On this day in 1504, Sodoma completed his fresco project for the refectory (monastic dining room) of Santa Anna in Camprena, an Olivetan convent near the Tuscan town of Pienza. Begun a little less than a year earlier on 10 July 1503, Sodoma had been asked to paint a frieze of grotesques on the window wall framing scenes from the Life of St. Anne and roundel portraits of saints. A fresco triptych showing the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes decorates the end wall, while a Pietà flanked by a scene showing St. Benedict Blessing the Constitutions of the Olivetan Congregation and another depicting St. Anne with the Virgin Mary and Christ Child Adored by Two Olivetan Monks decorates the entrance wall. Sodoma was then invited by the Olivetans to decorate the main cloister of Monte Oliveto Maggiore with scenes from the life of Saint Benedict, completing a project begun by Luca Signorelli.
Enzo Carli. “Sodoma.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press.