Razzi, Giantonio, Called Il Soddoma

, was born at Vercelli, in Piedmont, in 1479, and became a citizen of Siena. The warm tone of his colour, the masses of his chiaroscuro, and other traces of the Milanese school in his works, seem to confirm the tradition as to the place of his birth. The frescoes which he painted in the Vatican, under the pontificate of Julius II. were by order of that pope demolished, to make room for those of Raphael. Certain other pictures, representing deeds of Alexander the Great, still remain in the palace Chigi, now called the Farnesina: with much of the chiaroscuro, though not of the dignity and grace, of Lionardo da Vinci, they are remarkable for beauties of perspective and playful imagery.

His most vigorous works, however, are at Siena. In the Epiphany at S. Agostino, we recognize the principles of Vinci 5 the style of the Christ under Flagellation in the cloister of S. Francesco has been compared to that of Miclieiangiolo; his S. Sebastian, now in the Ducal gallery, has the air of an antique torso, and the S. Calherina of Siena, at S. Domenico, possesses Raphael’s beauties of expression. He often, indeed, painted merely for dispatch, and without previous study, when, already advanced in age, he solicited work at Pisa, Volterra, and Lucca; but in all his works we trace the master-hand, which in spite of negligence performs with power. He died in 1554. ²