Piccolomini Altarpiece

On top of the altar is the Madonna and Child, a sculpture (probably) by Jacopo della Quercia. The central painting of the Madonna is by Paolo di Giovanni Fei and from the late 14th century.

The cardinal Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini, who became Pope Pius III, intended to construct a monumental altar to dedicate artworks to his uncle Pope Pius II, to celebrate the political and cultural power of his family, the Piccolomini, in Siena, and to establish a site for his own tomb. (In reality, Todeschini was buried in the Vatican after his election as Pope.) In the site chosen by Todeschini there had once been an altar for shoemakers, depicting the Nativity. The shoemakers agreed to give the location to the cardinal, provided they received another place within the duomo. Lack of available space, however, meant that the shoemakers still had to share the space with Todeschini. • Illustration — Centerpiece of the altar Todeschini commissioned Andrea Bregno to construct the altar. Bregno worked from 1481 to 1485, as evidenced by the inscription " OPUS ANDREAE MEDIOLANENSIS MCCCCLXXXV " under the central niche where the altar's Madonna and Child are now located. Bregno, however, did not realize the marble altarpiece that was meant to frame the c. 1390 Madonna of Humility painting by Paolo di Giovanni Fei and the 14 statues "in the round" that were meant to fill the various niches and spaces of the altar. The original project included these elements but by 1486, Bregno, now in his 70s, had a breakdown in his physical help. He therefore returned to Rome, leaving the altar incomplete. From then on, only assistants from his workshop labored on the central marble altarpiece, that would enclose the Madonna of Humility. Given Bregno's departure, Todeschini began to look for sculptors that would be able to make the remaining 14 statues. In the end, he entrusted the work to Florentine Pietro Torrigiano. But he made only the Saint Francis in the altar's upper left niche. The agreement between Todeschini and Torrigiano was broken for unknown reasons, which forced the Todeschini to find another artist. On June 19, 1501, with the intercession of the banker Jacopo Galli, a contract was created with the young Michelangelo Buonarroti. Michelangelo had already completed his Vatican Pietà to great acclaim. As soon as he began to work on the altarpiece, he began to receive other ambitious commission offers, first among them to sculpt the gigantic Florentine David. These offers made the Sienese altarpiece seem too small a work for the young artist. Michelangelo began the commission slowly and only worked on it occasionally. In 1503, Todeschini was elected pope but died after only 26 days. His heirs convinced Michelangelo, in a new contract dated to October 11, 1504, to complete the statues and the altar enriched by four statues that are found in the lower niches on the sides, realized with the help of assistants. Despite the repeated requests of the Piccolomini family, they did not complete the other envisioned statues. As a result, the archbishop of Siena Francesco Bandini Piccolomini annulled the contract in the 1530s. From then on, the Piccolomini lost interest in the altar, which has remained incomplete ever since. At the end of the 18th century, the statue of Madonna and Child was placed in the altar's central niche. That statue was believed, until recently, to be the work of the young Jacopo della Quercia, but critics now attribute it to Giovanni di Cecco. The statue came from the altar of Saint Thomas Aquinas and, before that, the altar of San Jacobo Interciso—both altars in the Siena Duomo. The altarpiece was restored in 2008.