Son of Francesco Francia. He was trained by his father in painting and goldsmithing. In 1517, the year of his father’s death, he and his brother, Giulio, assumed responsibility for the family business and together executed many altarpieces, identifiable by the initials (I I) of their latinized names (Iacobus and Iulius). Giacomo’s earliest known work is the Virgin in Glory with SS Peter, Mary Magdalene, Francis, Martha and Six Nuns (after 1515; Bologna, Pin. N.). In this painting, as in the SS Jerome, Margaret and Francis (1518; Madrid, Prado) and the Nativity (1519; Parma, S Giovanni Evangelista), both dated and signed by both brothers, there appear, in addition to the influence of their father, echoes of the monumental style of Raphael.