Andrea di Bartolo

ANDREA di BARTOLO. - Sienese painter, son of the painter Bartolo di Fredi (v.), he was registered in the roll of the Arte dei Pittori of 1389. Many documentary records of his activity have survived; he held various public offices and died on 3 June 1428. Three signed works by him are known: a panel in the Wildenstein collection in New York, an Assumption in the Whitney collection in New York, and a polyptych with the Annunciation and two saints in the parish museum of Buonconvento. Numerous paintings have been attributed to him. He was his father's assistant and pupil, but later he came under the influence of Taddeo di Bartolo, which helped give greater solidity to his drawing. He is a correct epigone of the great tradition of the Lorenzettis.

Enzo Carli

in rebuilding churches and monasteries (he kept note of all these expenses, in his own hand, in a memorial that is preserved), living on his own account in great austerity. With all his strength he sought to compose the civil and domestic quarrels and discords burning in that age, and he was appealed to as a peacemaker from various places, from Florence, from Prato, from Pistoia. Around 1368 he was sent by Urban V to Bologna, to bring the city back to obedience, stirred by the political machinations of the Visconti to rebel against the Pontiff; he succeeded happily, although at first despised and even imprisoned. Several miracles were attributed to him in life and after death. The body, a few weeks after his passing, was brought secretly to Florence and buried in the church of the Carmine; the artistic tomb, adorned with an inscription by Coluccio Salutati, was destroyed by a fire in 1771. Considered protector of the Commune, which acknowledged the victory of Anghiari (1440) as due to his intercession, he was honored then, by concession of Eugene IV, with the title of blessed. A regular process, begun in 1602, led to solemn canonization on 22 Apr. 1629. His feast falls on 4 February.

Nello Vian