Francesco d'Antonio

Francesco d'Antonio (born before 1440; died after 1480) was an Italian goldsmith working in Siena .

In 1440, a student of G. Turini, he was commissioned to make a ring with the figure of a she-wolf for the Capitano del Popolo . In 1449 the Opera del Duomo commissioned him to make a silver tabernacle ; In 1450 he worked on two silver glasses. These works have been lost, as has the silver statue of a Madonna and Child, which Brother Bartolomeo da Imola ordered for the monastery of San Francesco in Siena.

In the Ospedale di Santa Maria della Scala there is a reliquary that was probably found in a tabernacle commissioned in 1451 and delivered by Francesco in August 1453. A few days after the canonization of St Bernard , on June 30, 1454, Francesco was commissioned to make a reliquary for the saint's robe in the church of San Bernardino dell'Osservanza . Due to the delicacy of the work, it is considered one of the masterpieces of the Sienese goldsmith's art of the 15th century. The box was completed on February 10, 1461, and on June 18, 1461 two half-length figures of St. Bernard were delivered and added to the reliquary. The square box has four crystal openings on the main side and two on the smaller one, which are divided with pilasters and enamel coats of arms. The cover consists of a slightly concave pyramid adorned with two angels. Two little angels with the face of St. Bernard hold the monogram with the name Jesus. On the cover there was originally a small silver mountain with a cross that has disappeared and was replaced by a shrine in the 18th century. The reliquary is now in the Aurelio Castelli Museum .

In 1466 Francesco gave the silver reliquary with the relic of the arm of St. John the Baptist to the Opera del Duomo Senese , which is now kept in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo . Turini was originally commissioned to do the work, but he died before he could begin. The shrine rests on a rectangular base, which is decorated with reliefs from the life of the Baptist. At the top is the baptism of Christ, the head of the Baptist and the decapitation of the saint. On the back there are the stories of St. Zacharias , the sermon of the Baptist and a coat of arms of the Opera del Duomo in email. The pyramidal lid is covered with crystals, with an image of the Madonna and Child in the center.

In 1466 Francesco made a silver bust of St. Catherine based on the model of the sculptor Giovanni di Stefano for the Basilica of San Domenico . This work was lost.

Francesco probably died in Siena, the year of death is unknown.

Web links

• Reliquary of St. Bernhard . gettyimages.com.
• Aurelio Castelli Museum . sienaonline.it.
• Reliquary of John the Baptist . operaduomo.siena.

literature

• Gaetano Milanesi: Documenti per la storia dell'arte senese . Siena 1865, p. 259, 291, 314, 328, 332 (Italian, archive.org ).
• S. Borghesi, L. Bianchi: Documenti per la storia dell'arte senese . Siena 1898, p. 180, 184, 200, 241 (Italian).
• Alessandro Lisini : Note of the orafi e di oggetti di oreficeria senese . In: Boll. senese di storia patria . tape XI , 1904, p. 672 (Italian, polito.it [PDF]).
• I. Machetti: Orafi senesi . Siena 1929, p. 80 (Italian).
• P. Bacci: Documenti e commenti per la storia dell'arte . Florence 1944, p. 110 (Italian).
• G. Cecchini: Vicende di tre opere d'arte, fra l'ordinazione e il loro compimento . In: Boll. senese di storia patria . LXII-XLIII, no. 1955-1956 , 1956, pp. 14, 19 (Italian).
• D. Gallavotti Cavallero: Lo spedale di S. Maria della Scala in Siena… Pisa 1985 (Italian).
• A. Riedl, M. Seidel (ed.): The churches of Siena . tape II , no. 1-2 . Munich 1992.
• U. Thieme, F. Becker: Artist Lexicon . tape XII , p. 301 .
• Francesca Artuso: FRANCESCO d'Antonio . In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani . tape 49 , 1997 (Italian, treccani.it ).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Gallavotti Cavallero, 1985, p. 105