FRANCESCO DI GIORGIO MARTINI

The subject of this plaster relief - perhaps Lycurgus, who ordered the slaughter of the Maenads - seems mainly an excuse to display nude figures in as many contortions as possible, set against a perspectival backdrop.

In 1495 two bronze angels holding cornucopia, serving as candelabra at the two sides of the high altar in the Siena Cathedral, were commissioned from Francesco di Giorgio Martini. The picture shows the left angel, superior in conception. It is uniquely depicted as though just alighting, its wings in the process of folding. Its feet do not touch the ground but are supported by a small pedestal under the arch of one foot.

In 1495 two bronze angels holding cornucopia, serving as candelabra at the two sides of the high altar in the Siena Cathedral, were commissioned from Francesco di Giorgio Martini. The picture shows the right angel.

Francesco di Giorgio Martini, a sculptor, painter and architect in Siena, is primarily known for his architectural practice and theory. His early wooden sculpture was influenced by the local Vecchietta and also by Donatello whose presence in Siena from 1457 to 1461 had a stimulating effect on him. His mature sculpture was in bronze.

In 1495 two bronze angels holding cornucopia, serving as candelabra at the two sides of the high altar in the Siena Cathedral, were commissioned from Francesco di Giorgio Martini.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 4 minutes):

C�sar Franck: Panis angelicus

The painting comes from the church of San Domenico, Siena. The contribution of an assistant referred to as “Fiduciario de Francesco” is assumed.

This highly unusual painting was the last of the artist’s youthful output. The playful gestures of the two characters are emphasized by the abundant folds of the drapery. On the other hand, the perspective of the scene is expressively deformed in order to create a dramatic touch.

Many elements in Francesco di Giorgio’s Annunciation suggest an artist aware of his Florentine contemporaries. This Virgin is a close relative of similar figures in Verrocchio and Botticelli; the doorway behind, with its grey pietra serena surround, is Albertian. The landscape is also far removed from Sienese tradition, dotted about with Roman reminiscences and flanked by a fantastical crag such as we might find later in the work of Piero di Cosimo. Yet the impossibly slim pink columns rise as weightlessly as in any picture by Sassetta, the floor tilting steeply, the angel stepping forth ungrounded, the lectern about to slide.

In the second half of the fifteenth century, with so many of Siena’s painters active as sculptors or architects, a new sense of the third dimension entered her art. Such ambitious exploration is discernible in this very large, illusionistic panel ascribed to many artists, recently to Francesco di Giorgio Martini, who was active as a painter, sculptor, and architect. His trompe-l’oeil was doubtless designed for some site-specific function (possibly for the headboard of a bed), or to extend a preexisting space.

Francesco di Giorgio painted two scenes, the Nativity and the Birth of the Virgin, for the decoration of the chapel of family Bichi. Executed with a particular grisaille technique, the frescoes are the culmination of the artist’s career as a painter.

The detail shows the principal illumination on the first page of the Codex De Animalibus.

Francesco’s first commission for Urbino was a bronze relief, in which the influence of Donatello is evident. Much earlier, between 1457 and 1462, the great Florentine sculptor had made several visits to Siena, declaring his purpose ‘to live and die there’; his late style, with its vibrant surface and tormented figures, left a permanent impact on the sculpture both of Vecchietta and his young pupil. In Francesco’s Deposition, his sculptural masterpiece, the cross stands bare against the expanse of naked bronze ‘sky’ - a heavily patinated brown plane, only lightly ruffled by darting angels. Far below, the crowd is modelled in much deeper relief, tremulous forms of hair and drapery reflecting a broken light; while the beautiful corpse of Christ is a fully three-dimensional classical nude. The two wild women at the foot of the cross seem almost to dance their rhythmic grief. Yet the Sienese trecento is also still present, most obviously in the veiled matrons seated in mourning.

The relief originally was part of a small altarpiece in the Oratorio di Santa Croce in Urbino.

This bronze relief occupies an important place in the catalogue of Francesco di Giorgio since it was executed during the artist’s stay in Urbino. Originally it was part of a small altarpiece in the Oratorio di Santa Croce in Urbino. The profiles of the kneeling donator Duke Federigo da Montefeltro and his son Guidobaldo can be seen at right. In this relief Francesco applied the technique of Donatello with dramatic effect.

