Sienese painting is often thought of in reference to the strikingly colorful and beautifully designed paintings of Duccio di Buoninsegna, Simone Martini, and the Lorenzetti brothers, from the dawn of the Italian Renaissance. This sumptuous book carefully traces that glorious early heritage. But it also extends its reach forward to about 1700 in order to include many later artists, with whom readers may not be as familiar, such as Rutilio Manetti, whose passionate style was radically altered after he came into contact with the revolutionary work of Caravaggio. The last chapters contain Baroque paintings of extraordinary color and warmth, such as Domenico Beccafumi's shadowy, sweet Annunciation. Nonetheless, it is the almost magically compelling early Sienese masters who dominate this volume. Lorenzetti's intricate Effects of Good Government in the Town and Countryside, for example, from the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena, is thoughtfully reproduced both in its entirety, in a four-page fold-out, and in many details that do justice to such minutiae as the chain holding two hunting dogs together, or a pheasant flushed from a wheat field. Even amateur art lovers will sense both the piety and the struggle toward naturalism that inform the earliest of these works. The angel whispering to the saint, the rich red robe of Christ, Mary's sober countenance--all seem imbued with fervor, both painterly and religious.
This book gives the reader the closest possible look at these masterworks. It is organized chronologically, with thoroughly documented texts on each period and every work, printed in excellent, well-spaced type. One small flaw in an otherwise beautifully designed book: there are no dates or measurements in the captions. --Peggy Moorman
Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Italian
Sienese Painting FROM THE PUBLISHER
For almost five hundred years, from the late Middle Ages into the seventeenth century, the Italian city of Siena was a thriving center of trade, learning, and fine art. This book is the first to celebrate its influential and impressive artistic heritage. Siena's distinctive style of painting was created in the early fourteenth century by such masters as Duccio di Buoninsegna and Simone Martini, emphasizing brilliant color, elaborate pattern, and elegant goldwork. Soon after, in the middle of the century, the gifted brothers Ambrogio and Pietro Lorenzetti introduced a new feeling for space, weight, and volume to their figures, and, following the example of the Florentine master Giotto, the emphatic expression of individual personalities. The Lorenzettis were also the first Italian masters of landscape painting. In the sixteenth century, the Sienese artist Sodoma traveled to Rome to work with Raphael for the Sienese cardinal Chigi, and later Domenico Beccafumi became one of the driving forces of Italian Mannerism. In the seventeenth century, such superb artists as Francesco Vanni and Ventura Salimbeni helped create the great heritage of Italian Baroque art. This book is the first comprehensive survey of painting in Siena from the emergence of its earliest distinctive style in the mid-1200s to its refined late Baroque manner.
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