Resumen de Domenico di Niccolò, Mattia di Nanni and the Development of Sienese Intarsia Techniques

Antoine M. Wilmering

• The four magnificent panels from the bench of the Sienese Signoria (Figs. 10, 11, 12 and 13), identified by Keith Christiansen and the present author as documented works by Mattia di Nanni, mark the climax of intarsia making in Siena, an art developed and refined over a period of more than a century. They also bear eloquent testimony to the assertion of the most famous Sienese woodworker, Domenico di Niccolo, that Mattia was his one pupil who had excelled. Indeed, the panels demonstrate that the pupil surpassed his master in both technical execution and artistic expression. An appreciation of the achievements of these two intarsiatori must be approached through an understanding of the craft as it developed in Orvieto as well as Siena, for it was in the choir-stalls of Orvieto cathedral, largely carried out under the direction of Sienese masters, that figurative intarsia makes its first appearance.'