Siena

Art.

Lanzi happily designates Sienese painting as "Lieta scuola fra lieto popolo" ("the blithe school of blithe people"). The special characteristics of its masters are freshness of colour, vivacity of expression and distinct originality. The Sienese school of painting owes its origin to the influence of Byzantine art ; but it improved that art, impressed it with a special stamp and was for long independent of all other influences. Consequently Sienese art seemed almost stationary among the general progress and de velopment of the other Italian schools, and preserved its mediaeval character down to the end of the 15th century, when the influence of the Umbrian and—to a slighter degree--of the Florentine schools began to penetrate into Siena, followed a little later by that of the Lombard. The first master of real significance was Duccio di Buoninsegna (c. 1260-1318); then followed Simone Martini (or Memmi), Lippo Memmi, Pietro and Ambrogio Loren zetti, and Taddeo di Bartolo, to name only the principal painters. In the 15th century we have Domenico di Bartolo, Sano di Pietro, Giovanni di Paolo, Stefano di Giovanni al Sassetta) and Matteo di Giovanni di Bartolo, who fell, however, behind their contem poraries elsewhere, and made indeed but little progress. The i6th century boasts the names of Bernardino Fungai, Guidoccio Cos sarelli, Giacomo Pacchiarotto, Girolamo del Pacchia and especially Baldassare Peruzzi who while especially celebrated for his frescoes and studies in perspective and chiaroscuro was also an architect of considerable attainments (see Rohm) ; Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, otherwise known as Il Sodoma (1477-1549), who, born at Vercelli in Piedmont, and trained at Milan in the school of Leonardo da Vinci, came to Siena in 1504 and there produced some of his finest works, while his influence on the art of the place was considerable; Domenico Beccafumi, otherwise known as Micharino (1486-1551), noted for the Michelangelesque daring of his designs; and Francesco Vanni.

There may also be mentioned many sculptors and architects, such as Lorenzo Maitani, architect of Orvieto cathedral 1330), Camaino di Crescentino and his son Tino di Camaino, sculptor of the monument to Henry VII. in the Campo Santo of Pisa; Lando di Pietro, entrusted by the Sienese commune with the proposed enlargement of the cathedral (1339), and perhaps author of the famous Gothic reliquary containing the head of S. Galgano in the Chiesa del Santuccio, which, however, is more usually at tributed to Ugolino di Vieri, author of the tabernacle in the caihe dral at Orvieto, or Jacopo della Quercia (1371-1438), the creator of the Fonte Gaia, in the Piazza del Campo ; Lorenzo di Pietro (II. Vecchietta), a pupil of Della Quercia; Antonio Federighi (d. 1490) ; Neroccio di Bartolommeo (1447-150o) ; Francesco d'An tonio, a skilful goldsmith of the i6th century; Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439-1502), painter, sculptor, military engineer and writer on art ; Giacomo Cozzarelli (1453-1515) ; and Lorenzo Mariano, surnamed Il Marrina (1476-1534). Wood carving also

flourished here in the 15th and i6th centuries, and so also did the ceramic art. According to the well-known law, however, the Renaissance, made for the people of the plains, never fully took root in Siena, as in other parts of Tuscany, and the loss of its independence and power in 1555 led to a suspension of building activity, so that the baroque of the 17th and the classicism of the i8th centuries have had hardly any effect here; and few towns of Italy are so unspoilt by restoration or the addition of incongruous modern buildings, or preserve so many characteristics and so much of the real spirit (manifested to-day in the grave and pleas ing courtesy of the inhabitants) of the middle ages, which its narrow and picturesque streets seem to retain. Siena is, indeed, unsurpassed for its examples of 13th and 14th century Italian Gothic, whether in stone or in brick.

See W. Heywood, Our Lady of August and the Palio (Siena, 1899) and other works; R. H. Hobart Cust, The Pavement Masters of Siena (London, 1901) ; Langton Douglas, History of Siena (London, 1902) ; E. G. Gardner, The Story of Siena (London, 1902) ; St. Catherine of Siena (London, 1908) ; W. Heywood and L. Olcott, Guide to Siena (Siena, 1603) ; A. Jahn Rusconi, Siena (Bergamo, 1904) ; C. Chle dowski, Siena (1923) ; M. Kirchstein, Siena (1923). (C. PA.; T. A.) Siena was an ancient city of the Etruscans; in the time of Augustus it was a Roman colony, known as Saena Julia. There are, however, very few relics of antiquity found there. The present city is almost entirely mediaeval. It has been the seat of a bishopric since the 7th century and possibly earlier; and the development of Sienese history is closely connected with the growth of the Church and the power of the episcopate. Under the rule of the Lombards in the 8th century Siena was governed by Gastaldi and was not subject to the dukes of Tus cany; in the quarrel between the bishops of Siena and of Arezzo, the Gastaldi were supported by the people in their adherence to the cause of their bishops; and the counts who, in the time of Charlemagne, superseded the Gastaldi, were also faithful to the church in civic matters, until in the nth century, after 1056, the bishops gradually made themselves independent, at any rate within the city, of the counts and the consuls who succeeded them. During the 12th century the consuls, who were patricians, had to make concessions to the plebeians; and in 1137 there was a government by zoo nobles and 5o plebeians. Just as the power of the counts yielded to the bishops', and the bishops' to the consuls', so the nobles had to give way, until in 1199 there was a govern ment by a foreign podesta; so Siena became a feudatory of the Italian kingdom, and was a tenant in capite of the emperor. Her rule was admitted by the lords of the neighbouring country, who were in the same relation to her as was Siena to the emperor, who welcomed on his side, as against Florence, the growing power of the city and contado.