Guido of Siena, was an Italian painter, active during the 13th-century in

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...

, and painting in an

Italo-Byzantine Italo-Byzantine is a style term in art history, mostly used for medieval paintings produced in Italy under heavy influence from Byzantine art. It initially covers religious paintings copying or imitating the standard Byzantine icon types, but pa ...

style.

Biography

The name Guido is known from the large panel in the church of San Domenico, Siena of th
''Virgin and Child Enthroned''
The rhymed

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

inscription gives the painter's name as ''Guido de Senis'', with the date 1221. However, this date cannot relate to the painting of the panel, which is usually dated on the basis of style to the 1270s. The faces of the Virgin and Child were scraped and repainted in the early 14th century in the manner of

Duccio Duccio di Buoninsegna ( , ; – ) was an Italian painter active in Siena, Tuscany, in the late 13th and early 14th century. He was hired throughout his life to complete many important works in government and religious buildings around Italy. Du ...

and so are not representative of Guido's original. A

dossal A Dossal (or dossel, dorsel, dosel), from French ''dos'' (''back''), is one of a number of terms for something rising from the back of a church altar. In modern usage, it primarily refers to cloth hangings but it can also denote a board, ofte ...

featuring the Virgin and Child with four saints (accession No. 7) in the

Siena Pinacoteca The Pinacoteca Nazionale is a national museum in Siena, Tuscany, Italy. Inaugurated in 1932, it houses especially late medieval and Renaissance paintings from Italian artists. It is housed in the Brigidi and Buonsignori palaces in the city's cente ...

has an identical inscription, but unfortunately the name before "de Senis" has been cut off. It is very often assumed that the missing name is Guido, and gives us some indication of the original appearance of the Madonna at San Domenico. Beyond this, little is known of Guido da Siena and his place in Sienese painting before Duccio. Because he is the only Sienese painter of the time to have surviving works on panel with a signature, he is often viewed as the most important artistic personality at the time and the first master of the great Sienese school of painting. However, Bellosi has attempted to associate some "Guidesque" works with the names ''Dietsalvi di Speme'' and ''Guido di Graziano'', who are documented with the painting of

Biccherna The Biccherna was the magistrate or chancellery of finance from the 13th to the 14th century for the republic and then city of Siena, region of Tuscany, Italy. The records of the office are significant not only because Siena was one of the earlie ...

book covers for the Sienese commune in the 1270s. Some equate Guido as the father of Meo di Siena.

Gallery

File:Guido da Siena - Annunciation - Google Art Project.jpg, ''

Annunciation The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the ang ...

'', 1262–1279, in the

Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 113,000 works ...

File:Guido da Siena - Fuga in Egitto.jpg, ''

Flight into Egypt The flight into Egypt is a story recounted in the Gospel of Matthew ( Matthew 2:13– 23) and in New Testament apocrypha. Soon after the visit by the Magi, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream telling him to flee to Egypt with Mary and the ...

'', 1270s, in the

Lindenau-Museum The Lindenau-Museum is an art museum in Altenburg, Thuringia, Germany. It originated as the house-museum of baron and collector Bernhard August von Lindenau. The building was completed in 1876. The museum's main attraction is its collection ...

File:Guido Da Siena - Flagellation - WGA10988.jpg, ''

Flagellation Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on ...

'', 1270s, in the

File:Guido Da Siena - Christ Crucified - WGA10989.jpg, '' Christ Crucified'', 1270s, in the

Museum Catharijneconvent The Museum Catharijneconvent (St. Catherine's Convent Museum) is a museum of religious art in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is located in the former St. Catharine convent, having been sited there since 1979. Its collections include many artifacts f ...

Sources

Artcyclopedia - Guido da Siena
* *Joanna Cannon. "Guido da Siena." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online

*Hayden Maginnis "Everything in a name? Or the Classification of Sienese Duecento Painting" in ''Italian Panel Painting of the Duecento and Trecento'' V.M. Schmidt (ed.) (New Haven and London, 2002) pp. 471–485 *Luciano Bellosi "Per un contesto cimabuesco senese a) Guido da Siena e il probabile Dietisalvi" Propsettiva 61, 1991 pp. 6–20 and "Per un contesto cimabuesco senese b) Rinaldo da Siena e Guido di Graziano" Propsettiva 61, 1991, pp. 15–28 {{Authority control 13th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Byzantine painters Painters from Siena Gothic painters