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
In 1501 Michelangelo undertook
to make fifteen statues for the Cardinal, _sua manu et opere_. On the
death of the Pope in 1503, he consigned four of these fifteen to his
heirs--his brothers Giacomo and Andrea Todeschini Piccolomini--to the
mutual satisfaction of both parties, and undertook to finish the eleven
that remained to do within two years, unless prevented by accident or
illness, or by the war concerning Pisa hindering the transport of marble
from the mountains of Carrara to Florence. These four statues are
apparently the four Saints in the niches on the outer framework of the
altar, fine figures somewhat in the style of Donatello's saints outside
Or San Michele. Of the remaining eleven, the only one that Michelangelo
ever executed is that placed on the top to the left--which is more in
his later style. He was somewhat troubled in his mind on the subject in
his old age. "Lionardo," he wrote to his nephew, on September 20th,
1561, "I should like you to search among the papers of your father
Lodovico, for the copy of a contract _in forma camerae_ made concerning
certain figures that I promised to continue for Pope Pius II. [_sic_]
after his death; and because the said work, owing to certain
differences, remained suspended about fifty years ago, and because I am
old, I should like to settle the matter, in order that you may not be
troubled about it unjustly after I am gone." In another letter from
Rome, on the last day of November, he tells him that the Archbishop of
Siena has volunteered to put the thing right for him, "and because he is
an excellent and skilful man, I believe that it will end
satisfactorily."[90] To the right of the altar is a Risen Christ, with
two adoring Angels, over the monument to the Bandini raised by this
Archbishop, Francesco Bandini Piccolomini; these figures are also, with
some plausibility, ascribed to Michelangelo.
The great work in Siena of Pius III. is the famous _Libreria_, which he
built as Cardinal for the books and MSS. that his uncle had left him.
Probably realising that he had little time left him to live, he wished
to erect this monument to his uncle's memory, and indirectly to his own.
Above the entrance at the end of the aisle is a fresco of his own
elevation to the papacy, painted after his death and after the
subsequent completion of the work, by Bernardino Pinturicchio. The
Pope's own figure is partly in relief; on either side of him are the
Cardinal Giovanni Colonna, who has taken off his mitre, and the
Cardinal Giovanni Antonio di San Giorgio, who is placing the papal tiara
upon his head. The whole lacks composition, and there is little, if any,
attempt at portraiture; but the crowd in the piazza includes some
beautiful figures and well rendered motives. A youth in the foreground
is evidently Raphael. Under the fresco are Francesco's arms as Cardinal
and as Pope. The marble work is by Lorenzo di Mariano, the admirable
bronze doors were executed by Antonio Ormanni.[91]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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