Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Sienese painter, sculptor, architect and engineer, belongs to a select group of Renaissance practitioners, including Brunelleschi, Alberti, Michelangelo, Peruzzi, and, of course, Leonardo da Vinci, who excelled in several of the arts at the same time. A native of Siena, he may have been trained by Vecchietta (1410-1480), both a successful painter and sculptor. Francesco di Giorgio's early career, however, is too poorly documented to make any definitive judgments.

The tablet originating from the Biccherna (revenue office) was recently attributed to Francesco di Giorgio. It depicts the scene when Pope Pius II (Enea Silvio Piccolomini) names Cardinal his nephew Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini.

This is one of the small panels that served as book covers for the semiannual ledgers of the biccherna and gabella, the financial and fiscal offices of the commune of Siena. The tradition of binding the ledger volumes with painted wood panels was instituted in 1257 and the oldest preserved panel covers the accounts of the second semester of 1258. The Archivio di Stato in Siena has a collection of over a hundred of these panels.

The earliest covers usually show the camerlengo (the chief financial officer of the Republic), often a monk from the Cistercian abbey of San Galgano, as he writes in his account book, counts or disburses money, or supervises a clerk. The covers always display the coats of arms of at least four leading citizens who served as provveditori charged with overseeing the financial proceedings. The names of all these officers are prominently mentioned on the lower half of the panels, thus vouching for the accuracy of the accounts.

While most of the panels of the 13th and 14th centuries are anonymous, we find among the later panels attributions to Paolo di Giovanni Fei, Giovanni di Paolo, Sano di Pietro, Francesco di Giorgio Martini, and Benvenuto di Giovanni. Some 15th century panels record important events of Sienese history, such as the coronation of Pius II on a biccherna of 1460, or the Virgin protecting Siena from an earthquake on the biccherna of 1467.

Inscription:

QUESTA E’ L’ENTRATA E L’USCITA DELLA GENERAKABELLA DEL COMUNO DI SIENA AL TEMPO DE’ SAVI HUOMINI GIOVANNI DI MISSERE PIETRO PECCI KAMARLENGO DI KABELLA, MATHEO DI GHUIDO, GIOVANNI DI CIECHO THOMASI, MISSERE BINDO DI SER GIOVANNI BINDI, GABRIOCCIO DI NICHOLÒ THOLOMEI, ESSEGUITHORI DI KABELBELLA (a). MARIANO DI MEIO DI NANDO ISCRIPTORE DI KABELLA, SER GHUASPARRE D’ANTONIO NOTAIO (b) DI KABELLA PER SEI MESI COMINCIATI A D? PRIMO DI GENNAIO (c) 1459 E FINITI A D? ULTIMO DI GIUGNO 1460