Pietro di Francesco degli Orioli

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Pietro di Francesco degli Orioli (approx. 1458 – 1496) was an Italian sculptor of the Renaissance period.

Pietro Orioli was a renaissance painter who came from the Italian city of Siena in Tuscany. Sienese art of the quattrocento has only recently begun to receive recognition amongst scholars, the city being celebrated primarily for its late medieval masters such as Duccio, Simone Martini, and Ambrogio and Pietro Lorenzetti.

In 1458 the Sienese cardinal Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini was elected as Pope Pius II. The period between this date and the end of the Sienese republic in 1558 is seen by some as representing an important chapter in Italian art, as stylistically Sienese artists were quite unique. They showed tendencies towards some of the more ethereal properties of the golden age of Sienese art, and therefore can be seen to be distinctively different from that of their close rivals in the more celebrated Florentine renaissance. It could also be argued, however, that the works produced in Siena at this time would probably have seemed somewhat archaic and unfashionable to those in the more famous artistic centres like Florence, Rome and Venice.

Orioli had a relatively short artistic career (he died aged 37, and was only active independently from 1480), but his work is nonetheless important in the context of Sienese art of the period. He was a pupil of the painter Matteo di Giovanni who was very much a product of the quattrocento Sienese school. He is also known to have worked with the celebrated Francesco di Giorgio, a painter, sculptor and former pupil of probably the most famous Sienese sculptor of the period Il Vecchietta. It is therefore possible to deduce that Orioli was active within a circle of quintessentially Sienese artists.

His first documented work was the 1489 Christ Washing the Feet of the Apostles in the Baptistry in Siena. Other important works include "Madonna and Child with Saint Jerome and a Female Saint" c. 1490, a "Nativity" c. 1494-96 and "The Adoration of the Shepherds" dating to the last part of his career.

Stylistically, Orioli's work seems to be to that of his Florentine contemporary, Botticelli. His painting can similarly be described as 'non-realist'. He uses pale hatching unrelated to the the landscape or architecture to reinforce the contours of his figures in a way that can only be seen in another artists work, in Botticelli's Saint Zenobius panels in the National Gallery, London. Botticelli in fact uses this device later than Orioli, suggesting that either the two knew each other, or Botticelli regarded the Sienese artist very highly^[1]. Orioli's works, though very much a part of his city's artistic school, also show some more Florentine traits. His figures have a characteristically Sienese mystical quality, but also show a careful adherence to the rules of human anatomy and perspective. This can be seen most obviously in his c.1493 work "Sulpitia", a portrait of a Roman woman. This was part of a series of other panels, the others being "Judith" by Matteo di Giovanni, "Artemisia" by the Master of the story of Griselda and "Claudia Quinta" by Neroccio di Landi and the Master of the Story of Griselda (all Sienese). Whilst the latter paintings show varying dgrees of success in presenting their characters realistically on painted plinths, Orioli's stands much more believably. Furthermore when seen together Orioli's figure has a dramatic, fulsome quality, with a naturalistic pose compared to the other figures which are demonstrably within the Gothic tradtion of awkward, stylised poses.

Orioli was an important artist within an often overlooked school of Italian Renaissance painting. Stylistic he is similar to the contemporaries operating within his home city, as well as being related to the highly celebrated Florentine Botticelli, who he may have influenced. His work differs from that of some of his kinsmen, however, in showing what would have been seen by those outside Siena as a more modern approach. His lack of fame can most likely be attributed to the fact that he appears to have worked chiefly within Siena alone, his premature death at the age of just 37 and the general ignorance of the outside world to Sienese painting in the renaissance.