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| Il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi) Life of St Catherine cycle Execution of Niccolò di Toldo 1526 fresco Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico, Siena |
"In another scene, which is on the wall on the right hand, is painted the story of a criminal, who, going to be beheaded, would not be converted or commend himself to God, despairing of His mercy; when, the above-mentioned Saint [Catherine of Siena] praying for him on her knees, her prayers were so acceptable to the goodness of God, that, when the felon's head was cut off, his soul was seen ascending to Heaven; such power with the mercy of God have the prays of those saintly persons who are in His grace. In this scene is a very great number of figures, as to which no one should marvel if they are not of the highest perfection, for the reason that I have heard as a fact that Giovanni Antonio had sunk to such a pitch in his negligence and slothfulness, that he would make neither designs nor cartoons when he had any work of that kind to execute, but would attack the work by designing it with the brush directly on the plaster, which was a strange thing; in which method it is evident that this scene was executed by him."
– from Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects by Giorgio Vasari (1568), translated by Gaston du C. de Vere (1912)
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| Il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi) Life of St Catherine cycle Execution of Niccolò di Toldo (detail) 1526 fresco Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico, Siena |
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| Il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi) Life of St Catherine cycle Execution of Niccolò di Toldo (detail) 1526 fresco Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico, Siena |
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| Il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi) Life of St Catherine cycle Execution of Niccolò di Toldo (detail) 1526 fresco Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico, Siena |
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| Il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi) Life of St Catherine cycle Execution of Niccolò di Toldo (detail) 1526 fresco Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico, Siena |
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| Il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi) Life of St Catherine cycle Execution of Niccolò di Toldo (detail) 1526 fresco Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico, Siena |
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| Il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi) Life of St Catherine cycle Execution of Niccolò di Toldo (detail) 1526 fresco Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico, Siena |
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| Il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi) Life of St Catherine cycle Execution of Niccolò di Toldo (detail) 1526 fresco Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico, Siena |
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| Il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi) Life of St Catherine cycle Execution of Niccolò di Toldo (detail) 1526 fresco Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico, Siena |
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| Il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi) Life of St Catherine cycle Execution of Niccolò di Toldo (detail) 1526 fresco Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico, Siena |
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| Il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi) Life of St Catherine cycle Stigmatization of St Catherine (detail) 1526 fresco Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico, Siena |
"In the Church of S. Domenico, in the Chapel of S. Caterina da Siena, where there is in a tabernacle the head of that Saint, enclosed in one of silver, Giovanni Antonio painted two scenes, which are one on either side of that tabernacle. In one, on the right hand, is that Saint when, having received the Stigmata from Jesus Christ, who is in the air, she lies half-dead in the arms of two of her sisters, who are supporting her; of which work Baldassare Peruzzi, the painter of Siena, after considering it, said that he had never seen anyone represent better the expression of persons fainting and half-dead, or with more similitude to the reality, than Giovanni Antonio had contrived to do. And in truth it is so . . ."
– from Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects by Giorgio Vasari (1568), translated by Gaston du C. de Vere (1912)
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| Il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi) Life of St Catherine cycleStigmatization of St Catherine (detail) 1526 fresco Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico, Siena |
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| Il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi) Life of St Catherine cycleStigmatization of St Catherine (detail) 1526 fresco Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico, Siena |
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| Il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi) Life of St Catherine cycleStigmatization of St Catherine (detail) 1526 fresco Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico, Siena |