We have already sketched the earliest period of the art of Siena, and
seen how for a brief space of time it dominated that of Tuscany. The
greater precision of the Florentine technique, and the wider mental
outlook of its artists in the fifteenth century, placed it in the van
before long.
Sano di Pietro (1406-1481), a pupil of Sassetta, undoubtedly painted
the five small characteristic panels (No. 1128-32), which illustrate
scenes from the _Life of St. Jerome_, and at one time formed the
predella of a large altarpiece. St. Jerome, with others of his order
who run away, kneels under a portico of the monastery he founded at
Bethlehem, and is extracting a thorn from the lion’s paw. According to
the legend, the lion was afterwards placed in charge of an ass which
the monks employed to carry wood; we see here that while the lion was
asleep in the heat of the day under a clump of trees, the ass was
stolen by merchants. St. Jerome naturally believed that the ass had
not been carried off by a passing caravan, but eaten by the lion, who
subsequently saw his old friend the ass in the possession of the same
merchants that chanced to pass that way again. The lion is here seen
(No. 1130) in the act of compelling, one might almost say pushing, the
ass and the other beasts of burden laden with provisions back into the
monastery, while the merchants flee away in terror.
The Louvre does not contain any work by Vecchietta (1412-1480), who
was architect as well as painter. A _Birth of the Virgin_ (No. 1660),
catalogued as being by an unknown Florentine artist, is most probably
from the hand of Matteo di Giovanni (1435?-1495), who was most likely
at one time a pupil of Vecchietta. Another of the latter’s pupils,
Francesco di Giorgio (1439-1502), perhaps executed the panel of the
_Rape of Europa_ (No. 1640A or No. 1640 _Bis_), which the cataloguer
relegates to the lengthy list of unattributed Florentine works.
From these influences spring Girolamo di Benvenuto (1470-1524), whose
_Judgment of Paris_ (No. 1668) passes in the Catalogue as a late
fifteenth century Bolognese picture. Bernardino Fungai (1460-1516), who
trod in the steps of Giovanni di Paolo, Francesco di Giorgio, and the
Umbrian artist Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, and yet evinced no real signs of
development from within, is unrepresented in this collection.
This rapid survey of the School of Siena shows that it is not well
exemplified in the Louvre. The third-rate painters, Pacchiarotto
(1474-1540) and Beccafumi (1486-1551), will not detain us. Another
accomplished late Sienese eclectic, Girolamo del Pacchia (1477-1535?),
has been credited with a _Crucifixion_ (No. 1642), but not by the
official cataloguer. Sodoma (1477-1551) also worked in Siena. Towards
the year 1501 other artists of the various schools of Central Italy,
including Pinturicchio, Signorelli, and Perugino, visited the city,
their advent bringing about an artistic revolution. Before long the
religious fervour, the delicate ornamentation, the gesso-embellishment,
the drawing in the flat, and the miniature-like delicacy of an earlier
age became extinct. The artistic glory of Siena was dimmed, and rapidly
passed into a period of decadence.
Among the last Sienese artists of any distinction were Baldassare
Peruzzi (1481-1536), an architect and painter, and Matteo Balducci (fl.
1509-1553), to whom we may perhaps ascribe the _Judgment of Solomon_
(No. 1571) and the _Judgment of Daniel_ (No. 1572). In any case
these pictures belong to the Umbro-Sienese period of Central Italian
art; they are officially regarded as being by Perugino himself. When
all originality had passed out of Sienese painting, Francesco Vanni
(1563?-1609) produced his _Repose on the Flight into Egypt_ (No. 1561)
and the _Martyrdom of St. Irene_ (No. 1562).