SEGNA DI BUONAVENTURE
Italian painter. He is seemingly documented from December 1298 to May 1326, but the evidence is ambiguous and may refer to more than one artist. In 1306 he was paid 10 lire for a painted panel for the office of the Biccherna in the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. According to a 17th-century copy of notices from the convent of Lecceto (near Siena), Segna received 4 florins in partial payment for an altar panel in December 1317. He was resident in the parish of San Pietro Ovile, Siena, in 1316 and 1318 and in Arezzo on 21 July 1319; he was again working in Siena by 8 November 1319 because he then received 8 lire for repairing a figure of the Virgin in the Palazzo Pubblico. On 27 August 1321 he apparently received a payment (1 lira, 11 soldi) for a panel on which were inscribed the articuli fidei for the Palazzo Pubblico.
Several documentary references cite only the name Segna, however, and Segna’s sons Niccolò di Segna and Francesco di Segna were also painters. The formulation Insegna dipegnitore occurs only in some early notices relating to minor decorative projects. A document of 16 March 1332 refers to a Segna dipegnitore, four months after Segna’s son Niccolò was styled pictor olim Segne pictoris de Senis. Finally, a document of 12 April 1340 (i.e. after Segna’s death) refers to a ‘Segna Bonaventure’, who it is assumed was not a painter.
