Domenico di Jacopo di Pace, Beccafumi

Domenico di Jacopo di Pace, commonly known as Beccafumi or, more anciently, Mecherino, was an Italian painter and sculptor. Born in Monteaperti in 1486, he passed away in Siena on May 18, 15511. He is considered one of the most important and recognizable founders of Mannerism, a style of art that emerged in the late Renaissance period. Alongside Sodoma, he was also the last artist of great influence from the Sienese school.
Beccafumi’s artistic formation took place within the Florentine culture, which was much more vital in the first decade of the 16th century than that of Siena. His style is clearly defined in his early works, which reveal the influence of contemporary Florentine painting: Fra’ Bartolomeo, Mariotto Albertinelli, Piero di Cosimo and even the Spanish Alonso Berruguete.
According to Giorgio Vasari’s account, Beccafumi stayed in Rome between 1510 and 1512 to study the frescoes of Michelangelo and Raphael and to study antiquities. This period was undoubtedly of utmost importance for the formation of Beccafumi’s Mannerist style.