Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

BECCAFUMI, DOMENICO DI PACE (1486-1551)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 602 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

BECCAFUMI, DOMENICO DI See also:PACE (1486-1551) , See also:Italian painter, of the school of See also:Siena. In the See also:early days of the Tuscan republics Siena had been in See also:artistic See also:genius, and almost in See also:political importance, the See also:rival of See also:Florence. But after the See also:great See also:plague in 1348 the See also:city declined; and though her See also:population always comprised an immense number of skilled artists and artificers, yec her school did not See also:share in the See also:general progress of See also:Italy in the 15th See also:century. About the See also:year 1500, indeed, Siena had no native artists of the first importance; and her public and private commissions were often given to natives of other cities. But after the uncovering of the See also:works of See also:Raphael and See also:Michelangelo at See also:Rome in 15o8, all the See also:schools of Italy were stirred with the See also:desire of imitating them. Among these accomplished men who now, without the mind and See also:inspiration of Raphael or Michelangelo, mastered a great See also:deal of their manner, and initiated the decadence of Italian See also:art, several of the most accomplished arose in the school of Siena. Among these was Domenico, the son of a See also:peasant, one Giacomo di Pace, who worked on the See also:estate of a well-to-do See also:citizen named Lorenzo Beccafumi. Seeing some signs of a See also:talent for See also:drawing in his labourer's son, Lorenzo Beccafumi took the boy into his service and presently adopted him, causing him to learn See also:painting from masters of the city. Known after-wards as Domenico Beccafumi, or earlier as I1 Mecarino (from the name of a poor artist with whom he studied). the peasant's son soon gave See also:proof of extraordinary See also:industry and talent. In 1509 he went to Rome and steeped himself in the manner of the great men who had just done their first See also:work in the Vatican. Returning to his native See also:town, Beccafumi quickly gained employment and a reputation second only to See also:Sodoma. He painted a vast number both of religious pieces for churches and of mythological decorations for private patrons.

But the work by which he will longest be remembered is that which he did for the celebrated See also:

pavement of the See also:cathedral of Siena. For a See also:hundred and fifty years the best artists of the See also:state had been engaged laying down this pavement with vast designs in commesso work,--See also:white See also:marble, that is, engraved with the outlines of the subject in See also:black, and having See also:borders inlaid with See also:rich patterns in many See also:colours. From the year 1517 to 1544 Beccafumi was engaged in continuing this pavement. He made very ingenious improvements in the technical processes employed, and laid down multitudinous scenes from the stories of See also:Ahab and See also:Elijah, of Melchisedec, of See also:Abraham and of See also:Moses. These are not so interesting as the simpler work of the earlier schools, but are much more celebrated and more jealously guarded. Such was their fame that the agents of See also:Charles I. of See also:England, at the See also:time when he was See also:collecting for See also:Whitehall, went to Siena expressly to try and See also:purchase the See also:original cartoons. But their owner would not See also:part with them, and they are now in the Siena See also:Academy and elsewhere. The subjects have been engraved on See also:wood, by the See also:hand, as it seems, of Beccafumi himself, who at one time or another essayed almost every See also:branch of See also:fine art. He made a triumphal See also:arch and an immense See also:mechanical See also:horse for the See also:pro-cession of the See also:emperor Charles V. on his entry into Siena. In his later days, being a solitary See also:liver and continually at work, he is said to have accelerated his See also:death by over-exertion upon the processes of See also:bronze-casting.

End of Article: BECCAFUMI, DOMENICO DI PACE (1486-1551)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
BECCAFICO (Ital. for " fig-pecker ") 		[next]
BECCARIA, GIOVANNI BATTISTA (1716-1781)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries