Bartolomeo Bulgarini

[3] Bulgarini’s oeuvre has seen much controversy in its reconstructions, with works formerly attributed to Ugolino Lorenzetti, a composite name constructed in 1917 by Bernard Berenson, referencing the stylistic similarities to Ugolino Di Niero and Pietro Lorenzetti,[2] which he attached to a small body of nine paintings believed to all be by the same unknown Sienese artist.

[4] It wasn’t until Millard Meiss made the argument that the works attributed to both "The master of the Ovile Madonna" and "Ugolino Lorenzetti" might actually be by the same artist, Bulgarini.

Much of the difficulty in constructing his oeuvre is due to the lack of documentation needed to establish the painter's authorship and timeline of his work.

It wasn’t until the late 16th century that previously lost inventories, made by Guigurta Tommasi, named Bulgarini as the painter of the St Victor altarpiece.

His last documented work supposedly signed and dated 1373, which is now lost, was a panel painting for the hospital of Santa Maria Della Scala in Siena[1] although he was active up until his death in 1378.

It was part of an altarpiece for the chapel which housed a group of important relics acquired by the Santa Maria della Scala Hospital from Constantinople, which included the Virgin’s belt or girdle that she cast down to Thomas[7] as tangible proof of her physical ascent to heaven.

Bulgarini’s somewhat unusual portrayal of Thomas with his back to the viewer differs from other iconography of the period, perhaps representing the position of the parishioners and Sienese officiants in worship of the virgin and the recently acquired relics in the newly constructed chapel.