Domenico di Bartolo
Domenico di Bartolo, born Domenico Ghezzi in Asciano near Siena, was a key early Renaissance painter from Siena. He was, according to Giorgio Vasari, the nephew of the painter Taddeo di Bartolo. He absorbed Florentine painting ideas and was unusually active in Florence, receiving commissions there while working in Siena.
In Siena he helped Vecchietta paint The Care of the Sick in the Pilgrim’s Hall of the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala. The first documentary records about him appear in 1420, when he is listed in a project for Siena Cathedral, and in 1428 he is named a master in the painters’ guild.
His first signed and dated works come from 1433: The Madonna of Humility and Four Music-Making Angels, and the Virgin and Child Surrounded by Saints. In 1434 he designed a pavement plaque for Siena Cathedral depicting Emperor Sigismund. From 1435 to 1440 he worked on a fresco commission for the cathedral’s sacristy; in 1438 he went to Perugia to paint an altarpiece for the monastery church of Santa Giuliana, now in the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria. He also received a contract in 1437 to create an altarpiece for the monks of Saint’Agostino at Asciano.
By 1439 Domenico had been paid to work in the hospital of Santa Maria della Scala. The frescoes he painted in the Pellegrinaio (Pilgrim’s Hall) between 1439 and 1440 depict the hospital’s history and charitable work and are among his masterpieces. Most of his other work from this period is associated with Perugia, though Vasari notes that he also did paintings in Florentine churches such as the Carmine and Santa Trinita.
In January 1440 Domenico married Antonia Pannilini; records show she was a widow by February 18, 1446. In the mid-to-late 1430s and 1440s he produced several important works, including a Perugia altarpiece for Santa Giuliana and a signed Madonna and Child in the Johnson Collection, as well as a small Madonna del Refugio in Siena. He also frescoed the walls of the sacristy in Siena Cathedral, though only fragments survive.
Domenico’s later career focused on the Pilgrim’s Hall at the Santa Maria della Scala hospital, where he and Vecchietta worked under Giovanni Buzzichelli’s project. He produced six frescoes in the hall (three scenes of daily life and two historical scenes of the hospital), though only parts survive today. The project shows a shift toward more Gothic and local Sienese styles while still drawing on Florentine influence.
His last dated commission was the Coronation of the Virgin in the Cancelleria di Biccherna, in the Palazzo Pubblico of Siena. He began painting four angel heads, but his death interrupted the work; Sano di Pietro later completed the piece. Domenico di Bartolo likely died around 1445–1446.
Domenico is remembered for blending Sienese Gothic traditions with Florentine Renaissance ideas. His Madonna of Humility is considered one of the loveliest early Quattrocento works, showing Masaccio-like realism and sculptural weight influenced by Jacopo della Quercia. His frescoes for the Santa Maria della Scala are especially noted for their descriptive realism and for bringing a new sense of place and daily life into Sienese art.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 20:38 (CET).