The Story of Siena and San GimignanoGardner, Edmund G.
History
The Story of Siena and San Gimignano
Gardner, Edmund G.
Art -- Italy -- Siena; San Gimignano (Italy) -- History; Siena (Italy) -- History
Guidoccio Cozzarelli; the Hellespontine Sibyl, designed by Neroccio di
Bartolommeo Landi;[81] the Phrygian Sibyl, probably, like her Cimmerian
sister, designed and executed by Luigi di Ruggiero and Vito di Marco;
the Samian Sibyl, designed by Matteo di Giovanni and with his signature;
the Albunean Sibyl, designed by Benvenuto di Giovanni.[82] These ten
figures are among the most characteristic products of Sienese art of the
Quattrocento.
On the pavement of the right transept we have the Seven Ages of Man, a
modern copy of what was designed and executed by Antonio Federighi in
1475; the story of Jephthah, by Bastiano di Francesco, between 1481 and
1485; the Death of Absalom, by Pietro del Minella, 1447; and the Emperor
Sigismund enthroned, designed by Domenico di Bartolo in 1434. This last
is peculiarly interesting as being totally different in character from
any other of the series, the work of a singularly striking and certainly
the most isolated painter of the Sienese school. We have in all that
Domenico does a touch of Florentine science and realism. In the left
transept are the Expulsion of Herod, with some spirited fighting in
superb Renaissance armour, designed by Benvenuto di Giovanni in 1484 or
1485, with a beautiful frieze of winged lions by Bastiano di Francesco;
the Massacre of the Innocents, designed by Matteo di Giovanni in 1481,
with a frieze of children, bacchanals, centaurs and amazons, showing how
Matteo felt the spirit of the Renaissance more fully than any other
Sienese painter of his day; the story of Judith, said to have been
designed either by Urbano da Cortona or Matteo di Giovanni, and executed
by Federighi in 1473. These three scenes have been completely restored.
The raised platform in front of the choir shows some of the earliest of
these _graffiti_, laid down between 1423 and 1426, much damaged and
restored; David as the Psalmist and David slaying Goliath are by
Domenico di Niccolò del Coro, whose work we have seen in the chapel of
the Signoria; the story of Joshua and the victory of Samson are by Paolo
di Martino. In the sixteenth century the arrangement of the choir was
altered, the high altar being removed from under the cupola to its
present position. Beccafumi then set to work to design the _graffiti_
for the pavement in accordance with this new arrangement. His work,
roughly speaking, runs from 1518 to 1546. It comprises the story of
Elijah in the hexagonal space below the cupola; the story of Moses
between this and the platform; and, before the high altar itself, the
Sacrifice of Abraham, with Adam and Eve, Abel, Melchizedek and other
scenes from the Old Testament, inclosed by a frieze representing the
Children of Israel going to seek the Promised Land. In recent years the
Elijah series has been completed from designs by Alessandro Franchi. Mr
Cust remarks that Beccafumi, save in his earlier scenes, discards the
colours that Pinturicchio had used, and "confines himself almost
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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