Sodoma

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Self-portrait of Sodoma on a fresco in the Monte Oliveto Abbey near Siena

Sodoma (* 1477 in Vercelli , Piedmont ; † February 15, 1549 in Siena ; actually Giovanni Antonio Bazzi ) was an Italian painter .

Life

His father was the shoemaker Giacomo Bazzi from Brissago TI , his mother was Angelina di Niccolò da Bergamo. In 1490 Sodoma was apprenticed by his father to the master Giovanni Martino Spanzotti , known as Martino di Casale , who was at that time in Vercelli , for seven years. After completing his training, Bazzi first went to Milan in 1498 , where Leonardo da Vinci had just finished his secco painting The Last Supper . It is not certain whether Sodoma ever met da Vinci personally. In any case, he was strongly influenced by his style.

In 1499 , the Spannocchi merchants invited Bazzi to Siena , which from then on became Sodoma's adopted home. Thanks to the excellent business and family connections of the Spannocchi trading house, Bazzi quickly received orders from the highest circles in the city. The colorful, large-format frescoes that his colleague Pinturicchio painted in the Libreria of Siena from the spring of 1503 on behalf of the cardinal and later Pope Francesco Piccolomini were to be formative for the further work of Sodoma . In the small monastery of Santa Anna in Creta near Pienza , Sodoma tried his first more extensive fresco (The miracle of the five loaves and two fish) from the end of 1503.

In the much richer Benedictine monastery of Monte Oliveto Maggiore , about 35 kilometers south-east of Siena, the painter Luca Signorelli had to end a major commission for a cycle of frescoes in the cloister about the life of St. Benedict because he had been called back to Siena. The monks were therefore looking for someone to finish their work. Sodoma turned to the superior general of the Benedictines, Domencio da Leccio, a Lombard compatriot, and received the commission. In 1505/06 Bazzi painted 26 of a total of 35 large-format scenes from the life of St. Benedict, which are still a tourist attraction today because of their lush colors and the sometimes drastic realism. On the third fresco in the chronological order, the so-called sieve miracle of Benedict, Sodoma portrayed himself as a decidedly noble nobleman with badgers and other animals at his feet, which was interpreted as irony or exaltation. The artist bought the precious, brown damask cloak and sword from the monastery in May 1506; both originally belonged to the Milanese nobleman Giovanni Ambrogio, who had entered the monastery. It is unlikely that the sword, a sign of knighthood, was added after Sodoma was named Cavaliere di Cristo in Rome in 1508/09 . Compared to other artists of his time, Bazzi worked “lightning fast”, impulsively and virtuoso - he did not love laborious detailed work: “Giovannantonio worked with incredible boldness in his fresco painting. Very rarely did he scratch the contours according to the carton, and even where he did this he never liked to follow it. Free as his hand went, he created his figures anew in the execution. "

Sodoma painted a famous Descent from the Cross for the Church of San Francesco in Siena. One of the richest and most respected men in Italy, Agostino Chigi , treasurer of the popes and patron of the arts, finally brought Bazzi to Rome in 1507 , where the foundation stone for the new St. Peter's Basilica was laid on April 15th and the artistic scene was in full bloom. In the Stanza della Segnatura , Sodoma designed a ceiling painting that was later executed in a modified form by Raphael. In the palace of the conservators, Bazzi executed four frescoes with ancient motifs, which have now largely been destroyed.

Sodoma does not seem to have sought any contact with the most prominent painters of the time, Michelangelo and Raffael. In contrast, he maintained a friendship with Pietro Aretino into old age . In the absence of other commissions in Rome, Bazzi first returned to Siena with his patron Chigi in 1509, but went back to Rome in 1514 and painted his most famous frescoes in the Villa Farnesina : Alexander before the family of Darius and his marriage to Roxane , a picture that went through Amiability of invention and delicacy of expression bewitching. At that time, Leo X raised him to the knighthood for a picture of the Roman Lucretia .

