(b Asciano, Siena, c. 1400; d Siena, before 1445). Italian painter. His few surviving works show that he played a pivotal role in the movement from Gothic painting to the Renaissance style in Siena during the 15th century. He is first documented in 1420, as an apprentice on an unidentified project for Siena Cathedral, and his name appears near the end of the Ruolo dei pittori, the list of the painters’ guild compiled from 1428. Inferences about his artistic education are suggested by the first work securely assignable to him, a small panel of the Virgin and Child Enthroned with SS Peter and Paul (Washington, DC, N.G.A.). This shows an early awareness of Florentine art of the 1420s and complete familiarity with the new artistic language of the Renaissance. The architectural setting, in classical style, is apparently inspired by the new conception of the altarpiece as a sacra conversazione, favoured by Fra Angelico at the beginning of the 1420s. The Virgin, housed in a shell niche, is crowned with a garland held by putti reminiscent of Donatello. She sits firmly and solemnly on a marble throne, holding the muscular child. The composition is a free variation on a model by Masaccio, whose early work, like Domenico’s, shares many features with the sculpture of Luca della Robbia. Another Florentine element, apparently derived from Paolo Uccello, is the halo with star points, also used by Domenico in later works. The strongly Florentine orientation of this early work refutes the theory that he was trained by Taddeo di Bartolo, who Vasari believed was his uncle. According to Vasari, Domenico worked in Florence, executing two important paintings (untraced): an Annunciation for Santa Trìnita and the main altarpiece of S Maria del Carmine, both c. 1436. This corroborates the stylistic evidence of the panel in Washington and confirms his familiarity with Masaccio’s frescoes in the Carmine.

• Domenico di Bartolo (Ghezzi)
  • works
    • Cassone, §1(ii): Painted: Siena
    • Dress, §V, 1(ii): Southern Europe, 15th century
    • Hospital, §2: Decoration
    • Islamic art, §VI, 4(ii): Carpets and flatweaves, before c 1450
    • Italy, §III, 3(ii)(b): Early Renaissance painting, c 1400–c 1500: Other centres
    • Siena, §III, 2: S Maria della Scala
    • Siena, §III, 3(ii)(b): Palazzo Pubblico decoration, before 1355