SO'DOMA, IL, properly GIOVANNI ANTONIO BAZZI (1477-1549). An Italian painter of the High Renaissance. He was born at Vercelli (Piedmont) and studied for six years with Mar tino the Spanzattis, a painter on glass. He then came under the influence of Leonardo da Vinci, probably at Milan, and though he maintained an individual quality, his work took color from that master. In 1501 he was established at Siena, the city with which he was chiefly identified for the remainder of his life. In 1507 or 1508 he visited Rome and was commissioned by Pope Julius II. to paint frescoes in the Camera della Segnatura of the Vatican. Only a fresco on the ceiling remains, all the rest having been removed when lie was superseded by Raphael. his rela tions with Raphael were friendly, however, and he thereafter showed traces of Raphael's artistic influence. Raphael painted Sodoma's portrait beside his own in "The School of Athens." Sodo ma visited Rome a second time, where he lived with Agostino Chigi and painted in Chigi's Villa Farnesina the "Marriage of Alexander and 'lox anat." his most beautiful picture of an antique subject, and "Alexander in the Tent of Darius." For his portrait of the Roman Lady Lucretia he was made a knight by Leo X. In 1515 he re turned to Siena, and his movements for the suc ceeding ten years are but vaguely recorded. From 1523-37 he resided at Siena, where he died Feb ruary 15, 1549.
Sodoma is to be seen at his best in his frescoes at Siena, where, after his Roman period, he painted a large "Flagellation" for San Francesco, the "Ecstasy" and the "Swoon of Saint Catha rine" in San Domenico, a "Nativity" in Sant' Agostino, and a large altarpiece in Santo Spirit°. In the Convent of Monte Oliveto, near Siena, is a series of twenty-five scenes from the life of Saint Benedict. belonging to the artist's early period. His panel paintings include a "Saint Sebastian" in the Uffizi, a perfect representation of "suffer ing. refined and spiritual, without contortion or spasm ;" an "Ascension" at Naples; a "Sacrifice of Abraham" at Pisa; a "Caritas" at Berlin; and a "Leda" in the Borghese Gallery, Rome. So doma's influence on the Sienese school was very great and resulted in a new manner practiced at Siena. The popularity of his work has increased with recent writers. Iiis merits arc the power to express tenderness, sensuous grace, and an ex alted sweetness and suffering. He was often in ferior in the composition of his pictures, weak in the handling of draperies, and uncertain in the setting-lip of individual figures. Consult: Jan sen, Lebo( and Werke des Malers Giovanantonio ron Vercelli (Stuttgart. 1870) Frizzoni, in Xuora Antologia (August. 1871).