Benvenuto di Giovanni, Expulsion from Paradise, 1470s, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
   
 
Benvenuto di Giovanni (1436 - before 1517)
 
 
Benvenuto di Giovanni di Meo del Guasta is first documented as a young painter in 1453, when he worked alongside Vecchietta, who was probably his teacher, on the fresco decoration of the baptistry of Siena. In that same year he painted a now-lost work in the chapter house of the Compagnia di Santa Lucia in Siena. Benvenuto is mentioned again in 1460, along with Vecchietta and Francesco di Giorgio, as being in the debt of Siena's Opera del Duomo; around this date he must have painted the baptistry fresco series of stories from the life of Saint Anthony of Padua as well as a panel, The Miracle of Saint Anthony (Munich, Alte Pinakothek), which according to a recent proposal was probably part of a lost predella with scenes painted by Vecchietta and Francesco di Giorgio.[1]

The first dated work by Benvenuto to come down to us is an Annunciation and Saints (1466) in the church of San Girolamo in Volterra, for which the artist also painted a Nativity (1470) and a predella with stories of the life of Christ, now in the Volterra Pinacoteca. Also of 1470 is the Annunciation panel in the church of San Bernardino in Sinalunga. During this period Benvenuto's artistic idiom, which in his earliest phases clearly shows the influence of Vecchietta and the naturalistic vision of Domenico di Bartolo, acquires its individualism. This is due in part to his prolonged contact with two North Italian miniaturists who were active in Siena, Liberale da Verona and Girolamo da Cremona. Under their influence Benvenuto's noble, classical forms congeal to a hard, intensely lit, brightly colored, and glassy consistency, inserted into solidly balanced compositional structures. Masterpieces from this sharply defined, immaculately surreal world are the triptych from Montepertuso (dated 1475, now in the parish church of Vescovado di Murlo, near Siena), the Borghesi altarpiece in the church of San Domenico in Siena (1475-1477/1478), and the triptych in the National Gallery, London (1479).

In the 1480s Benvenuto was commissioned to prepare designs for the floor decoration of the Siena cathedral and miniatures for its choir books (now in the Libreria Piccolomini) and for those of the monastery of Sant'Eugenio near Siena (now in the library of the abbey of Cava dei Tirreni). For Sant'Eugenio he also realized the large Ascension of Christ altarpiece, signed and dated 1491 (now in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Siena; the predella panels are at the NGA), a work in which his severely classical language, charged with a latent expressive passion derived from northern painting, achieved its most intense results. In the following years his works show a simpler, more schematic compositional structure and more pleasant, sometimes sugary expressions, in part because of increasingly frequent collaboration with his son, Girolamo di Benvenuto. Nonetheless, despite the identical composition of two large panels of the Assumption of the Virgin pictures, both of 1498 (one formerly no. 10.148 in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, signed by Benvenuto, and the other in the Museo d Arte Sacra in Montalcino, signed by his son) the styles of the two artists are clearly distinguishable. At the beginning of the sixteenth century the older master's works reveal incrementally the exhaustion of his creative imagination and a recourse to tried and true formulas from the past, as in the case of his last signed work, the Madonna and Child with Saints in the church of Santa Lucia in Sinalunga, dated 1509. [This is the artist's biography published, or to be published, in the NGA Systematic Catalogue]

 
 

The Meeting of Jephthah and his Daughter

Jephthah was a great Old Testament (Judges 11:30-40) warrior, who was called upon to lead the Israelites in their war against the Ammonites. On the eve of the battle he made a pact with God, that, in return for victory, he would sacrifice 'the first creature that comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return'. The battle won, 'who should come out to meet him with tambourines and dances but his daughter, and she only a child'.

The painting, probably part of the furnishing of a domestic interior, shows Jephthah daughter and her maidens stepping forward to welcome him on his arrival. Jephthah, on a black horse, clutches his breast in despair. The soldiers wave olive branches to symbolize the peace that will follow their victory.

The attribution to Benvenuto di Giovanni is debated, various other artists including Pietro di Domenico, Francesco di Giorgio and Girolamo di Benvenuto were also suggested.

 

 

 


Benvenuto di Giovanni, The Meeting of Jephthah and his Daughter
c. 1470, Private collection


The detail shows Iphis, Jephthah's only daughter and her maidens stepping forward to welcome him on his arrival. Iphis offers an olive branch to the captive moor, symbolising the peace which follows the victory.

   
Lamentation
Benvenuto di Giovanni
about 1490
Tempera and gold on panel, 53 x 102 cm (without the painted surround: 35 x 80 cm)
Poliarco S.A.
The Annunciation, influenced by Matteo di Giovanni, is characterised by the clear atmosphere in which characters, vistas and objects such as those appearing in the open wardrobe are depicted with a rigorous perspective  
The Annunciation
tempera on panel 250.5x177 cm (1470)
Sinalunga - Chiesa di San Bernardino
Many Italian cities celebrated the feast of Epiphany with elaborate pageants that reenacted the procession of the Three Magi. This panel, a maze of pattern and rich decoration, captures the splendor of these spectacles. Costly brocades and furs adorn the three kings. A page on the right wears a peacock-feather cap; even his horse has an elaborately coiffed mane. Crowns and sword hilts are raised in plaster relief and gilded. The figures crowd the front of the picture plane, but we are separated from the holy figures rather than drawn into their world. The central placement of the Virgin—rather than the Magi—reflects her importance in Siena.

