_Domenico Beccafumi_ (Sienese: 1486-1551).
Of this painter there is a very interesting account in Vasari.
His surname was adopted from his patron, on whose estate
Domenico's father was a labourer. Like Giotto, Domenico was
observed one day drawing on the ground, while minding his
father's sheep, and his master sent him to school and made an
artist of him. His style was first formed on that of Perugino,
whose pictures in Siena he copied. In 1510 he went to Rome to
study the works of Michael Angelo and Raphael; but returning
to Siena in 1512, he became a close imitator of Bazzi (1144),
who had recently settled in the city. Unlike Bazzi, Domenico
was (adds Vasari) "most orderly and well conducted, lived as
it beseemed a Christian to do, and passed the greater part
of his time alone." "It will nevertheless sometimes happen,"
adds Vasari, "that such as are called good fellows and merry
companions are more sought after than are the virtuous and
upright." In the matter of artistic commissions, however,
Beccafumi was well employed, in painting both altar-pieces for
churches and frescoes of classical subjects for the houses of
wealthy citizens. Some of the latter still remain _in situ_,
while the Accademia contains Beccafumi's best works in the
other sort. It was he who executed the mosaics of light and
dark marbles which form the pavement of the choir of the Duomo.
He also practised sculpture and did eight angels in bronze for
the Duomo. He hastened his death, says Vasari, "by labouring
day and night at his castings of metal which he would also
finish and polish himself, working entirely alone, and refusing
to accept any assistance whatever." He occupied his leisure
time in cultivating a small property outside the city gates. He
could not work, he told Vasari, removed from the air of Siena.
A picture corresponding in general character to several described by
Vasari. It is probably intended as a fantastic treatment of the visit
of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, or of Esther before Ahasuerus.