an Italian painter of the High Renaissance and early Mannerist periods famous as the only major artist of the period to combine the coloring of the Venetian school in which he was trained with the monumental forms of the Roman school. His nickname derived from the lucrative Papal appointment as Keeper of the Seal (piombo or "lead", as in the metal, means a seal), which he held from 1531. Never a very disciplined or productive painter, his artistic productivity fell still further after this, which committed him to attend on the pope most days, and travel with him.
