Photo © Leoofm

Masterpieces of the Renaissance in Valdichiana

A trip through art and history, from Montepulciano to Chiusi

Surprisingly full of Renaissance masterpieces, the Valdichiana Senese retains tangible signs of fifteenth century Sienese culture in almost all of its towns and cities.

In the village of Sinalunga and the nearby San Bernardino convent there are two great examples of this culture. The first is the Madonna and Child enthroned with Saints Sebastian and Martin by Benvenuto di Giovanni and the second, by the same artist, is the Annunciation, dated to 1470 and one of the artist's most accomplished works with a refined chromatic range and very precise spatial perception.
In the same convent stand two paintings by Guidoccio Cozzarelli, the Baptism of Christ, completed around 1483, and a curved panel depicting the Coronation of the Virgin with Child and the Saints Simon and Thaddaeus, dated 1486.

Montepulciano is home to some of the most remarkable masterpieces of the Florentine Renaissance. It was a source of inspiration for the subsequent works of classical figurative arts widespread in the Sienese region such as: the tombstone of the humanist Bartolomeo Aragazzi, carved by Michelozzo (a contemporary of Donatello), of which only a few fragments survive in the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta.
Many Della Robbia ceramics are displayed in the Civic Museum. Among these are the Madonna of Montecastello altarpiece by Andrea della Robbia (1483-84) and the delicately painted Holy Family with the young Saint John by Sodoma.
The church of Santa Lucia houses the beautiful Madonna and Child by Luca Signorelli, characterised by rigorous spatial arrangement.
The Temple of San Biagio stands out as a high-point in late-Renaissance architecture, with the construction of this imposing building being supported by Pope Leo X, born Giovanni Lorenzo de' Medici, disciple of Angelo Poliziano. It was completed in 1580.

Cathedral of Chiusi - Credit: C. D'Aliasi

In the Cathedral of Chiusi the late 15^th century is represented in a beautiful panel by Girolamo di Benvenuto of an Enthroned Madonna and Child and also by the later painting, Adoration of the Child with the Secondiano Saints by Jerome by Bernardino Fungai.

Hidden treasures can be discovered even in more isolated and rural places. This is certainly true of Montefollonico which is home to a highly refined bas-relief in polychrome terracotta moulded by Francesco di Giorgio and one of his collaborators (ca.1490-95). It depicts the Madonna and Child and is carved with a softness of form and coloured with bright hues that stand out against a painted landscape in the background.

Coronation of the Virgin and Saints by Pietro di Francesco Orioli - Credit: Mongolo1984 / WikiCommons

Further away, in San Casciano dei Bagni, close to the border with the Lazio region, the church of San Leonardo is home to the Coronation of the Virgin and Saints altarapiece by Pietro di Francesco Orioli in which the city appears as offered to God by Saint Casciano.

In nearby Sarteano two important artworks were created that attest to the development of the Sienese art at the beginning of the sixteenth-century: The Annunciation by Girolamo del Pacchia in the church of San Lorenzo and the Annunciation by Beccafumi in the church of Santi Martino e Vittoria.