Coronation of Pius II
by VECCHIETTA, Tempera on panel, 590 x 405 mm
The restraint of the frescoes in Palazzo Pubblico co-exists with a fresher approach to narrative in such smaller-scale paintings as the Biccherna panel of the Coronation of Pius II, the pope who was to be Vecchietta’s next main patron, and the predella of the altarpiece of the Virgin and Child with Saints (1461-62; now Museo Diocesano, Pienza) from San Niccolò a Spedaletto, Pienza.
The Archivio di Stato hosts the Biccherne collection, the painted wood covers of the city of Siena’s account books, called the Tavolette di Biccherna.