BY ANTONIO FEDERIGHI
This sculptor and architect was one of the glories of Siena in his time. In one document, to be referred to later, he is called Tolomei (de Ptholomeis), but we have no record as to his birth or family. In 1444, he was among the artists employed on the tomb of Bishop Carlo Bartoli, and for his share in the work he received 15 lire. In 1451, he was appointed Capo-maestro of the Opera del Duomo at Orvieto,[170] where he remained until 1456, living in considerable style.[171] He had with him all the time his two pupils, Polimante of Assisi and Vito di Marco, both of whom were paid by the Duomo authorities. He was evidently held in high honour, for we find on April 7th, 1452,[172] the Signoria of Siena writing to the heads of the Commune at Orvieto, to ask them to recommend him to the notice of the Duke of Calabria. In April, 1453, with safe conducts from the Republic of Florence and the King of Naples, he, with seven companions, went to Carrara to quarry marble, and in October of the same year he started for Corneto for a similar purpose; but was recalled on the 5th of the same month, to advise as to the roof of one of the Chapels in the Duomo, which threatened to collapse. In September, 1456, he made, and put into position, one of the statues on the façade. During this period he made statues of SS. Ansano, Vittore, and Savino for the Loggia di Mercanzia or S. Paolo (now the Casino dei Nobili), and executed the work before the doors of the Baptistery, to which we have already alluded. (Ill. XXII.) After 1456, he appears to have returned to Siena, for we find a number of references to a commission for the statues of SS. Peter and Paul, given first to Urbano da Cortona, then to Federighi, and lastly to Lorenzo di Pietro (Il Vecchietta); the special object of the last change being to keep that artist in Siena.[173] From 1460 to 1462, he was engaged in the design and erection of the magnificent Loggia di Papa, built by Pope Pius II.; and in 1463, on the palace of that Pope’s sister, Caterina Piccolomini, called then Palazzo delle Papesse, but now styled Palazzo Nerucci.[174] In 1469–70, we hear of work done by him at the Oratorio di S. Caterina in Fontebranda; in 1473 party to the contract made between the Sienese and Lombard workers in stone: and in 1480, he petitioned the authorities with reference to the drainage and water-supply of the town.[175] Other noticeable works by him are the marble bench on the right-hand side of the Loggia di Mercanzia, before-mentioned; the basins of the two holy water stoups at the west end of the Cathedral Nave (attributed, wrongly, to Quercia); and the Chapel and Palace, outside the Porta Camollia, known as the Palazzo dei Diavoli.
22. 1473. Urbano di Pietro di Domenico da Cortona.
This artist came with his brother Bartolommeo, in his early youth, from his native city of Cortona, to settle in Siena, where in 1451,[176] they together undertook to build the Chapel of the Madonna delle Grazie, in the Duomo. In the same year he was commissioned, as we have seen, to make two statues for the Loggia di Mercanzia, but the commission was cancelled. In 1456, he made a statue of S. Bernardino for the Convent of the Osservanza, and a figure of S. Peter for the façade of the Duomo. In 1458, the Signoria of Siena deliberated as to the suitability of employing him, in company with Donatello, to procure alabaster from the Val D’Orcia, to decorate a room in the Palazzo Pubblico.[177] Among the records of the Oratorio di Sta. Caterina in Fontebranda, between the years 1465 and 1474, we find two notices of work by him: namely, a statue of the Saint over the Chapel door, and a holy-water stoup. In 1471, he had a dispute with Bastiano di Francesco, as to the price due for work done by the latter, in which Vecchietta was one of the two arbitrators. In the same year he was employed on the Palazzo delle Papesse, and in 1473, we find him also joining in the contract made by the Sienese sculptors with their Lombard fellow-craftsmen. In 1497–98, he was one of the arbitrators in a dispute between Giovanni di Stefano and his workmen.[178] He died in Siena, on May the 8th, 1504, leaving, by his wife, Caterina Scotti, a daughter, Lucrezia, who married Ser Pasquale Griffi, of Montalcino; his son Tommaso having predeceased him. His finest works still existing are the decorations for the Chapel of the Madonna delle Grazie referred to above, which are now affixed to the walls of the Duomo, near the door leading to the Campanile stairs; and the tomb of Cav. Cristoforo Felice (Rector 1457–58 and 1460–65) in the church of S. Francesco in Siena.
23. 1473. Matteo di Giovanni di Bartolo.
This artist, also known as Matteo da Siena, was born about 1435. It was erroneously supposed, that he was the son of Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia, the painter of Poggio Malavolti, and brother of Pietro and Benvenuto di Giovanni, also painters of repute. As a matter of fact, however, Matteo’s father was a certain Giovanni di Bartolo, a merchant of Borgo San Sepolcro, who had settled in Siena, by his second wife, Elisabetta, daughter of Andrea d’Ambrogio, a goldsmith: while Pietro was the son of another merchant, one Giovanni Pucci; and Benvenuto, of a certain Giovanni di Maestro Meo del Guasta of San Quirico. Moreover, Giovanni di Paolo of Poggio was quite an old man when, in 1480, he married a woman called Domenica, by whom he had no children, as we find that by his will, dated June 29th, 1482, he left her his sole heiress.
Matteo married twice; first, a certain Contessa, by whom he had no children; and secondly, Orsina di Francesco del Taia, by whom he had three sons and four daughters. He died in June, 1495. He was a distinguished painter, much admired in his day, and had a very distinct charm of his own, in spite of his somewhat rigid adherence to old traditions. Many of his pictures are still in their original places in the churches of Siena,[179] and there are also some good specimens of his work in the Accademia delle Belle Arti in that town.
24. 1473. Giovanni di Maestro Stefano di Giovanni.
Son of the celebrated painter, usually called Sassetta. We first hear of him in 1452, as appealing for judgment in the matter of the price of a fresco, over the Porta Romana, left unfinished by his father’s death; (subsequently completed by Sano di Pietro, and Lorenzo di Pietro, commonly called Il Vecchietta). In August 1446, he was commissioned, with the assistance of the goldsmith Francesco d’Antonio, to make a silver head of Sta. Caterina, for the Monks of S. Domenico in Siena.[180] He made a model for the head, which Francesco executed in silver;[181] and perhaps the tabernacle also, although that has been attributed to Vecchietta. In 1466–68,[182] we find a petition, addressed to the Signoria, for the erection of two stone wolves outside the Porta Nuova, or Romana. These are generally supposed to have been the work of this artist. In 1477, he was recommended by the Signoria of Siena to Federigo, Duke of Urbino; and in 1481, was witness to the commission, given by the Opera del Duomo, to Urbano di Pietro, Antonio Federighi, Vito di Marco and Luigi di Ruggiero, to execute the Sibyls on the Duomo Pavement; one of which (the Cuman) we know was, in the following year, his work. In 1487, he executed the statue of S. Ansano (formerly attributed to Neroccio di Bartolommeo Landi, of whom presently) in the Chapel of S. Giovanni in the Duomo.[183] In 1427, in company with Giacomo Cozzarelli, and Domenico di Matteo, he made a valuation of the bronze doors, for the Libreria in the Duomo, executed by Giacomo Ormanni; and in the same year we read of the dispute with his workmen, to which we have alluded above. In 1497–98, he also executed two of the bronze angels[184] for the High Altar of the Duomo. The celebrated sculptor, Lorenzo di Mariano, better known as Il Marrina, was one of his pupils.