Domenico di Pace Beccafumi (1486May 18, 1551) was an Italian Renaissance-Mannerist painter active predominantly in Siena. He is considered one of the last undiluted representatives of the Sienese school of painting.

Biography

Domenico was born in Montaperti, near Siena, the son of Giacomo di Pace, a peasant who worked on the estate of Lorenzo Beccafumi. Seeing his talent for drawing, Lorenzo adopted him, and commended him to learn ofpaint rom Mechero, a lesser Sienese artist. In 1509 he travelled to Rome, where he learned from the artists who had just done their first work in the Vatican, only mildly influenced by the gestured Mannerist trends dominating the neighbouring Florentine school. There are medieval eccentricities, sometimes phantasmagoric, superfluous emotional detail and a misty non-linear, often jagged quality to his drawings, with primal tonality to his colouration that separates him from the classic Roman masters.

Pavement of Duomo di Siena

In addition to painting, he also directed the celebrated pavement of the cathedral of Siena from 1517 to 1544, a task that took over a century and a half. The pavement shows vast designs in commesso work—white marble, that is, engraved with the outlines of the subject in black, and having borders inlaid with rich patterns in many colours. From the year Beccafumi was engaged in continuing this pavement, he made very ingenious improvements in the technical processes employed and laid down scenes from the stories of Ahab and Elijah, of Melchisedec, of Abraham and of Moses. He made a triumphal arch and an immense mechanical horse for the procession of the emperor Charles V on his entry into Siena. (1513) – <small>J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles </small>

  • Saint Catherine of Siena Receiving the Stigmata (1513) – <small>J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles</small>
  • Trinity Triptych (1513) – <small>Oil on wood, 152 x 228&nbsp;cm, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena </small>
  • Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist () – <small> Uffizi, Florence</small>
  • Marriage of St Catherine (1514–1515) – <small> Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena</small>
  • Bellanti Madonna () – <small> Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena</small>
  • St. Paul (1515) – <small>Oil on wood, 190 x 150&nbsp;cm, Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana, Siena</small>
  • Marcia (1519), National Gallery, London
  • Stigmatization of St. Catherine of Siena (1515) – <small>Oil on wood, 208 x 156&nbsp;cm, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena</small>
  • The Betrothal of the Virgin (1518) – <small>Fresco, 295 x 304&nbsp;cm, Oratory of San Bernardino, Siena</small>
  • Tanaquil (1519) – <small>Oil on wood, 92 x 53&nbsp;cm, National Gallery, London</small>
  • Self Portrait (1520)
  • The Story of Papirius (1520–1530) – <small>National Gallery, London</small>
  • St. Lucy (1521) – <small>Oil on wood, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena</small>
  • Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine (1521) – <small>Hermitage, St. Petersburg</small>
  • Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist (c.1521–1522) – <small>Galleria Palatina, Florence</small>
  • Frescoes – <small>Palazzo Bindi-Segardi, Siena</small>
  • Frescoes of scenes from Roman history<small>Palazzo Pubblico, Siena (1529–1535)</small>
  • The Holy Family with Young Saint John (1523–1524) – <small>Oil on panel, diameter 86&nbsp;cm, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid</small>
  • Fall of the Rebel Angels (c. 1524) – <small>Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena</small>
  • Fall of the Rebel Angels (c. 1528) – <small>Oil on wood, 347 x 225&nbsp;cm, San Niccolò al Carmine, Siena</small>
  • Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine (1528) – <small>Palazzo Chigi-Saracini, Siena</small>
  • Vision of St. Catherine of Sienna (1528) – <small>Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa</small>
  • The Baptism of Christ (1528) – <small>Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa</small>
  • The Nativity – <small>Allentown Art Museum, Allentown</small>
  • Venus and Cupid with Vulcan (1528) – <small>New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans</small>
  • Holy Family with St. John (c. 1530) – <small>Oil on panel, diameter 84&nbsp;cm, Uffizi, Florence</small>
  • Holy Family with Saint Anne – <small>Private collection </small>
  • Flight of Clelia and the Roman Virgins – <small>Uffizi, Florence</small>
  • Punishment of Dathan – <small>Pisa Cathedral</small>
  • Drawing for Christ in Limbo (Stolen)
  • Christ in Limbo (1535) – <small>Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena</small>
  • Moses and the Golden Calf (1536–1537) – <small>Oil on wood, 197 x 139&nbsp;cm, Pisa Cathedral</small>
  • Saint Bernard of Siena Preaching (1537) – <small>Musée du Louvre, Paris</small>
  • Saint Anthony and the Miracle of the Mule (1537) – <small>Musée du Louvre, Paris</small>
  • Saint Francis receives the stigmata (1537) – <small>Musée du Louvre, Paris</small>
  • Coronation of the Virgin (1539) – <small>Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena</small>
  • Birth of the Virgin (1543) – <small>Oil on wood, 233 x 145&nbsp;cm, Accademia, Siena</small>
  • Sarteano Annunciation (c.1546) – <small>Oil on canvas, San Martino in Foro, Sarteano</small>
  • Coronation of the Virgin (1540s) – <small>Santo Spirito, Siena</small>
  • Madonna with infant and St. John (1540) – <small>Oil on panel, 90 x 65&nbsp;cm, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome</small>
  • Holy Family with Angels – <small>National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC</small>
  • Holy Family and St. John – <small>Alte Pinakothek, Munich</small>
  • Statues of Angels (1548–1550) – <small>Presbytery of Siena Cathedral</small>
  • Judith with the Head of Holofernes – <small>The Wallace Collection, London.</small>
  • Drawing of Abraham – <small>Woodcut, Cleveland Museum of Art</small>
  • Angels drawing (1524–25) – <small>San Francisco</small>

<gallery mode="nolines">

File:Beccafumi Palazzo Pubblico 02.JPG|Frescoes at Palazzo Pubblico in Siena

File:Domenico Beccafumi 001.jpg|Allegory of Concord (1532–1535)

File:Domenico Beccafumi 002.jpg|Caritas (1532–1535)

File:Domenico Beccafumi - Penelope - WGA01540.jpg|Penelope (1514)

File:Domenico Beccafumi - Public Virtues of Greek and Roman Heroes- The Sacrifice of King Codron of Athens - Google Art Project.jpg|The Sacrifice of King Codrus of Athens (1529 – 1535)

File:Domenico Beccafumi 008.jpg|Tribune Publius Mucius Scaevola sends his allies to the stake (1532–1535)

File:Domenico Beccafumi 048.jpg|Birth of Christ (1523–1524)

File:Domenico Beccafumi - The Annunciation - WGA01551.jpg|The Annunciation (1545)

File:Domenico Beccafumi - De heilige Catharina ontvangt de stigmata - 2898 (OK) - Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.jpg|Saint Catherine receives the stigmata (1545)

File:Domenico Beccafumi - Stigmatization of St Catherine of Siena - WGA01536.jpg|Stigmatization of St Catherine of Siena (1515)

File:Beccafumi - Natività di Gesù, Museo Diocesano.jpg|Nativity of Jesus, Diocesan Museum

File:Beccafumi - Madonna col Bambino, 1514.jpg|Madonna and Child (1514)

</gallery>

References

  • Painting in Italy 1500–1600, S.J. Freedberg, (Penguin History of Art, 2nd Edition, 1983).

Notes

  • Domenico Beccafumi in the "A World History of Art"
  • Domenico di Pace Beccafumi. paintings