By Anne Leader
Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, known as Il Sodoma, died on 15 February 1549 in Siena, where he spent the majority of his career. Giorgio Vasari, who felt enmity towards Sodoma, credits the artist’s nickname to his fondness for young boys. Scholars have questioned Vasari’s account, and the artist signed his works as Sodoma. He worked in both panel and fresco and was widely sought after including projects for the Olivetan monastery of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, the wealthy Sienese banker Agostino Chigi in Rome, and the Compagnia di San Sebastiano in Camollia near Siena.
Reference: Enzo Carli. “Sodoma.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press.
Wedding of Alexander and Roxane, c. 1517, fresco, Villa Farnesina, Rome
Monte Oliveto Maggiore: St Benedict Giving the Rule to the Olivetans; Life of St Benedict, Scene 1: Benedict Leaves His Parent’s House; Scene 13: Benedict Frees a Monk, 1505-8, fresco.
St. Sebastian, 1525, Florence: Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti)
Christ Presented to the People (Ecce Homo), oil on canvas, 1540s, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Asbjorn R. Lunde, in memory of his parents, Karl and Elisa Lunde, 1996, Accession ID: 1996.261