(b Crema, c. 1470; d Crema, c. 1544). Italian painter and sculptor. He was primarily active in Brescia and Crema, arriving in the former city around 1490. He was influenced by Vincenzo Foppa, with whom Vasari and Lomazzo confused him. In 1493 he was commissioned to paint frescoes (destr.) depicting the Life of the Virgin in the presbytery of the Old Cathedral, Brescia. Extant works from those years include the Road to Calvary and the Deposition (1490; Travagliato, SS Pietro e Paolo) and a polyptych depicting St Nicholas of Tolentino (1495; Brescia, Pin. Civ. Tosio-Martinengo) painted for S Barnaba, Brescia. Recent restoration has revealed that the left panel of St Sebastian was painted and signed by an artist who worked in the style of Leonardo and was active in Milan, Francesco Galli, called Francesco Napoletano (d 1501). Not only do these works show strong ties with Foppa and such Milanese artists as Bernardo Zenale but they also contain clear references both to German engravings (e.g. Martin Schongauer’s Road to Calvary) and to Leonardo. Civerchio’s study of the austere, powerful works of Foppa is seen most strikingly in the Pietà (1504; Brescia, S Alessandro). From 1507 Civerchio worked extensively for civic and ecclesiastical patrons in Crema. The municipal government commissioned important paintings, such as St Mark between Justice and Temperance (1507; confiscated by the French in 1509; untraced), and organ shutters depicting the Annunciation for the cathedral. These latter show an understanding of architectural perspective that bears out Marcantonio Michiel’s description of Civerchio as ‘painter, architect and perspectivist’. In 1512 Civerchio is documented as living in Romano di Lombardia, north of Crema. His altarpiece, dated 1519, depicting SS Sebastian, Roch and Christopher (Crema, Cathedral), while still making reference to Foppa’s late work, demonstrates Civerchio’s characteristically incisive line and attention to landscape. Also in the cathedral Civerchio executed a fresco surrounding an early 15th-century frescoed image of the Virgin thought to be miraculous, commissioned in 1522. His major work from this decade is a polyptych of the Virgin and Child with Saints (1525; Palazzolo sull’Oglio, S Maria Assunta), in which allusions to the work of Lorenzo Lotto and Romanino show that Civerchio was well aware of the innovations of his younger contemporaries. Civerchio was active for the next 20 years: a number of altarpieces bear late dates, and numerous documents attest to his productivity. Several wood sculptures have traditionally been attributed to Civerchio, for example St Pantaleon (Crema, Cathedral), probably carved in the 1530s. A document of 1541 implies that Civerchio carved two angels for S Maria, Offanengo, that may be identifiable with two figures still in that church.