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
The long hall, Stanza X., contains larger pictures of the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries. The arrangement being rather confused, it will,
perhaps, be best to take them more or less chronologically. By Matteo di
Giovanni are three smaller Madonnas near the entrance--one (12) being
rather doubtful--and an important altarpiece of the Madonna and Child
with Angels and Saints (36). Guidoccio Cozzarelli is represented by a St
Catherine exchanging hearts with the Christ (4), Vecchietta by the
interesting sketch (5) for his bronze tabernacle that is now on the high
altar of the Duomo, Francesco di Giorgio by a signed Nativity of our
Lord (41) and the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin (44)--two large
pictures curiously lacking the usual Sienese grace and refinement,
showing to some extent the influence of Signorelli. A worthless picture
of the Passion (29), which should not even questionably be connected
with this painter's name, shows the Sienese school at its weakest and
worst. Benvenuto di Giovanni is seen to considerable advantage in a
triptych (39), signed and dated 1475; the central compartment, the
Madonna and Child with Angels, is particularly attractive. His Ascension
of Christ (37), on the other hand, from the church of Sant' Eugenio,
signed and dated 1491, is rather harsh and uninspired. By Fungai are a
Madonna with Saints (30), signed and dated 1512, and an Assumption (45),
a subject in which the painter succeeded better elsewhere. It is not
easy to distinguish the early style of Pacchiarotti from that of Fungai;
the altarpiece (14) is said to be by the master and pupil in
collaboration; the Ascension (24), with its predella (23), dry and hard
with uncouth and unrefined types, and the Visitation (31), in which the
white-robed girlish Madonna has much sweetness and charm, are by
Pacchiarotti. Girolamo di Benvenuto is represented by the best picture
he ever painted (which, after all, is rather faint praise), signed and
dated 1508, representing the Madonna and Child attended by Angels and
Saints (17), with the two St Catherines kneeling before the throne--the
Alexandrian of the Wheels being obviously an excellent portrait of a
young Sienese lady of the Cinquecento.
The famous Deposition from the Cross (13) is an early work by Bazzi,
practically the first important picture that he painted on his first
coming to Siena; it is entirely in the Lombard or Milanese style,
recalling the work of Luini. The scenes in the predella are by another
hand. The Prayer in the Garden (2) and the Descent into Limbo (46), the
remains of a series of frescoes which he painted for the Compagnia di
Santa Croce, are later and have suffered from restoration; in the latter
the figure of Eve is exceedingly lovely, one of those exquisite
presentments of women in which this painter excels. Girolamo del Pacchia
is represented by an Annunciation and Visitation (7), painted in 1518, a
beautiful work, showing the influence
[Illustration: VIA GIOVANNI DUPRÈ]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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