VAROTARI, Dario the Elder

Italian painter, part of a family of artists. Although born in Verona, Varotari trained as a painter in Venice under Paolo Veronese. Although he spent the majority of his career working in Padua, his artistic style was distinctly Venetian. The interest in rich colouring and atmospheric landscape can also be found in the paintings of his master, although his figures are perhaps more indebted to Tintoretto and Titian. He painted extensively in both Padua and Venice and recent scholarship has focused in particular on his fresco cycles. Most of his known paintings are frescos, and one of his most significant works is a cycle at the Sculoa della Carità in Padua depicting The Life of the Virgin.

He was also a highly accomplished architect. He was also the head of a highly successful artistic family. His daughter and grandson, Chiara and Dario the Younger, were both painters, and his son Alessandro is better known as Padovanino, whose work represents a revival of Titian’s style in the seventeenth century.