Tuscan architects developing the principles laid down by Brunelleschi, constructed important churches in the last years of the 15th century. These include Santa Maria delle Carceri, at Prato, by Giuliano da Sangallo, and Santa Maria del Calcinaio, near Cortona, by Frencesco di Giorgio. Both these resemble the experiments with centrally planned churches being carried out in Milan by Leonardo and Bramente, and we know that Francesco di Giorgio was personally acquainted with Leonardo. In these churches we see the culmination of the Early Renaissance ideals of classical lightness and purity.

View the ground plan of Santa Maria delle Grazie al Calcinaio.

Tuscan architects developing the principles laid down by Brunelleschi, constructed important churches in the last years of the 15th century. These include Santa Maria delle Carceri, at Prato, by Giuliano da Sangallo, and Santa Maria del Calcinaio, near Cortona, by Frencesco di Giorgio. Both these resemble the experiments with centrally planned churches being carried out in Milan by Leonardo and Bramente, and we know that Francesco di Giorgio was personally acquainted with Leonardo. In these churches we see the culmination of the Early Renaissance ideals of classical lightness and purity.

The Rocca Roveresca or Rocca di Mondavio is a 15th-century castle in the town of Mondavio, in the region of Marche. It was commissioned by Giovanni della Rovere around 1492 from the architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini. The castle is in excellent state of conservation since it was never sieged or bombed.

The castle now houses a museum about personal and siege weapons, armor, uniforms, and battle strategies used in the age when such bulwarks were most useful.

Although the decorative scheme of the page is somewhat conventional, Francesco di Giorgio applied interesting iconographic motifs. The principal illumination symbolizes Chastity with the Unicorn, while in the three tondi on the right of the page depict the Labours of Hercules.

This relief earlier was attributed to various masters like Bertoldo, Pollaiolo, Verrocchio and Leonardo, but now it is recognised as the work of Francesco di Giorgio Martini. There are many references to antique statues and buildings in this relief. The representation of the urban setting is noteworthy.

The Rocca Roveresca or Rocca di Mondavio is a 15th-century castle in the town of Mondavio, in the region of Marche. It was commissioned by Giovanni della Rovere around 1492 from the architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini. The castle is in excellent state of conservation since it was never sieged or bombed.

The castle now houses a museum about personal and siege weapons, armor, uniforms, and battle strategies used in the age when such bulwarks were most useful.

The Eternal Father is surrounded by angels and cherubim. This panel formed a single scene with the panel representing the Nativity, now in New York. It was dismembered for commercial purposes.

The illustration represents the human body as the symbolic equivalent of a city and a castle. The church is located at the heart while the city centre (the piazza) around the navel.

The picture shows plans for grain mill and amphibious vehicle.

The picture shows plans for transport machines.

The illustration shows antique temples.

The illustration shows antique and early Christian buildings.

This Renaissance church outside Urbino was designed by Francesco di Giorgio Martini. The Dukes Federico and Guidobaldo da Montefeltro are buried here.

The plan of the church is a Latin cross whose nave has three bays of diminishing depth to increase the apparent length of the church as seen from the entrance. All four ends of the cross are flat, the entablature runs unbroken around the church, and the plain white plaster walls and barrel vaults suggest a space larger than the one they actually close.

View the section of Santa Maria delle Grazie al Calcinaio.

The plan of the church is a Latin cross whose nave has three bays of diminishing depth to increase the apparent length of the church as seen from the entrance. All four ends of the cross are flat, the entablature runs unbroken around the church, and the plain white plaster walls and barrel vaults suggest a space larger than the one they actually close.

View the section of Santa Maria delle Grazie al Calcinaio.

The mantle of the Virgin was removed, originally it was coloured by precious lapis lazuli.

This painting shows the evolution of the painting of Francesco di Giorgio toward the Florentine style of Verrocchio and Alessio Baldovinetti. However, the extravagant architecture affirms the originality of the Sienese master.

Recovered recently, this Madonna decorated the Palazzo Piccolomini at Vignano. The lower part of the fresco is deteriorated. From recent studies the contribution of an anonymous assistant referred to as “Fiduciario de Francesco” is assumed.

This richly gilded panel suited the dominant taste in Siena, it was executed for private devotion.

