, even taking a local woman, Elisabetta Merzari, as his wife in 1546. He took over the management of his family workshop, which would eventually come to include his four sons, Leandro Bassano, Francesco Bassano the Younger, Giovanni Battista da Ponte, and Girolamo da Ponte. After his death in 1592, his sons continued to produce numerous works in his style, making it difficult f

Source: Wikipedia