Giovanni Maria Falconetto

Along with his brother, Giovanni Antonio Falconetto, he was among the most prominent painters of Verona and Padua in the early 16th century.

[1] Falconetto was born in Verona into an established family of Veronese painters and studied in Rome for a time, in the studio of Melozzo da Forlì.

On his return to Verona his standing in his rione made him of use to Emperor Maximilian, who was headquartered in Verona from 1509 to 1517, during the episode of the Italian Wars called the War of the League of Cambrai, and not simply for painting imperial arms to replace those of Venice that had been effaced on Maximilian's orders.

Cornaro's influence with the Bishop of Padua doubtless elicited Falconetto's commission to design the Villa dei Vescovi ("Villa of the Bishops") located in the town limits of Torreglia in the Euganean Hills.

Frescoes securely attributed to Falconetto decorate the Sala dello Zodiaco in the Palazzo di Bagno, now within Palazzo d'Arco, Mantua, probably executed c. 1520 for a member of the Gonzaga family, as Vasari remarks, "he produced at Mantua several things for signor Luigi Gonzaga".