Benvenuto di Giovanni

Benvenuto di Giovanni di Meo del Guasto

Sienese, 1436 - before 1517

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Italian painter (1436-1518)

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A man, Jesus, is nailed to a cross by his hands and feet and is flanked by groups of about a dozen people to each side, all against a hilly, deep landscape in this horizontal painting. All the people have peachy, nearly golden skin, and their clothing is mostly vibrant yellow, red, blue, and purple. The horizon comes about two-thirds of the way up this composition and crosses behind Jesus’s waist, so the top half of his body and the cross are silhouetted against the ice-blue sky. Eyes closed, Jesus’s head hangs by his shoulder, to our left. Blood drips from the nails driven through his hands, from a gash over his right ribs, and more runs in a continuous stream from his overlapping feet onto the stony ground. Blood also trickles down his shoulder-length brown hair under a ring of thorns. A flat, disk-like halo hovers over his head so it angles sharply toward us, but we can see a red cross on the underside. The letters “INRI” are written in white on a red panel affixed to the top of the cross. The man is nude except for a white cloth across his hips. To our left, a man sits on a red saddle astride a dark brown horse. The balding man has a white beard and hair. He holds a long spear with its pointed end dripping blood against his body with one hand, and holds up his other hand by his chest as he looks at Jesus. In front of him and to our left, a group of six women and one man gather and kneel around a swooning woman. Closest to us, the fainting woman wears a raspberry-pink gown under a blue mantle, which covers her head and shoulders over a white veil. Her body is braced to our right by a cleanshaven man with long, curly blond hair, wearing a tan robe. A woman wearing a purple dress under an orange robe, with unbound, flax-yellow hair, supports the swooning woman’s body on the other side, to our left. Four more women look on from behind this trio. All of them have white veils over their heads, and one has a red mantle over her veil. Tears fall from everyone’s eyes in this group. Five of them, including the woman and those supporting her, have flat, disk-like halos. A short distance away to our left, three children look at the cross from a tall hill. Two sit together, and one stands and holds onto the trunk of a tree growing there. They wear tones of yellow, orange, and rose pink. Next to the cross to our right is a white horse, also with a red saddle. A man with brown hair and beard, wearing purple and yellow, looks up to Jesus. To the right, three men in armor draw straws from the fist of a fourth. Two more men stand near this group and six sit on horses behind them. The rocky ground at the base of the cross is strewn with stones. A green meadow stretches back to a body of water, which is lined with pale blue mountains in the hazy distance.
Benvenuto di Giovanni, The Crucifixion, probably 1491, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.53

The Crucifixion

Benvenuto di Giovanni · probably 1491 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.53

A pale-skinned man stands in front of a door-like opening set into a rocky cave against a deep landscape in this nearly square painting. The man, Jesus, has long reddish-blond hair, a red beard, and a disk-like gold halo. A muted lavender-purple cloth drapes over one shoulder, across his partially bare, muscular chest, and around his hips and legs. His right hand, to our left, is raised with the first two fingers lifted. A tall staff tucked into his other elbow has a long, white banner with a red cross, a forked end, and a red, plus-shaped cross finial. Behind Jesus, a rectangular doorway with molding is surrounded by craggy stone. The man stands on a chest-shaped stone tomb, and a white stone slab lies across the ground in front of it. Six men with pale skin lightly tinged with gray lie under and around the slab. They wear armor in shades of canary yellow, rose pink, aquamarine blue, violet, and orange. Five of them lie with legs and arms akimbo and one, to our right, props himself on one elbow and looks up at Jesus. Pebbles are strewn in a loose line across the ground along the bottom edge of the composition. Rivers zigzag back through more rocky formations and mountains to a town in the deep distance to the right and pale blue mountains along the horizon, which comes three-quarters of the way up this composition. A few thin clouds drift across the sky that deepens from pale yellow over the mountains to deep blue across the top edge of the painting,
Benvenuto di Giovanni, The Resurrection, probably 1491, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.55

The Resurrection

Benvenuto di Giovanni · probably 1491 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.55

