 Nothing is known of the date and place of Catena's birth.The earliest known record of him is in an inscription on the back of Giorgione's "Laura", in which he is described as the painter's "Cholego".Catena's early style is however, much closer to that of Giovanni Bellini than the innovative work of Giorgione, and it was not until a few years after Giorgione's death in 1510 that his influence began to show itself in Catena's output.