or NANNI GIOVANNI, an eminent artist, was the son of a wealthy proprietor, and was born at Udine in 1487. From his birthplace he was often called Da Udine. He also inherited the surname of Ricamatore from his ancestors, who were famous embroiderers. His taste for painting was developed at a very early age. When he was wont to go out hunting or fowling with his father he never tired in sketching the figures of the dogs and the game. This decided bias induced his father to place him under the celebrated painter Giorgione da Castel Franco at Venice. In no long time, however, the young artist had grown so enthusiastic an admirer of Raphael, that he could not rest contented until he had repaired to Rome, and had become a pupil of that great master. His pencil soon began to acquire the soft, graceful, and beautiful manner of his teacher. He became an adept at imitating all natural objects, especially birds, foliage, fruits, and flowers. It was not, however, until the excavations in the palace of Titus had laid bare in the subterranean chambers the grotesque and stucco works of antiquity that Nani found the subject most adapted to his taste and genius. His whole time was forthwith unweariedly spent in studying and imitating these decorations. After many an experiment he succeeded in producing the stucco of the ancients, and in moulding it into copies of the antique which rivalled their originals. This success led Raphael to employ him in decorating the gallery of the Vatican. The ability with which he executed the stucco ornaments, and the ingenuity with which he enriched his decorations with foliage, shells, birds, and landscapes, brought him into great repute. He was employed by Leo X. to adorn, in a similar manner, some other halls and galleries. Then Giulio, the Cardinal de' Medici, taking him under his patronage, conferred upon him the dignity of a knighthood of San Pietro, and sent him to Florence to ornament a gallery in the Medici palace which had been designed by Michael Angelo. On his return to Rome he continued to prosecute his art with great success until the death of Leo X. in 1521. During the short and unpropitious pontificate of Adrian VI. Nani lived at his native Udine. On the accession of Pope Clement VII. in 1523, he was restored to his position in the public favour at Rome. A pension of eighty ducats was conferred upon him, and he was sent to Florence to decorate the new sacristy of San Lorenzo, which was already adorned with the noble sculptures of Michael Angelo. This elaborate undertaking was just on the eve of being completed when Pope Clement died in 1534, and Nani lost the hard-earned reward of his toil. He once more retired in disgust to Udine, and was employed for several years in painting and adorning with stucco-work several chapels and edifices in the neighbourhood. Of these works, the most notable which still exist are the picture of the "Virgin and the Child," on a rich banner belonging to the fraternity of Castello in his native city; and a chamber decorated with stucco-work and paintings, in the palace of the patriarch of Aquileia in Venice. Towards the close of his life he returned to Rome, and received employment from Pius IV. He died at the age of seventy-seven. (Vasari's Lives of the Painters, and Lanzi's History of Painting.)