GIOVANNI ANTONIO called IL SODOMA BAZZI

Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, known as Il Sodoma, was one of the most important artists of the High Renaissance. He played a decisive role in the evolution of the Sienese school of painting where he introduced aesthetic innovations from Milan and Rome. Sodoma was originally from Piedmont. He first worked in Milan, where he would have frequented Leonardo's entourage and learned, directly or indirectly, from the master. In 1503, he moved to Siena as the town was in need of a new generation of artists to decorate private and public monuments. Throughout his career, Sodoma worked for churches, convents, and public monuments and became a sort of official painter to the Sienese Republic. His success, and his close relationship with the cardinal Alessandro Chigi brought Sodoma to Rome in 1508 to paint the ceiling of the Room of the Signatura in the Vatican. In Rome, he also decorated Agostino Chigi’s villa, today known as the Villa Farnesina, where he painted his two most beautiful compositions, The Marriage of Alexander and Roxane and The Family of Darius before Alexander. Sodoma also worked in Florence, Piombino, Voltera, Pisa, and Lucca, and was titled Il Cavaliere by pope Leon X, due to the artist’s passion for horses.