909. THE MADONNA OF THE WHITE ROSE.
Benvenuto da Siena (Sienese: 1436-1518).
The earliest known work by this painter is an Annunciation, painted in 1466, in the church of S. Girolamo at Volterra. He executed some of the illuminations of the choir-books, and designed portions of the pavement, in the cathedral of Siena. He was the son of a mason.
A charming combination of older and newer "motives." There is the gold background, true to the old Sienese traditions, but there are also the little fiddling angels, so common in Venetian and other pictures of the time of Benvenuto's later years. In the compartments on either side are St. Peter, and St. Nicholas of Bari (with various adornments referring to his story: see under 1171).