Description
The Church of San Martino, on Via del Porrione in Siena, is a church full of surprises: its single Renaissance nave holds canvases by Guido Reni, Guercino and Domenico Beccafumi. In the Middle Ages it was so important that it gave its name to the Terzo di San Martino, one of the city's three districts.
At the third altar on the right is Guercino's Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew, from 1637, blackened by a fire and retouched, in a rich marble frame from the workshop of Marrina. At the second altar, Guido Reni's Circumcision, from 1636. Opposite, on the left, Beccafumi's Nativity, from around 1524, in a matching frame.
On the entrance wall hangs a thoroughly Sienese painting: the Immaculate Conception Protecting Siena during the Battle of Camollia, commissioned by the Republic in 1528 and signed by Giovanni di Lorenzo. On the left, at the middle altar, there is a 15th-century crucifix of colored wood by an unknown artist.
The church is already mentioned in the 8th century. In 1537 it was renovated and enlarged to a design by Giovan Battista Pelori; the facade, in the style of Roman Mannerism, is by Giovanni Fontana and was begun in 1613, while the bell tower was finished only in 1738.
The transept and the presbytery were the gift of one family, the de' Vecchi, who had them arranged at the end of the 17th century by the Mazzuoli, Sienese sculptors. Giuseppe Mazzuoli made the statue of Saint Thomas of Villanova and, with his brother Giovanni Antonio, the Madonna and Child, the angels and the ciborium of the high altar; the dome was frescoed by Annibale Mazzuoli.
Below the bell tower, in a Gothic chapel to the left of the apse, 14th-century frescoes with stories of saints and a Crucifixion survive. On either side of the apse arch, the left choir loft houses an organ built by Cesare Romani between the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
A Madonna and Child by Jacopo della Quercia, once here, is now in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo.
At the third altar on the right is Guercino's Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew, from 1637, blackened by a fire and retouched, in a rich marble frame from the workshop of Marrina. At the second altar, Guido Reni's Circumcision, from 1636. Opposite, on the left, Beccafumi's Nativity, from around 1524, in a matching frame.
On the entrance wall hangs a thoroughly Sienese painting: the Immaculate Conception Protecting Siena during the Battle of Camollia, commissioned by the Republic in 1528 and signed by Giovanni di Lorenzo. On the left, at the middle altar, there is a 15th-century crucifix of colored wood by an unknown artist.
The church is already mentioned in the 8th century. In 1537 it was renovated and enlarged to a design by Giovan Battista Pelori; the facade, in the style of Roman Mannerism, is by Giovanni Fontana and was begun in 1613, while the bell tower was finished only in 1738.
The transept and the presbytery were the gift of one family, the de' Vecchi, who had them arranged at the end of the 17th century by the Mazzuoli, Sienese sculptors. Giuseppe Mazzuoli made the statue of Saint Thomas of Villanova and, with his brother Giovanni Antonio, the Madonna and Child, the angels and the ciborium of the high altar; the dome was frescoed by Annibale Mazzuoli.
Below the bell tower, in a Gothic chapel to the left of the apse, 14th-century frescoes with stories of saints and a Crucifixion survive. On either side of the apse arch, the left choir loft houses an organ built by Cesare Romani between the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
A Madonna and Child by Jacopo della Quercia, once here, is now in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo.