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The High Renaissance
&
Mannerism
Domenico Beccafumi
Domenico Beccafumi(b Cortine in Valdibiana Montaperti, 1484; d Siena, between Jan and May 1551).
Italian painter, sculptor, draughtsman, printmaker and illuminator. He was one of the protagonists, perhaps even the most precocious, of Tuscan Mannerism, which he practised with a strong sense of his Sienese artistic background but at the same time with an awareness of contemporary developments in Florence and Rome. He responded to the new demand for feeling and fantasy while retaining the formal language of the early 16th century. None of Beccafumi’s works is signed or dated, but his highly personal maniera has facilitated almost unanimous agreement regarding the definition of his corpus and the principal areas of influence on it. However, some questions concerning the circumstances of his early career and the choices available to him remain unanswered. The more extreme forms of Beccafumi’s reckless experimentation underwent a critical reappraisal only in the later 20th century.
Madonna with the Infant Christ and St John the Baptist
c. 1540
Oil on panel, 90 x 65 cm
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome
