After painting had attained so high a degree of excellence in Siena, it was liable to decline, both from the usual lot of the most auspicious eras, to which an age of servile imitation, and of hurried execution, generally succeeds, and also from the terrible plague which, in 1348, desolated Italy and Europe; sweeping off distinguished masters and pupils in every school. Siena, however, did not lose her Lorenzetti, who constituted her ornament for several years; but if her population at one time equalled 75,000, it was afterwards greatly diminished. She could, however, still vie in the number of her artists with Florence itself. This clearly appears from The Statutes of the Painters of Siena,[268] published by P. della Valle, in his first volume, letter sixteen. They are drawn up with the characteristic simplicity, clearness, and precision of the thirteenth century; and are a very admirable body of regulations for the due propriety and direction of artists, and for the honour of the art. We can discern that this society consisted of cultivated and well educated persons; and it does not excite astonishment to find that, democratic in government as Siena then was, the highest magistrates of the republic were sometimes elected from among the professors of the art. They formed a body-corporate; not merely a fraternity, nor an academy of design; and received their charter, not from the bishop but from the city, or the republic in 1355. Some have conjectured that those statutes are as old as the preceding century; and that they were translated into Italian from the Latin about 1291: for Tizio informs us that, in this year, "Statuta maternâ linguâ edita sunt ad ambiguitates tollendas." But Tizio must have meant the statutes concerning wool, and others then existing; and those of the artists may have been framed at a subsequent period. Indeed, the manner in which they are drawn up, without a reference to preceding ordinances, indicates a first edition. If there were statutes published in the vulgar tongue in 1291, why was the sanction of the law deferred for 66 years? or why are the new not distinguished from the old, as is usual in similar codes?
In the code to which I refer, the names of a great number of artists are inscribed, who lived after 1350 and at the beginning of the next century. With the exception of a few who merit some consideration I shall pass them over in silence as I did in the Florentine school. I find among them Andrea di Guido,[269] Jacomo di Frate Mino, and Galgano di Maestro Minuccio; and I bring these forward to confirm what I have before observed, that painters of the same name have introduced confusion into the history of this school. I also find there N. Tedesco, Vannino da Perugia, Lazzaro da Orvieto, Niccolò da Norcia, Antonio da Pistoia, and other foreign artists: thence I infer that Siena, like a university for painting, had furnished masters to various cities of Italy, and other countries. We here meet with some painters of whom there still remains some trace in history, or in the inscriptions on pictures. Martino di Bartolommeo is the artist who, in 1405, painted the Translation of the Body of S. Crescentius at the cathedral, and of whom a still better picture remains at S. Antonio Abate. His family name brings to mind Bartolommeo Bolonghino, or Bolgarino, mentioned by Vasari as the best pupil of Pietro Laurati, and the painter of some excellent pictures in Siena, and other parts of Italy. He was a man of rank, and obtained the honour of the magistracy. Andrea di Vanni is undoubtedly the painter of the S. Sebastian in the convent of S. Martin, and of the Madonna surrounded by saints in that of S. Francis; an artist not unknown beyond the limits of his native country, especially in Naples, where he painted before 1373. He was likewise employed in public embassies, and, like another Rubens, was a magistrate, and ambassador of the republic to the Pope: and was honored by S. Catherine of Siena, who, in one of her letters, gives him some excellent advice on the subject of government.
About the year 1370 flourished Berna, (i.e. Bernardo) da Siena, of whom Vasari says, that "he was the first who painted animals correctly;" and at the same time allows him no common merit in the human figure, especially in what regards expression. One of his frescos remains in the parish church of Arezzo, more praiseworthy on account of the extremities, in which he was superior to many of that age, than for the drapery or the colouring, in which many artists surpassed him. He died in the prime of life, about the year 1380, at S. Gimignano, after having made considerable progress in a copious work, consisting of some subjects from sacred history, that still remains in that parish church. The work was continued with a superior colouring, but with a less pure design, by Giovanni d'Asciano, who is his reputed scholar. The whole still exists, and thirteen of the pictures, or perhaps more, are the work of the scholar who exercised his art at Florence, under the protection of the Medicean family, much respected by his fellow artists. As those two painters lived long abroad, I find no mention of them in the catalogue just quoted. There is a well executed altar-piece in Venice, with the name Bernardinus de Senis. Some of his pictures have been discovered in the diocese of Siena, by the Archbishop Zondadari, who has formed a good collection of ancient pictures of the Sienese school. In these pictures Berna appears to be a pretty good colourist, a talent which he does not display in his frescos. Luca di Tomè, another scholar of Berna, noticed by Vasari, is there mentioned. One of his Holy Families remains at S. Quirico, in the convent of the Capuchins, and bears the date of 1367. It has not sufficient softness, but in other respects is very reputable.
In the beginning of the fifteenth century, not only individual painters, but whole families of artists had multiplied, in which the art for a long series of years descended from father to son. This circumstance contributed greatly to the progress of painting: for the master, who is likewise the father, teaches without any feeling of jealousy, and generally aims at forming a pupil superior to himself. The family of the Fredi, or the Bartoli, became celebrated beyond all the rest. The reputation of Taddeo, who began to be distinguished in the fourteenth century, rose very high. In the records he is styled Thaddæus magistri Bartholi magistri Fredi,[270] from his father[271] and grandfather, artists of some name. By him, "as the best master of the age," says Vasari, the chapel of the public palace was painted, where some historical pieces representing our Lady, are yet to be seen; and in 1414 he ornamented the adjoining hall. Besides some pictures from sacred history, he there formed, as it were, a gallery of illustrious men, chiefly republicans; and for the edification of the citizens, added some Latin and Italian verses; a mode of instruction very liberally employed in this school. The chief merit of the work lies in the dignity and originality of its invention, which was afterwards imitated in part by Pietro Perugino, in the hall of the Exchange, at Perugia. The portraits are ideal; they are dressed in the costume of Siena, even when they represent Romans and Grecians, and their attitudes are not happy. His pictures at Pisa and in Volterra, mentioned by Vasari, still exist; and that of the Arena in Padua, in the tribune of the church, is well preserved. In it we discover practical skill, little variety, and less grace in the heads, feeble tints, and imitations of Giotto, that lose their value on a comparison with the original. Some of his small pictures do him greater honour; and in them an imitation of Ambrogio, his great prototype, is conspicuous, and also the subdued but agreeable colouring of this school; which, like all the others in Italy, excelled about this period more in small than in large proportions.
The manner of Taddeo was first pursued and afterwards meliorated, and greatly aggrandized by Domenico Bartoli, his nephew and disciple. Foreign connoisseurs behold with delight the various fresco pictures which he painted in the pilgrim's ward of the hospital, representing the circumstances of its foundation, and the exercises of christian charity bestowed upon the sick, the dying, and the indigent. On comparing these, one with another, the artist displays considerable improvement, and a greater freedom than usual from the old dryness: his design and perspective are better, his compositions more scientific; without taking into account the richness and variety of ideas, which he has in common with the artists of this school. From those pictures Raffaello and Pinturicchio, while painting at Siena, took many of their notions of national costume, and, perhaps, of some other particulars: for it is characteristic of great minds to derive advantage even from examples not above mediocrity.
Thus the art was gradually advancing in the republic, when new opportunities were afforded for producing works on a grand scale; occasions in which genius is developed and invigorated. Siena gave Pius II. to the chair of S. Peter, who, to the most ardent love