Giovanni Battista Scultori Biography

Giovanni Battista Scultori

Italian

1503-1575

Biography

Italian painter, printmaker, and sculptor Giovanni Basttista Scultori, also known as Giovanni Montovano or Mantuana, was born in 1503 (exact date unknown), in the commune of Mantua, Lombardy. He studied under famed Mannerist painter Giulio Romano (Giulio Pippi), who had the artist assist him in painting the famed interior of the Palazzo del Te, a palace of of Romano's own design. Like his mentor, Scultori's work was intricately detailed down to the decorative elements of shields and armor portrayed in battle scenes. Like many artists of the time, his work focused on Greek and Roman mythology. 

There is little of Scultori's own work left to research more about his life, with only about 20 or so engravings found in museums and a handful of references to his work in stucco, reliefs, and sculpture. However, his legacy was carried on by his son Adamo and daughter Diana, both noted engravers in their own right representing the school of Mantua. Diana was one of the earliest known female printmakers in Italy.

Scultori died in Mantua on December 29, 1575.