The harsh colors and brittle hardness convey a sensation of an airless, crystalline world. The ground is strewn with smooth, vividly colored stones; probably these jewel-toned beads are borrowed from manuscript illuminations. Benvenuto punctuated his scene with fantasy—look, for example, at the soldier's armor in the scene of Christ carrying the cross. Also typical is his inclusion of such everyday details as the young boys who have climbed a tree for a better view.

 
Benvenuto di Giovanni
The Adoration of the Magi, c. 1470/1475
Andrew W. Mellon Collection
   
The Agony in the Garden, probably 1491
tempera on panel
painted surface: 42 x 46.7 cm (16 9/16 x 18 3/8 in.) overall: 43.3 x 48 cm (17 1/16 x 18 7/8 in.) framed: 59.7 x 283.2 x 5.4 cm (23 1/2 x 111 1/2 x 2 1/8 in.)
Samuel H. Kress Collection
   
Christ Carrying the Cross, probably 1491
tempera on panel
painted surface: 41.4 x 47.4 cm (16 5/16 x 18 11/16 in.) overall size: 42.8 x 50.1 cm (16 7/8 x 19 3/4 in.) framed (with three other paintings): 59.7 x 283.2 x 5.4 cm (23 1/2 x 111 1/2 x 2 1/8 in.)
Samuel H. Kress Collection
   
Christ in Limbo, probably 1491
tempera on panel
painted surface: 42.1 x 46.6 cm (16 9/16 x 18 3/8 in.) overall size: 43 x 48.7 cm (16 15/16 x 19 3/16 in.) framed (with three other paintings): 59.7 x 283.2 x 5.4 cm (23 1/2 x 111 1/2 x 2 1/8 in.)
Samuel H. Kress Collection
   
The Crucifixion, probably 1491
tempera on panel
painted surface: 41.2 x 52.9 cm (16 1/4 x 20 13/16 in.) overall size: 42.6 x 53.8 cm (16 3/4 x 21 3/16 in.) framed (with three other paintings): 59.7 x 283.2 x 5.4 cm (23 1/2 x 111 1/2 x 2 1/8 in.)
Samuel H. Kress Collection
   
Madonna and Child with Saint Jerome and Saint Bernardino of Siena, c. 1480/1485
tempera on panel
overall: 70.3 x 50 cm (27 11/16 x 19 11/16 in.)
Widener Collection
   
The Resurrection, probably 1491
tempera on panel
painted surface: 42.1 x 47.4 cm (16 9/16 x 18 11/16 in.) overall size: 43.5 x 49.7 cm (17 1/8 x 19 9/16 in.) framed (with three other paintings): 59.7 x 283.2 x 5.4 cm (23 1/2 x 111 1/2 x 2 1/8 in.)
Samuel H. Kress Collection
On the cover of the ledger of the Gabella is celebrated the allegory of the good virtues; here the integrity of the public officials represents the foundation of the good government.

Art in Tuscany | Sienese Biccherna Covers | Biccherne Senesi
 

Benvenuto di Giovanni
The Good Government in the Office of the Gabella, Archivo di Stato, Siena

Benvenuto di Giovanni, The Triumph of David, (ca. 1459-60 ), Siena, Pinacoteca Nazionale

The panel, from the vestry of the church of San Francesco in Siena, was originally the front part of a nuptial chest executed for the wedding of two members of the Buonsignori and Piccolomini families as shown by the two coats of arms. It represents a nuptial theme: David, after having killed Goliath, getting on a triumphal chariot in Jerusalem to marry the daughter of the king, Michal.

Art in Tuscany | Italian Renaissance Cassoni paintings

 

 
 


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Art in Tuscany | Sienese Biccherna Covers | Biccherne Senesi

 

 

Tuscany is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Known for its enchanting landscapes, its fantastic and genuine food and beautiful towns as Florence, Pisa, Lucca and Siena. Podere Santa Pia is located in the heart of the Valle d'Ombrone, and one can easily reach some of the most beautiful attractions of Tuscany, such as Montalcino, Pienza, Montepulciano and San Quirico d'Orcia, famous for their artistic heritage, wine, olive oil production and gastronomic traditions. It is the ideal place to enjoy the beauty of Tuscany – both its cuisine and its historical towns – and to pass a very relaxing holiday in contemplation of nature, with the advantage of tasting the most typical dishes of Tuscan cuisine and its best wines.
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Tuscan Holiday houses | Podere Santa Pia

 
La Pieve di Santa Maria a Spaltenna
 
Podere anta Pia, April
 
         


 

 
Siena, duomo
Montalcino
Florence, Duomo
         

Villa I Tatti
Spoleto
Villa di Geggiano