A young bearded man, Jesus, kneels and looks up at a winged angel as two groups of sleeping men huddle behind him in this almost square painting. The men all have pale skin, blond or white hair, and gold, disk-like halos. Jesus’s halo has a red cross on it as well, and it hovers over his long copper-colored hair. He wears a terracotta-red cloak over a celestial-blue robe, and he presses his hands together in prayer as he looks sharply up at the winged angel floating in the upper right corner of the composition. Smaller in scale, the angel has white wings and flowing robes, and holds a gold chalice in one outstretched hand. The angel’s head is surrounded by a flat, golden glow like a cap. The men behind Jesus, to our left, sleep in two groups in the gloomy, rocky landscape. The men wear robes in rose pink, black, scarlet red, steel blue, or brown. Closest to us are three men who lie close behind Jesus’s bare feet, while a larger group is tucked beyond a mound in the near distance. The terrain is painted with muted green, gray, and tan with a fence in the lower left corner and a rock formation rising in the middle of the landscape. Distant hills studded with trees and a few structures span the high horizon, which comes three-quarters of the way up the composition. A thick band of charcoal-gray clouds descends on the slate-blue sky above.
Benvenuto di Giovanni, The Agony in the Garden, probably 1491, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1939.1.318

The Agony in the Garden

Benvenuto di Giovanni · probably 1491 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1939.1.318

About two dozen men and women are gathered mainly in three groups in a grassy landscape in this nearly square panel. The action revolves around a man, Jesus, carrying a cross at the center of the composition. The people all have pale skin and wear robes, dresses, or tunics tomato red, cobalt blue, spruce green, deep yellow, gray, or white. Jesus wears a rose-pink robe, and blood trickles across his head from a ring of thorns thrust down over his shoulder-length brown hair. His flat, disk-like halo is gold with a red cross like a plus sign, and a tall wooden cross is braced across one shoulder. Two gaunt men in gray tunics jab and jeer at Jesus, mouths pulled back to show their teeth. A group of about seven men look on from over Jesus’s shoulder, including one man with gold-colored hair and gold armor. Another armored man wearing a helmet lies back on a rocky outcropping low to the ground in the lower right corner. The second group gathers behind three people also with halos to our right. The woman at the front center holds her hands out, palms up. Her lapis-blue cloak covers her head over a white veil and falls to her feet over a ruby-red dress. A woman with loose, blond hair looks up and raises her hands overhead to our left, and a fresh-faced young person stands to our right. One more person in the crowd of about six people behind this trio has a halo as well. Two boys perch in trees over this group, looking down between forks in the branches. The third group is to our left, and they gather behind a pair of men on white or brown horses. Pebbles are strewn on the dirt ground under the bare feet of Jesus and his tormentors. Grassy fields dotted with trees stretch into the distance to a town of spires, towers, and turrets on the horizon, which comes about three-quarters of the way up this composition. A few thin clouds skit across the blue sky above.
Benvenuto di Giovanni, Christ Carrying the Cross, probably 1491, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.52

Christ Carrying the Cross

Benvenuto di Giovanni · probably 1491 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.52

A haloed man with his back to us approaches a crowd gathered in a crate-like box unexpectedly set into a rocky landscape in this square painting. The central man, Jesus, is covered with a white cloth across one shoulder and both hips, and he carries a white banner marked with a red cross. He is barefoot as he steps on the opening to the box, which is hinged along the bottom edge. The door has crushed a wild-haired demon with red-colored skin against the pebble-strewn ground below. More than two dozen men and women of all ages are crowded into the box, their round faces tipped back and looking toward Jesus. All the people have pale skin. Jesus reaches out his left hand to hold the wrist of a man with a long white beard and hair, who kneels to the left. This kneeling man wears a dark, fur-like garment, and a hoe is hooked across his bent knee. Jesus holds the hand of a second man, who also kneels, to our right. This man wears a canary-yellow robe edged in blue, and he grips Jesus’s wrist with his second hand. A man wearing a purple toga over another fur-like garment stands behind. The box-like structure is set within a massive, striated boulder. More rocky cliffs rise to each side of the central form, and the sky above is sapphire blue.
Benvenuto di Giovanni, Christ in Limbo, probably 1491, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.54