Francesco di Giorgio Martini was a multifaceted artist who embodied the spirit of Renaissance Humanism: an architect, sculpture, miniatur and painter. He preferred to work as an architect and a designer of forfications, as in his work at Urbino, and he collaborated on the building of Siena cathedral. He also wrote a treatise on civil and military architecture.

His painted oeuvre is sporadic, and employs a soft and delicate style which may recall Botticelli, although some experts have seen the influence of Verrocchio in the lightness, grace and elegance of the poses, together with the high degree of finish.

This is the conclusion of the many variations made by the artist on this subject in a period of about 30 years. From the initial Gothic panels of golden background he arrived at this noble and robust composition.

The typical tablet from the Biccherna (revenue office) has a votive subject: the Virgin as intercessor to protect the city against earthquake. The contribution of an anonymous assistant referred to as “Fiduciario de Francesco” is assumed.

Beginning as a talented young painter, fully integrated within Sienese tradition, Francesco di Giorgio Martini ended as the most famous architect, engineer and ‘universal man’ of his era. His beautiful little Biccherna cover, painted in his late twenties, draws effortlessly on an accumulated imagery of the city that goes back to the early trecento (as does the Biccherna form itself). Towers and palaces rise up, surmounted by the striped Cathedral and the tower of the Palazzo Pubblico, all contained within the circuit of the wall, its brick transformed to a hotter pink, as though lit by a setting sun. Shaken by earthquakes, the inhabitants have moved outside into a tented camp. But the ever-protective Virgin (who resembles earlier Madonnas by Francesco’s master Vecchietta, and whose angel-attendants recall in turn those of Vecchietta’s teacher, Sassetta) still keeps covenant with her city. In the long lineage of Sienese civic images, Francesco’s is perhaps the last that is truly memorable.

This relief was executed after an antique copy of a lost original bronze. The subject is not identified, traditionally it is entitled Discord. In this case, too, the artist’s interest is in the representation of the urban landscape.

This small panel, slighly larger than an illumination, is one of the first examples of the subject which Francesco di Giorgio repeatedly confronted.

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Josquin Desprez: In principio erat verbum, motet

This panel formed a single scene with the small panel God the Father, now in Washington. It was dismembered for commercial purposes.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 2 minutes):

Michael Praetorius: Motet

The Nativity with two angels, Sts Bernard and Thomas of Aquino is the only signed work of the Sienese master. (It is signed ‘Francisc. Georgii insit’ at left bottom.)

Francesco di Giorgio’s interpretation of the Nativity is more closely related to depictions of the Adoration of the Child by the Virgin. Unlike those by Leonardo, Filippino Lippi, and Botticelli, this interpretation includes two saints on the left, in addition to the Holy Family accompanied by two angels. The event is set in an open landscape, with a particularly elaborate distant view in the upper left background of this lunette shaped panel. Behind the angels, a very simplified shed constructed out of a handful of wooden beams extends from an outcropping of rock.

In the short time between the Coronation and the Nativity, more properly an Adoration of the Child, commissioned in 1475 and presumably finished a year later, we see a shift that may signal a new phase in Francesco’s development. But the number of paintings that can be attributed to him is so small that his evolution as a painter is virtually impossible to define. The Nativity is a more confident and less crowded composition than the Coronation. The radically twisted St Joseph in the centre, with his active movement, is an ambitious restatement of the Christ from the earlier picture. The sacred figures, including St Bernard and St Thomas (not Sts Bernardine and Ambrose, as their embossed inscriptions added in the nineteenth century would have it) with Joseph and Mary, form a flattened arc in space around an alert, open-eyed Child who rests His head on a pillow, which is formally related to the picture plane.

Francesco’s treatment of the drapery gives the impression of having been based on careful studies, particularly noticeable in the figure of St Bernard. The figures, all on the same plane, are preceded by a bit of bare terrain. Directly behind the manger, a simple lean-to is attached to an outcropping of rock, with a segment of a classical building in a decaying state. Still farther in the distance is a well-articulated landscape with a local Sienese flavour. The two angels standing casually on the right are tall, weightless images enrapt in their own dreams.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 16 minutes):

Arcangelo Corelli: Concerto grosso in g minor op. 6 No. 8 (Christmas Concerto)

Francesco di Giorgio painted two scenes, the Nativity and The Birth of the Virgin, for the decoration of the chapel of family Bichi. Executed with a particular grisaille technique, the frescoes are the culmination of the artist’s career as a painter.

