PINTURICCHIO
(b. ca. 1454, Perugia, d. 1513, Siena)

The Coronation of Pope Pius III

1509
Fresco
Duomo, Siena

This fresco is on the entrance wall to the Piccolomini Library in the left aisle of the cathedral in Siena. It records an event that took place on October 8, 1503 in front of the old St Peter's. The painter must have executed this work at the behest of the heirs, for the new pope died a mere ten days after the event depicted. The fresco was heavily overpainted in the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, and it was restored in the 1960s.