Matteo di Giovanni’s ‘St Jerome’ for the notaries' Guild of Siena

A correct reading of some documents already partially published in the nineteenth century allows to identify the original provenance of St. Jerome signed and dated 1482 by the Sienese painter Matteo di Giovanni, now in the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge. The painting was commissioned for the prestigious residence of the Guild of the Notaries of Siena (then in Piazza del Campo, "alla bocca del Casato"), in order to honor the saint elected by the Notaries as their patron in 1476. In support of the discovery information about the rituals with which the Notaries celebrated their patron are added. With regard to the patronage, among the members of the Guild a key role was probably played by Placido Placido: in Siena he was very famous as a leader of the "Novesca" faction and in 1476 Matteo di Giovanni had painted the altarpiece for the chapel of his family in the church of San Domenico.