MAINARDI, Bastiano
(b. 1466, San Gimignano, d. 1513, Firenze)

Tomb Monument to Fra Domenico Strambi

1487
Fresco, 250 x 290 cm
Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano

Fra Domenico Strambi was a scholarly Augustinian monk, who was Benozzo Gozzoli's patron when he painted the main choir chapel in Sant'Agostino in San Gimignano. In 1487, Bastiano Mainardi, a native of San Gimignano who was a pupil of Domenico Ghirlandaio, painted on the north wall of the church (to the left of the choir) a depiction of St Gemignanus seated on his bishop's throne. Three local notables kneel before the city's patron saint. Below this scene there is a painted monument, with an inscription explaining that Strambi is buried here. It shows the deceased laid out atop a sarcophagus in an imaginary niche.