Francesco di Bartolommeo Alfei (Montalcino, 1421 - Siena, 1495 [1] ) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance, active in Siena. [2] Like other Sienese painters, and different from the contemporary Florentine style, Alfei maintained a gothic and mystical style of painting.
Like many of lesser painters of the era, there is much confusion around his life and attributed works. There is in fact, no work known to be by his hand with documentary assurance. He was for many years only known as a name, but in the late 1940s, the art critic Roberto Longhi began to question the attribution of a large predella from the Basilica dell'Osservanza in Siena. Initially the predella had been attributed to Sassetta or Sano di Pietro (by Cesare Brandi). [3] In 2010, documents were found to argue for Sano di Pietro as the Master of the Osservanza Triptych. [4] [5]
Of the documents relating to Alfei are that: [6]
Additionally, in 1464, along with the painter, Sano di Pietro, he asks for payment for work done for the artist Antonio di Simone, to aid in completion of some paintings for Pietro Trecerchi. [7]
Other sources say he had a studio in Siena in Compagnia di Rialto e Cartagine. He worked for Pope Pius II in 1460, for the diplomat Leonardo Benvoglienti, for the Ottieri della Ciaia family and for Sinolfo di Castellottieri. In 1455 the magistrates of Siena paid Alfei for work done at Monte Argentario near Orbetello; works till recently attributed to Ambrogio Lorenzetti and to Sassetta. In 1473 he may have worked in the Marche region for the papal legate, Cardinal Bartolomeo Roverella. [8]
Among works attributed to Alessi are: [9]
Another person named or with the surname Bartolomeo Alfei (Macerata, 1460 - Ancona, 1557) was an Italian writer. [10]
The Sienese School of painting flourished in Siena, Italy, between the 13th and 15th centuries. Its most important artists include Duccio, whose work shows Byzantine influence, his pupil Simone Martini, the brothers Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti and Domenico and Taddeo di Bartolo, Sassetta, and Matteo di Giovanni.
For the village near Livorno, see Sassetta, Tuscany
Sano di Pietro or Ansano di Pietro di Mencio (1405–1481) was an Italian painter of the Sienese school of painting. He was active for about half a century during the Quattrocento period, and his contemporaries included Giovanni di Paolo and Sassetta.
Matteo di Giovanni was an Italian Renaissance artist from the Sienese School.
Cristoforo Rustici, known as il Rusticone, was an Italian painter active in Siena who is known for his religious compositions and allegorical scenes representing the twelve months.
Jacopo di Mino del Pellicciaio was an Italian painter, active in Siena.
The Master of the Osservanza Triptych, also known as the Osservanza Master and as the Master of Osservanza, is the name given to an Italian painter of the Sienese School active about 1430 to 1450.
Bernardino Fungai was an Italian painter whose work marks the transition from late Gothic painting to the early Renaissance in the Sienese school. He maintained a fairly archaic style in his works, which are mainly of a devotional nature.
The Basilica dell'Osservanza is a church on the outskirts of Siena, region of Tuscany, Italy.
Cecco di Pietro was an Italian painter of the Pisan School. While his date of birth cannot be confirmed, there is some mention of a Cecco Pierri working with the painter Paolo di Lazzarino in 1350. If this was a reference to di Pietro, then his date of birth can be placed around 1330.
Francesco Nasini was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in towns outside of Siena, Italy.
Lorenzo Rustici (1512–1572) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period, active mainly in his native city of Siena, Italy. He was also known as Il Rustico or Lorenzo di Cristoforo Rustici. His sons were Vincenzo and Cristoforo Rustici. A specific contract for his work in painting the ceiling of the Loggia della Corte de Mercanti in Siena is known. He painted in the church of San Pietro alla Magione in Siena.
Mino di Graziano (1289–1323) was an Italian painter, active in Siena. He is said to have painted frescoes in the Sala del Consiglio of the Palazzo Pubblico of Siena.
The Palazzo Chigi all Postierla, but sometimes referred also to as Chigi-Piccolomini or Piccolomini-Adami is a Renaissance style urban palace localized on Via del Capitano #1, corner Piazza Postierla, in the Terzo di Città, in the city of Siena, region of Tuscany, Italy. The palace is up the street from the Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo, Siena.
Cristoforo di Bindoccio, also called Cristoforo del Maestro Bindoccio or Cristofano Malabarba, was an Italian painter active in Siena and Pienza. He worked with Francesco di Vannuccio and Meo di Piero. There is an altarpiece attributed the Crostoforo and Meo di Piero at the Barnes Foundation.
Meo di Pero, also called Meo di Piero was an Italian painter active in Siena in a Gothic style. He worked in the studio of Cristoforo di Bindoccio. All the latter paintings are generally co-attributed to Meo, since no independent work is known.
The Museo d'Arte Sacra della Val d'Arbia is a small museum of religious art in Buonconvento, in the Val d'Arbia to the south of Siena, in Tuscany in central Italy. It contain a number of paintings by important artists of the Sienese School, among them Duccio di Buoninsegna, Sano di Pietro and Pietro Lorenzetti. The museum is housed in the Palazzo Ricci Socini, close to the parish church of Santi Pietro e Paolo.
Pietro di Giovanni D'Ambrogio was an Italian painter of the Sienese school.
Ricciardo Meacci was an Italian (Sienese) painter from the school of "Purismo" who came under the influence of the "Pre-Raphaelite" movement. He received several commissions for mural paintings, examples of which survive in the grand buildings of his native city of Siena. He is more widely-known, however, for his compressed but florid watercolour and gouache images of Christian devotional subjects, and moralized, allegorical scenes upon classical and romantic themes, original in composition but making reference to the Sienese quattrocento. These formal paintings, often conceived as triptychs, were cased in ornamental frames of modelled plaster, gilt, and applied pilaster arcading, and with openwork carving or finials, combining techniques and materials after the manner of the Arts and Crafts movement. For such works he had patrons among the royal houses of Europe, and examples are in the British Royal Collections. His watercolour studies of architectural corners and spaces in Venice and Florence are populated by incidental figures in daily costume.