Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo

Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo painted quiet, thoughtful figures in rich colour and subtle light. He is known especially for his night scenes and for the soft, silvery sheen of his fabrics.

Born in Brescia, he worked in Florence and Parma before settling in Venice, where he absorbed the influence of Titian, Lorenzo Lotto and Netherlandish painters. He painted religious works and portraits, and only around forty of his paintings survive. His Saint Matthew and the Angel is in the Metropolitan Museum, his Mary Magdalene is in the National Gallery, London, and his altarpiece for San Domenico is in the Brera, Milan.

Portrait of a Knight and Elijah Fed by the Raven show his calm, realistic figures and careful study of light.