Beccafumi, Domenico

Beccafumi, Domenico

 orig. Domenico di Giacomo di Pace known as Mecherino

The Birth of the Virgin, panel painting by Domenico Beccafumi, c. …

(credit: SCALA-Art Resource/EB Inc.)

(born c. 1484, Cortina, Republic of Venice—died May 1551, Siena, Republic of Siena) Italian painter and sculptor active in Siena. He adopted the name of his patron, Lorenzo Beccafumi. In 1510 he went to Rome to study the work of Raphael and Michelangelo. In 1512 he returned to Siena, where most of his best work can be found. He is noted for his sense of fantasy and creation of striking light effects, as in The Birth of the Virgin (c. 1543). He painted decorations for the Siena town hall (1529–35) and executed designs for the marble pavement of Siena Cathedral. He is considered the outstanding Sienese painter of the Mannerist style.