This beautiful altarpiece is completed by a lunette attributed to Matteo di Giovanni and has altar steps painted by Bernardino Fungai. As such it sums up the Sienese school in the late fifteenth century. After his years in Urbino working as an architect, Francesco di Giorgio took up painting once more. The evolution in his style compared to his earlier work is obvious. The artist had by now fully mastered the depiction of space. The figures are scattered, paired into couples whose movements counterbalance each other.Colours are carefully juxtaposed. The grandiose ruined arch that dominates the scene showed Francesco di Giorgio’s love of the classical world which he depicted with the deft strokes of an architectural drawing.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 22 minutes):

Thomas Tallis: Mass (Puer natus est)

The detail shows St Bernard and St Thomas of Aquino (not Sts Bernardine and Ambrose, as indicated by their embossed inscriptions added in the nineteenth century) on the left side of the painting.

The detail shows the Holy Family on the right side of the painting.

The tablet originating from the Biccherna (revenue office) was recently attributed to Francesco di Giorgio. It depicts the scene when Pope Pius II (Enea Silvio Piccolomini) names Cardinal his nephew Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini.

This is one of the small panels that served as book covers for the semiannual ledgers of the biccherna and gabella, the financial and fiscal offices of the commune of Siena. The tradition of binding the ledger volumes with painted wood panels was instituted in 1257 and the oldest preserved panel covers the accounts of the second semester of 1258. The Archivio di Stato in Siena has a collection of over a hundred of these panels.

The earliest covers usually show the camerlengo (the chief financial officer of the Republic), often a monk from the Cistercian abbey of San Galgano, as he writes in his account book, counts or disburses money, or supervises a clerk. The covers always display the coats of arms of at least four leading citizens who served as provveditori charged with overseeing the financial proceedings. The names of all these officers are prominently mentioned on the lower half of the panels, thus vouching for the accuracy of the accounts.

While most of the panels of the 13th and 14th centuries are anonymous, we find among the later panels attributions to Paolo di Giovanni Fei, Giovanni di Paolo, Sano di Pietro, Francesco di Giorgio Martini, and Benvenuto di Giovanni. Some 15th century panels record important events of Sienese history, such as the coronation of Pius II on a biccherna of 1460, or the Virgin protecting Siena from an earthquake on the biccherna of 1467.

In addition to the early St John the Baptist this is the only large wooden sculpture of the artist. A hole in the left shoulder of the saints indicates the place where the Child, now lost, was fixed.

This statue was in the centre of an altarpiece painted by Luca Signorelli for the Bichi Chapel in the church of Sant’Agostino in Siena.

In a rocky landscape surrounded by animals and vegetation, the saint is in prayer. The influence of Leonardo’s style can be pointed out.

The statue was executed for the Compagnia delle Morte of Siena (as indicated by a small skull on the platform), then transferred to the parish church of Foligno where it was attributed to Vecchietta. After a restoration in 1949 Francesco di Giorgio was accepted as the sculptor of this vigorous work.

The Sienese Francesco di Giorgio was a dominant painter, sculptor, and engineer of his generation in his native city. Additionally he was a leading architect and designer of castles and fortifications, so it is understandable why there are few paintings by his hand. Like his Florentine and Umbrian contemporaries, he was a student of perspective, which is imaginatively employed in the platform upon which Christ is crowning His eternally young mother.

This large and crowded altarpiece was Francesco di Giorgio’s most ambitious undertaking in his work as a painter. About 40 characters, each one visually identifiable thank to the artist’s careful graphic research, crowd into the main scene. Christ is crowning the Virgin on a strange podium which is held up by angels. Above them, Francesco uses steep perspective to include a whirlwind image of God the Father.

The altarpiece depicting the Coronation of the Virgin was painted for the Chapel of Sts Sebastian and Catherine of Siena at Monte Oliveto, hence the prominence of those two in the lowest zone of the picture. Considering Francesco di Giorgio’s activity as an architect, it is surprising that there is so little convincing structure to the composition and that the spatial relationships are so difficult to decipher. No single, consistent optimal point of sight where the perspective operates effectively seems to have been planned. As a result, while one might expect to see the two kneeling saints from above or the central group of Christ and Mary from below, they are all seen almost straight on. Christ, the dominant image on the central axis, is in the act of crowning the kneeling and proportionally somewhat smaller Mary. His left arm, thrust across the body, forms a wedge below the nearly diamond-shaped head. A swirling God the Father, surrounded by zodiacal signs and angels, supervises the uppermost zone.