St. Sebastian

In 1515 Sodoma stayed for the first time with the Appiani in Piombino , where Prince Jacob V became one of his patrons, and then traveled back to Siena, where in 1518 he painted four frescoes from the story of Mary in the oratory of San Bernardino. Between 1518 and 1525 he appeared to have resided in northern Italy, where he was more influenced by the Lombard school. From 1525 to 1537 the painter resided in Siena again, where from 1525 he painted the frescoes from the life of St. Catherine in the Chapel of Saints in the Church of San Domenico , a major work of the artist distinguished by depth and truth of feeling, and later several Figures of saints, the resurrection of Christ, etc. a. painted in the town house. In 1542 he worked in Pisa . The following year he created what was possibly his last picture, a Madonna, on the wall above the stairs to the monks' dormitory in the monastery of San Ponziano in Lucca .

Of his panel paintings are the Holy Family with Calixtus (in the town house in Siena), the Adoration of the Magi (in Sant 'Agostino there) and a processional flag with the Madonna and St. Sebastian (in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence).

In the very last years of his life, Sodoma was little appreciated as an artist in Siena. Contrary to what Vasari claims, Bazzi was not impoverished. He owned a house with a studio and a large agricultural property in the Camollia district of Siena. He died on the night of February 15, 1549 in Siena and made his wife Beatrice his sole heir. The will has been handed down. Where he was buried is not known.

Origin of the nickname

Sodoma led an elaborate, eccentric, downright sociable life and loved to attract attention and provoke. So he stayed in his apartment in Siena a. a. an exotic animal menagerie with badgers, parrots, monkeys and talking ravens. The art historian Giorgio Vasari spoke ironically of a true "Noah's Ark". Bazzi dressed luxuriously and is said to have preferred to surround himself with young men and celebrate lively parties with them. Handsome men in often ambiguous, even offensive poses dominate many of his frescoes, which was typical of the Renaissance. There is no clear evidence of his homosexuality, but as early as 1513, during his lifetime, he was given the nickname Sodoma. He was passionate about horse racing: "He thought more of his stable than his studio (...)." The trophies he won were his favorite showpieces. After he had won a race (Palio San Bernarba) with his horse, he was also publicly celebrated on the streets of Florence as "Sodoma", which apparently even flattered him. Sodoma had been married to the wealthy Sienese landlady Beatrice since 1510 and had a son with her since 1511. Subsequently, however, Sodoma seems to have paid little attention to his wife. Vasari does not portray Sodoma until the second edition of his famous artist biographies (1568). Although Vasari criticizes Sodoma very hatefully as a secondary artist, the controversial nickname was, as mentioned, in circulation long before: “He always had boys and very young people with him whom he abused, which is why he was called Sodoma. Far from being annoyed or angry about it, he boasted, composed punches and songs on it and sang them to the lute without any fuss. "The monks of Monte Oliveto are supposed to give Bazzi the less unambiguous nickname" Mattaccio "or" Matazo ”(clown,“ crazy dog ​​”. Arch fool). In any case, it is thanks to Vasari that Bazzi's nickname was not forgotten and that the artist went down in art history as “Sodoma”.

Major works

gallery

Frescoes

Panel paintings

literature

Web links

Commons : Sodoma  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Enzo Carli. In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani
  2. ^ Albert Jansen: Life and works of the painter Giovannantonio Bazzi von Vercelli. Stuttgart 1870, p. 56.
  3. ^ Sabine Söll-Tauchert: Hans Baldung Grien (1484 / 85-1545): Self-portrait and self-staging. Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2010, p. 151.
  4. ^ Jansen: Life and works of the painter G. Bazzi. P. 86.
  5. ^ Jansen: Life and works of the painter G. Bazzi. P. 199.
  6. ^ Jansen: Life and works of the painter G. Bazzi. P. 90 f.
  7. ^ Jansen: Life and works of the painter G. Bazzi. P. 93.
  8. ^ Jansen: Life and works of the painter G. Bazzi. P. 94.
  9. ^ Giorgio Vasari: Life of the most distinguished painters, sculptors and builders from Cimabue up to 1567. Volume 4, Stuttgart and Tübingen 1846, p. 345 f.
  10. ↑ Robert H. Hobart Cust: Giovanni Antonio Bazzi hitherto usually styled 'Sodoma', The man and the painter 1477-1549. London 1906 p. 65.

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personal data
SURNAME Sodoma
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bazzi, Giovanni Antonio
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian painter
DATE OF BIRTH 1477
PLACE OF BIRTH Vercelli in Savoy
DATE OF DEATH February 15, 1549
Place of death Siena