The New International Encyclopædia/Beccafumi, Domenico

BECCAFUMI, bĕk'kȧ-fōō'mḗ, Domenico, also called Il Mecherino (1486-1551). An Italian painter and sculptor. He was the son of Giacomo de Pace, a peasant laborer on the estate of Lorenzo Beccafumi, a wealthy citizen of Siena, who took the boy into his service, and fostered liis natural taste for art by placing him in the studio of Capanna in Siena, and afterwards sending him to study in Rome, Beccafumi painted many religious pieces and mythological works. He also continued the wonderful pavement in the Cathedral of Siena. For years the best artists worked upon this pavement, which was of white marble, the subject being engraved in black outline, and the border inlaid with magnificent patterns of varied colors. Beccafumi was occupied on this work twenty-seven years. His finest paintings are the frescoes on the ceiling of the city hall in Siena and an altar-piece in the museum there.