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Crete Senesi

In the heart of Crete about 30 km from Siena the old Monastery of Monteoliveto Maggiore saw the creation of one of the most accomplished cycles of frescos of the time dedicated to the Stories of the Monte Oliveto's Monks painted in the main cloister by Luca Signorelli with an unequalled mastery in 1497-99 and completed by Sodoma a decade later.

In the nearby Asciano, Matteo di Giovanni conceived important artworks in his own style today kept in the Museum of Sacred Art of Palazzo Corboli: the altarpiece of Sant'Agostino (The Madonna and Child enthroned with the Saints James, Augustine, Bernardino and Margaret; on the predella Stories of Saint Catherine of Alexandria; in the cusps The Annunciation and God the Father benedictory) example of one of the most accomplished works of the artist; and the two side panels with Saint Augustine and Saint Michael the Archangel originally at the sides of the Assumption of the Virgin belonging to the National Gallery and now reunited for the first time, after being separated, on the occasion of the London exhibition.

Serre di Rapolano, characterized by the large structure of the fortified Grancia, facing the wide view over the southern Sienese countryside, reminiscent of Renaissance in the 15th century's frescos in the Cappella di Piazza in the centre of the village, and especially on the side wall representing the Madonna and Child attributed to Andrea di Niccolò.

Even in the secluded and fascinating hamlet of Montisi, in the Church of Madonna delle Nevi we find one of the masterpieces of Neroccio di Bartolomeo Landi, the closest collaborator of Francesco di Giorgio, the Madonna and Child with the Saints Paul, James, Peter and Louis, signed and dated 1496.

The Museum of Sacred Art of Val d'Arbia in Buonconvento could be described as a sort of anthology of the Sienese painting through the centuries and an entire hall is dedicated to the most famous painters of the quattrocento: Sano di Pietro is represented for the whole of his artistic life, his works denoting special technical bravura and formal elegance; Matteo di Giovanni with two paintings which emblematically represent the persistent tradition of the gilded background in the first (Madonna and Child enthroned, from the parish church) and the transition to the atmospheric background in the second one which is an updated version of the same subject; the disciple Guidoccio Cozzarelli so close to his master's technique to be sometimes mistaken for Matteo; the so-called Maestro of Montepertuso, painter who revised, in an elegant and a little abstract features, the more structured style of Vecchietta to whom he was closely related.