Mary and Christ rest upon a flat cloud bank shown in sharp foreshortening (although the figures themselves are not foreshortened). On a ledge in the same zone, seated figures - including St John the Baptist cross-legged on the left and crowned King David holding his lyre on the right - and handsome angels imply a semicircular distribution in space, a compositional innovation that will find reverberations in the following decades. Along the sides, hosts of saints are piled up in the narrow vertical strips, recalling a Sienese tradition that goes as far back as Duccio di Buoninsegna’s Maestà of the early Trecento. The spaces are hard to reconstruct; the surfaces are overcrowded; the colour strong although unnatural.

Francesco had his artistic and cultural roots in Siena. But just as Sassetta experienced outside, non-Sienese influences, so too did Francesco di Giorgio. His personal style was modified and molded by impulses from two North Italian painters active in Siena, Girolamo da Cremona and Liberale da Verona, both of whom reflected Mantegna’s innovative formal style. In addition, Francesco di Giorgio was keenly aware of what was unfolding in nearby Florence. Critics often point out the influence of Filippo Lippi and of Verrocchio, as well as that of the Pollaiuolo shop. Donatello and Ghiberti had left works in Siena which are also reflected by Francesco di Giorgio. The twisting, winged, nude putti of the Coronation, who help support the cloud bank, are modifications of Donatello’s tiny angels in the Sienese Baptistery.

Francesco di Giorgio constantly disregards the structure of figures or their anatomy. Bodies are usually heavy, arbitrary, and abstract, without special attention to the light sources; for example, the St Dorothy standing on the extreme right edge of the picture with the flowers gathered in her garment. Her long face, accentuated by a strong chin and a wide-eyed expression, is curiously personalized, suggesting deep intensity and even an affliction, often found in Francesco’s somewhat melancholy vision. Like Botticelli, his world consists more of fantasy and imagination than of a demanding observation of nature. In the Coronation of the Virgin the unity of the picture is sacrificed to an abundance of detail.

Christ, the dominant image on the central axis, is in the act of crowning the kneeling and proportionally somewhat smaller Mary. His left arm, thrust across the body, forms a wedge below the nearly diamond-shaped head.

The altarpiece depicting the Coronation of the Virgin was painted for the Chapel of Sts Sebastian and Catherine of Siena at Monte Oliveto, hence the prominence of those two in the lowest zone of the picture.

The provenance of the altarpiece is not known. This curious “pastiche” was probably made after the death of Francesco by his former collaborators. The principal characters (Christ, the Madonna and St Joseph) are probably from Francesco’s hand.

This curious “pastiche” was probably made after the death of Francesco by his former collaborators. The principal characters (Christ, the Madonna and St Joseph) are probably from Francesco’s hand.

This relief earlier was attributed to various masters like Bertoldo, Pollaiolo, Verrocchio and Leonardo, but now it is recognised as the work of Francesco di Giorgio Martini.

This Renaissance church outside Urbino was designed by Francesco di Giorgio Martini. The Dukes Federico and Guidobaldo da Montefeltro are buried here.

Tuscan architects developing the principles laid down by Brunelleschi, constructed important churches in the last years of the 15th century. These include Santa Maria delle Carceri, at Prato, by Giuliano da Sangallo, and Santa Maria del Calcinaio, near Cortona, by Frencesco di Giorgio. Both these resemble the experiments with centrally planned churches being carried out in Milan by Leonardo and Bramente, and we know that Francesco di Giorgio was personally acquainted with Leonardo. In these churches we see the culmination of the Early Renaissance ideals of classical lightness and purity.

View the ground plan of Santa Maria delle Grazie al Calcinaio.

The Virgin is seated in the foreground, gently supporting the Child on her lap. Behind Him are placed four figures in front of a flat and undefined background of a striking red, which is decorated with a printed black design of curving tendrils. The artist’s technical skill is evident in the transparency of the haloes, which are subtly painted as if they were fine lace. Notable are the modelling of the hands and faces, and the lyrical poses of the Virgin and Child and the background figures.