Lorenzo di Pietro

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Vecchietta ( Lorenzo di Pietro) (bapt. Siena, 11 Aug. 1410; d Siena, 6 June 1480). One of the outstanding Sienese artists of the 15th century, a painter, sculptor, goldsmith, architect, and military engineer. His nickname, meaning ‘little old one’, first appears in 1442 and repeatedly thereafter in documents relating to him, but its origin is unknown. On stylistic grounds he is assumed to have been a pupil of Sassetta, but he also came under the influence of Florentine art and his large-scale paintings have a monumentality rare in Siena in the quattrocento. As a sculptor he worked in wood and marble and late in his career in bronze, this change in medium probably reflecting the influence of Donatello, who was in Siena 1457–9. The Risen Christ (1476, S. Maria della Scala, Siena) has something of Donatello's sinewy expressiveness. Donatello's influence may also account for the strength and plasticity of Vecchietta's later paintings, such as the fresco of St Catherine (1461) in the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena (1461), and the triptych of the Assumption of the Virgin (c.1462) in Pienza Cathedral. Several of the leading Sienese artists of the next generation were taught by him, including probably Francesco di Giorgio and Neroccio de' Landi.

Vecchietta ( Lorenzo di Pietro) (1410–80). One of the outstanding Sienese artists of the 15th century, a painter, sculptor, goldsmith, architect, and military engineer. His nickname, meaning ‘little old one’, first appears in 1442 and repeatedly thereafter in documents relating to him, but its origin is unknown. On stylistic grounds he is assumed to have been a pupil of Sassetta, but he also came under the influence of Florentine art and his large-scale paintings have a monumentality rare in Siena in the quattrocento. As a sculptor he worked in wood and marble and late in his career in bronze, this change in medium probably reflecting the influence of Donatello, who was in Siena 1457–9. The Risen Christ (1476, S. Maria della Scala, Siena) has something of Donatello's sinewy expressiveness. Donatello's influence may also account for the strength and plasticity of Vecchietta's later paintings, such as the fresco of St Catherine (1461) in the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena (1461) and the triptych of the Assumption of the Virgin (c.1462) in Pienza Cathedral. Several of the leading Sienese artists of the next generation were taught by him, notably Francesco di Giorgio and Neroccio dei Landi.

Lorenzo di Pietro , c.1412–1480, Sienese painter, sculptor, and goldsmith, called Il Vecchietta. He painted a group of frescoes and a relic press in the hospital at Siena; four ceilings in the Baptistery of San Giovanni at Siena; an altarpiece, The Assumption of the Virgin, his masterpiece (cathedral, Pienza); a triptych, Madonna with Saints (Uffizi); St. Catherine and the Virgin of Mercy, fragments of frescoes (Palazzo Pubblico, Siena); and a Madonna (Siena). Lorenzo was one of the most important painters of the later Sienese school. He also executed many sculptures, including The Risen Christ (Santa Maria della Scala, Siena) and a bronze relief, The Resurrection (Frick Coll., N.Y.).