AGNOLO DI VENTURA - b. ~1300 ?, d. ~1350 Siena - WGA

AGNOLO DI VENTURA

(b. ~1300 ?, d. ~1350 Siena)

Italian architect and sculptor (also Agnolo da Siena). He is first mentioned in 1311 amongst the taxpayers of the district of San Quirico in Siena. The surviving documents testify to his activity as civic and military architect for the Comune di Siena: in 1319 he was paid for a number of works at Porta Salaria, in 1333 he was consulted on the extension of the Duomo, and in 1334-35 he was in charge of the fortifications of Grosseto and Massa Marittima. He may have also executed the projects for Porta Sant’Agata and Porta Romana in Siena. There are no surviving documents referring to his life and work after 1349.

Agnolo is believed to be the sculptor ‘Angelus de Senis’ (Agnolo da Siena), who in 1327-30 executed the canopy tomb for Bishop Guido Tarlati in Arezzo Cathedral in collaboration with Agostino di Giovanni. In spite of the tomb’s homogeneity of style, Agnolo’s intervention may be identified in a number of sculpted reliefs depicting war scenes, as well as the two clergymen on the left of the Funeral Ceremony on the sarcophagus.

Also attributed to Agnolo are the Petroni Portal in the cloister of San Francesco, Siena, and the tomb of Cardinal Matteo Orsini in Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. These works are sculpted with a sharp and hard cut, and while the figures’ poses are somewhat stiff and their ample drapery is lacking in volume, their faces are expressive.

Like Agostino di Giovanni, Agnolo was inspired by the works of Tino di Camaino, and departed from the French-influenced style of his contemporary Goro di Gregorio.

Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati

The influence of Tino di Camaino is apparent in the work of Agostino di Giovanni and Agnolo di Ventura, who were probably active in Siena while Tino was Capomaestro of the Cathedral. Their principal surviving work, the Tarlati monument in the Duomo at Arezzo, was executed in the same bracket of years as Tino’s Mary of Valois monument in Naples. But whereas the the Mary of Valois monument has its place in the context of court art, the Tarlati monument belongs in the democratic tradition of Tuscan sculpture. Lacking the refinement and elegance of Tino’s tomb, it celebrates in simple, graphic style Tarlati’s administration.

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Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati (detail)

Agnolo di Ventura executed the canopy tomb for Bishop Guido Tarlati in Arezzo Cathedral in collaboration with Agostino di Giovanni. In spite of the tomb’s homogeneity of style, Agnolo’s intervention may be identified in a number of sculpted reliefs depicting war scenes, as well as the two clergymen on the left of the Funeral Ceremony on the sarcophagus.

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Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati (detail)

This picture shows the twelve reliefs on the tomb monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati. The monument was executed in collaboration with Agostino di Giovanni. In spite of the tomb’s homogeneity of style, Agnolo’s intervention may be identified in a number of sculpted reliefs.

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Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati (detail)

This picture shows The Commune Despoiled (Il Comune Pelato), one of the twelve reliefs on the tomb monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati. The monument was executed in collaboration with Agostino di Giovanni. In spite of the tomb’s homogeneity of style, Agnolo’s intervention may be identified in a number of sculpted reliefs.

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Monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati (detail)

This picture shows a war scene (Caprese), one of the twelve reliefs on the tomb monument to Bishop Guido Tarlati. The monument was executed in collaboration with Agostino di Giovanni. In spite of the tomb’s homogeneity of style, Agnolo’s intervention may be identified in a number of sculpted reliefs.

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Porta Romana

The Porta Romana is one of the portals in the medieval walls of Siena. It was built in 1327-28 by Agnolo di Ventura and Agostino di Giovanni, and has a crenellated roof line with machicolation (an opening through which stones or burning objects could be dropped on attackers) in front gate.

The gate is complex, with two separate portals, separated by a small inner court, with the inner gatehouse taller than the outer one. The large arches are faced with travertine marble. The courtyard is surrounded by arrow slits. It was likely that the gate doors could be opened sequentially. The outer portal has a round bas-relief with the Roman Catholic IHS Christogram inside a sun symbol (San Bernardino Christogram).

The photo shows the city gate seen from outside.

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Porta Romana

The photo shows the back of the portal seen from west,

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