Domenico
Beccafumi

The son of Giacomo di Pace, a peasant who worked on the estate of Lorenzo Beccafumi. Seeing the ability of the boy to painting, the owner adopted him and sent him to study with the Siena master Metro (hence the nickname of the artist – Macerino, cub Metro). After a brief trip to Rome in 1509 Domenico never left Siena.

As an artist developed under the influence of the Florentine school, but retained a certain provincialism of style. For Beccafumi characteristic eccentricities in the treatment of subjects, the search for fantastic light effects, experiments with perspective.

The Italian artist. Evolved in parallel with fancy Sienese art, grafizm Pontormo and Rosso and the academic rigor of Perugino and fra Bartolommeo, exquisite style of Beccafumi was characteristic of Mannerist fantasy. About the beginning of his career little is known; he is mentioned in 1502 in Siena, then in 1510-1512, in Rome, where he studied the works of Michelangelo and Raphael, in particular, griselinia part of the fresco "the school of Athens". In addition, according to Vasari, he writes the coat of arms of Pope Julius II on the facade of one of the houses in Borgo. On his return to Siena in 1513 he works at the hospital of La Scala (the frescoes in the Cappella del Manto); here for the first time revealed aspects of his style - the mysterious transformation of the forms of light, giving them the outlines of a sophisticated game of light vibrations (altar triptych "Trinity", 1513, Siena, NAT. Pinakothek). Those long silhouettes and curved posture also appear in the works, which were rather Umbrian features and performed prior to the second trip of the artist in Rome (CA. 1519). Among them is the altarpiece "the Stigmatization of St. Catherine" (1513 - 1515, Siena, NAT. Pinakothek) and scenes from the life of Mary, the frescoes in the oratory of San Bernardino in Siena. After 1519 Beccafumi takes a series of cartoons (Siena, NAT. Pinakothek) depicting biblical scenes for the marble floor in Siena Cathedral (completed in 1544). In the works, created between 1515 and 1530, manifest predilection of the artist to unusual and surreal lighting color ("Christmas", Siena, C. San Martino; two paintings of "St. Michael overthrows the rebellious angels." Siena TS. San Niccolo al Carmine and NAT. Pinakothek). In 1529 Beccafumi is frankly Mannerist position - his frescoes in the Hall of the Consistory of the Palazzo to the Public, with their bold angles, can rightly be placed in one line with frescoes the Palazzo del Te in Mantua and the frescoes by Primaticcio in Fontainebleau castle. Beccafumi also attributed to the altarpiece "Madonna enthroned with saints and angels" in the oratory, Sanbernardino in Siena (1537; - "SV. Anthony", "St. Bernardino", "SV. Francis"). Returning from a trip to Genoa, Beccafumi performs a series of paintings for Pisa Cathedral, among them - "Moses with the tablets" and the "Apostles" (1538-1539). A few tense liveliness of the figures (inherent also created in the same period engravings) sharply contrasts with the intimate character "of the Nativity of the virgin" (1540, Siena, NAT. Pinakothek). Upon returning from a recent trip to Rome (which show the artist's drawings proving the acquaintance of the master with the "last judgment" of Michelangelo), Beccafumi takes eight bronze sculptures of angels for Siena Cathedral (between 1548 and 1551).