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''Saint Paul Enthroned'' is an oil-on-canvas painting by the
''Saint Paul Enthroned'' is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance ( ) was a period in History of Italy, Italian history between the 14th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Western Europe and marked t ...
painter Domenico Beccafumi
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 ...
, now in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Siena
Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...
. On the basis of its style it is dated to c. 1515, before his ''St Catherine of Siena Receiving the Stigmata'' and after his trip to Rome, where he had come into contact with Sodoma
Il Sodoma (1477 – 14 February 1549) was the name given to the Italian Renaissance painter Giovanni Antonio Bazzi. Il Sodoma painted in a manner that superimposed the High Renaissance style of early 16th-century Rome onto the traditions of the p ...
and Florentine artists of the period. The figure of Saint Paul
Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...
draws on the prophets in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling
The Sistine Chapel ceiling (), painted in fresco by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance Renaissance art, art.
The Sistine Chapel is the large papal chapel built within the Vatican City, Vatican betwee ...
whilst those in the background draw on Dürer and Piero di Cosimo
Piero di Cosimo (2 January 1462 – 12 April 1522), also known as Piero di Lorenzo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, who continued to use an essentially Early Renaissance style into the 16th century.
He is most famous for the mythologica ...
.
It was commissioned by the Corte degli Uffiziali di Mercanzia for the now-destroyed church of San Paolo in Siena. It was mentioned as a "tavoletta" (small canvas) "made by Domenico when he was young" in Vasari's ''Lives of the Artists
''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'' () is a series of artist biographies written by 16th-century Italian painter and architect Giorgio Vasari, which is considered "perhaps the most famous, and even today the ...
'', though that author may not have seen the work himself and no document survives with direct references to the commission. A preparatory drawing for the figures of the Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...
and Child
A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...
at the top survives in the Uffizi
The Uffizi Gallery ( ; , ) is a prominent art museum adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of th ...
's Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe (1527 F). Either side of the saint are scenes of his conversion on the road to Damascus and his martyrdom. Rosa Giorgi, ''Santi'', Electa, Milano 2002
References