Domenico di Bartolo

[1] Influenced by the new Florentine style of painting, Domenico di Bartolo was the only Sienese painter of his time to receive commissions from clients in Florence.

In Siena, he was employed by Lorenzo di Pietro (known as Vecchietta), to help execute the fresco The Care of the Sick, in the Pilgrim's Hall of the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala.

This work, however, was interrupted in 1438 which gave Domenico time to go to Perugia to paint an altarpiece for the monastery church of Santa Giuliana, which is now displayed in the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria.

Art historians such as Strehlke and Bruce Cole claim that it is highly likely that during the time that Domenico worked as a Gharzone for the Opera's projects, he received many influences from many of the mentioned sculptors.

Jacopo was likely to have influenced Domenico's painting more directly, for the practical reason that the two artists were in closer proximity to each other, and in addition, they had the experience of working together for the Opera of Duomo.

This is for several technical and stylistic reasons, all of which give insight into Domenico di Bartolo's keen eye for adaptation and observation from fellow artists.

In particular, much of the art critiques give recognition to Domenico's painting because of its strong sculptural references, many of which align with Jacopo della Quercia's style.

[8] Hence, colour, geometric orientation, costumes, and faces all come together to suggest that Domenico would have received his early apprentice training from someone in Siena with strong Florentine influences.

Having this kind of mentorship would have most definitely have encouraged Domenico to observe and attempt to adapt to the latest Florentine artistic styles, techniques, trends and developments.

[10] Masaccio was commended for his refined skills in imitating nature, recreating lifelike movements in his subjects, as well as his consistent success in creating a convincing three-dimensionality to his paintings.

[9] Domenico's observations of Masaccio's painting would have proved to be an educational experience as he later is seen to utilize a type of artistic technique called circular-arc composition within the Madonna of Humility.

[9] This technique was considered to be an effective way of organizing a large number of figures that exist in a complicated narrative scene, into a single simple geometric configuration.

However, renowned British art historian John Pope-Hennessy states in his articles that Domenico di Bartolo cannot be a fully Masacciesque painter.

[17] Although this ancient attribute originated early on in Christian etymology for the name Mary, there is no existing record of an author before Bernardino who had written so intricately about the term's meaning.

Bernardino promotes Bartoli's position to a Bishop as a means to draw closer the relationship between the city's church and the hospital Santa Maria della Scala (Siena).

[8] From 1440 to 1444, Domenico produced one of his most significant works, another masterpiece, which were a series of frescoes for the pilgrims' hotel in the Ospedale di Santa Maria della Scala (Siena).

[2] Domenico began to work on the sacristy frescoes one month after his mentor sculptor Jacopo della Quercia was named the operational director of the cathedral's artistic restoration project.

[19] As mentioned previously, it is clear that some form of a partnership had existed prior to Jacopo della Quercia's election, because of the efficient timing in which Domenico had been summoned to complete artworks for the cathedral.

Giorgio Vasari identifies the panel painting "Madonna and Child Enthroned" as a fragment of an altarpiece for the high altar of the Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence e.[20] As observed by art historian Carl Strehlke, the pointed shortening of the upper edges and the low viewpoint of the Virgin's abdomen are all indications that the painting's composition had originally possessed different dimensions.

[2] Scholar Bruce Cole observes that the two largely depicted figures, the Madonna and the child, seem to have the same "awkward but compelling force" that one can spot in Masaccio's paintings.

[4] Some possible sources of inspiration for this painting could have been the works of Ambrogio Lorenzetti, for similarities in the tender and fearful body gesture of the mother, along with the protecting and intertwining with the baby is evident.

During the time that Domenico di Bartolo was employed to paint sections of the hospital, the primary artist in charge of decorating the interior frescoes was Bartolomeo Bulgarini.

[4] The frescoes that Domenico produced were located on the walls of the Pellegrinaio di Santa Maria della Scala, which served as a ward for sick patients at the time.

He also observes that although the frescoes done by Domenico di Bartolo (as well as Vecchietta) that have managed to survive until today present a unified pictorial scene, details such as changes in the framing and challenges with the architecture of the hospital show that adaptations were made during the execution of the artworks.

Because of such imitation of a real location, Domenico is said to have followed the works of Vecchietta,[10] where both artists pave the way into a whole new area of descriptive realism to the world of Sienese art.

Other painters at the time such as Gentile da Fabriano and Pisanello might have depicted landscapes to be realistic or naturalistic, but they were consistently known to create images that came out of fantasy and creativity.

Because of the dominating architectural layout, the figures within the fresco are all formed and placed to be in a mathematically accurate spatial construction, in which all of the orthogonals join together at the single "vanishing" point on the painting's horizon.

What makes this fresco peculiar for its time is its measurable, mathematically expressed space, which is a quality that was rarely produced in Sienese painting during the first half of the Quattrocento.

[4] Without a doubt, Domenico's decision to depict one of his frescos with such measured accuracy must have been influenced by realists of Florentine painting such as Masaccio, Masolino da Panicale and Filippo Lippi.

Strehlke suggests that a strong reason for Domenico being unable to finish his work was due to illness, of which he died shortly after falling sick.