Christ in Limbo

Benvenuto di Giovanni · probably 1491 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.54

Benvenuto di Giovanni, Madonna and Child with Saint Jerome and Saint Bernardino of Siena, c. 1480/1485, tempera on panel, Widener Collection, 1942.9.3

Madonna and Child with Saint Jerome and Saint Bernardino of Siena

Benvenuto di Giovanni · c. 1480/1485 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1942.9.3

Dozens of people form a line starting from an opening in a city wall or building in the background to a rustic shed-like structure close to us, to kneel before a seated woman holding a baby on her lap in this vertical painting. All of the people have pale skin tinged faintly with green. The top edge of the panel is shaped so it has two rounded sections like shoulders leading to a stepped, crown-like form with an inward curving triangle at the top. A nickel-gray, crenelated stone wall of a distant city is nestled into the top, stepped section, with a glimmering gold sky above filling the uppermost triangle. Tile-roofed and domed buildings and a few towers appear densely packed beyond the wall. People on foot and horseback create a line from an arched opening in the wall toward us and to our right. Three of the people on horseback in the distance wear long robes and have gold halos. The line of people winds behind a tall, narrow hill to our right and it continues close to us. Two horses, two camels, and several people wait to the right but our attention is drawn to the trio in the foreground, Mary, Jesus, and Joseph, and the three men near the infant, the Magi. Mary wears a lapis-blue mantle covering her head and shoulders over a petal-pink dress, and she sits on a wooden or stone chest in the center of the painting. Her body faces us but she turns her face to look with pale blue eyes off to our right. In one hand she holds a hexagonal gold vessel that tapers to a flame-like finial. With the other hand, on our left, she supports the blond infant sitting in her lap. He is covered only with a white cloth around his waist, and he looks toward the vessel as he holds up the index and middle fingers of his right hand. To our left and slightly behind Mary, a balding man with white hair and beard and wearing a blue garment under a red robe sits with his head propped in his hand, looking down. His other hand rests on what might be the handle of a crutch or staff. The man, woman, and child have gold halos with what appears to be writing. The three Magi also have gold halos and they all wear scarlet-red shoes. The oldest kneels before Mary and kisses Jesus's feet. He has a long, light gray beard and is balding. He wears a brocade-like gold robe over pale brick-red sleeves. A cleanshaven man with dark brown hair and wrinkles around his mouth kneels to our left as he raises a jewel-encrusted gold crown from his head. He wears a gold and red floral-patterned garment and holds a rounded vessel, also with a flame-like finial. A younger, cleanshaven man with smooth features and shoulder-length, curling blond hair to our right also wears a gold crown. A dagger hangs from the waist of his sky-blue tunic, and his leggings are pale plum purple. Both arms are bent to his hands are held up, and in his right hand, he holds another tabernacle-like gold vessel. The structure to our left houses a donkey and bull munching hay. A gold sunburst floats above the roof, which seems to be built up against the stone wall of a building. The hills and trees beyond the people is painted with pine and moss greens and brown.
Benvenuto di Giovanni, The Adoration of the Magi, c. 1470/1475, tempera on poplar panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.10

The Adoration of the Magi

Benvenuto di Giovanni · c. 1470/1475 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.10

Bibliography

1949

  • Brandi, Cesare. Quattrocentisti senesi. Milan, 1949: 148-152.

1966

  • Fredericksen, Burton, and Darrell Davisson. Benvenuto di Giovanni. Girolamo di Benvenuto. Malibu, 1966.

1988

  • Kanter, Laurence B. "Benvenuto di Giovanni." In Painting in Renaissance Siena 1420-1500. Ed. Keith Christiansen, Laurence B. Kanter, and Carl Brandon Strehlke. Exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988: 300-315.

1993

  • Alessi, Cecilia. In Francesco di Giorgio e il Rinascimento a Siena 1450-1500. Edited by Luciano Bellosi. Exh. cat., Chiesa di Sant'Agostino, Siena. Milan, 1993: 518-519.

1999

  • Bandera, Maria Cristina. Benvenuto di Giovanni. Milan, 1999.

2003

  • Boskovits, Miklós, and David Alan Brown, et al. Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth Century. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 2003: 106.