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| Sassetta (Stefano di Giovanni) The Way to Calvary (altarpiece fragment) ca. 1437-44 tempera on panel Detroit Institute of Arts |
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| Sassetta (Stefano di Giovanni) St Francis renounces his Earthly Father (altarpiece fragment) ca. 1437-44 tempera on panel National Gallery, London |
"Known as Sassetta since the 18th century, Stefano di Giovanni was the most important artist in 15th-century Siena, where he probably trained with Benedetto di Bindo and where he was inscribed with the guild of painters before 1428."
– from biographical notes at the National Gallery, London
"His first certain work (1423-1426) demonstrates that by this time he had already achieved a very high level of technical refinement and poetic invention, and it testifies to his awareness of the artistic innovations developed in Florence by Gentile da Fabriano, Masolino, and others of his generation."
– from biographical notes at the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
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| Sano di Pietro St Catherine of Siena ca. 1442 tempera on panel Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht |
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| Sano di Pietro The Crucifixion ca. 1445 tempera on panel Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht |
"Sano was one of the most prolific and successful Sienese painters, the head of a workshop that satisfied the demands of civic and religious institutions in the city as well as those of private devotion. His production, technically always of a very fine quality, rich in decorative effects, and characterized by a brilliant palette, often contains motifs that appear monotonous and repetitive. . . . Along with works on a monumental scale, he produced numerous small panels, in response to the religious needs of a wide audience, and particularly to the spiritual tendencies represented in the Franciscan observance movement promoted by Saint Bernardino and the Sienese order of the Gesuati."
– from biographical notes at the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
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| Domenico di Bartolo Madonna of Humility 1433 tempera on panel Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena |
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| Domenico di Bartolo Virgin and Child enthroned with St Paul and St Peter ca. 1430 tempera on panel National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| Master of the Osservanza The Resurrection ca. 1440-45 tempera on panel Detroit Institute of Arts |
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| Master of the Osservanza Baptism of St Augustine within Initial L (cutting from a choir book) ca. 1430 tempera on vellum Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
"Like many artists of the 1400s, especially in Siena, the artist known as the Master of the Osservanza was both a panel painter and manuscript illuminator. Scholars named him for a triptych in a church just outside of Siena. The Church of the Osservanza was named for a reform movement among Franciscan friars trying to return to the purity of Saint Francis's ideals."
– from biographical notes at the Getty Museum, Los Angeles
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| Domenico di Michelino The Expulsion from Paradise ca. 1450-75 tempera on panel Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht |
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| Domenico di Michelino The Expulsion from Paradise (detail) ca. 1450-75 tempera on panel Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht |
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| Matteo di Giovanni Adoration of the Magi (altarpiece with St Barbara Enthroned below) 1479 tempera on panel Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico, Siena |
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| Matteo di Giovanni St Barbara Enthroned (altarpiece with Adoration of the Magi above) 1479 tempera on panel Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico, Siena |
"Matteo di Giovanni, born in Sansepolcro, is first mention in Siena, where he is documented in 1452 and then again in 1453 and 1457. In these years Matteo, who must still have been quite young, appears as a partner of Giovanni di Pietro, with whom he shared a workshop. . . . By [1470], the head of a successful workshop, he aimed at a robust plasticism, but also – probably stimulated by the art of Pollaiuolo – at the precisely described anatomic structure of his figures; at the same time, however, he never lost sight of the ideals of grace and preciousness favored by his Sienese patrons."
– from biographical notes at the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
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| Benvenuto di Giovanni Dead Christ supported by Angels (altarpiece with Virgin and Child Enthroned below) 1483 tempera on panel Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico, Siena |
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| Benvenuto di Giovanni Virgin and Child Enthroned, with Saints and Angels (altarpiece with Dead Christ supported by Angels above) 1483 tempera on panel Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico, Siena |
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| Benvenuto di Giovanni Virgin and Child Enthroned, with Saints and Angels (detail) 1483 tempera on panel Basilica Cateriniana San Domenico, Siena |