This impressive Sienese panel illustrates the story of The Flight of Cloelia, an episode from ancient Roman history that found renewed popularity during the Renaissance. In circa 508 BC, Cloelia was taken hostage by the Etruscan king Lars Porsena in exchange for his agreement to relinquish his siege on Rome, thus ending the war between the Etruscans and the Romans. Soon after her capture, Cloelia fled Porsena’s camp, crossing the Tiber on horseback and encouraging other female captives to swim after her. Upon learning of their escape, Porsena demanded the return of Cloelia and her companions. After the Romans accommodated this demand, Porsena’s anger subsided, and it was replaced instead by his admiration for Cloelia’s courage and bravery. In return, he released Cloelia and her companions, presenting them with horses upon which they rode back to Rome. The present panel records this moment of restored freedom, as Cloelia and her companions ride away from Porsena’s camp, visible at upper left, on their journey home to Rome, visible at upper right.

Although over the past few decades attributions to other Sienese Cinquecento artists have arisen for the present painting, having formerly been attributed to Beccafumi and Marco Bigio, most recently it has been secured to the hand of Giorgio di Giovanni, a military engineer and painter whose works reflect the influence of Beccafumi, Sodoma, and Peruzzii. Though largely active in Siena from about 1538 until his death in 1559, Giorgio di Giovanni is known to have spent time in Rome, where he worked on the Vatican Loggie with Giovanni da Udine. This work likely arose after his visit to Rome and is datable to circa 1525-1530.¹ The townscape in the background includes references to some of the Eternal City's most notable landmarks, including the Ponte Molle, the Castel of Sant’Angelo, the Torre delle Milizia, and the Mausoleum of Augustus. Inspiration for some of the horses, particularly the one at center, may have arisen from one of the Horse Tamers from the Piazza di Monte Cavallo on Rome’s Quirinale Hill.

Another nearly identical painting by Giorgio di Giovanni—formerly attributed to Beccafumi, Peruzzi, and Brescianino—is today in the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence.² Interestingly, both that and the present panel, despite their similarities in composition and size, may have simultaneously belonged in the collection of Antonio Barberini (1607-1671), the nephew of Pope Urban VIII, in Rome, as suggested by references in at least two seventeenth century inventories. In his 1644 inventory of the Palazzo Barberini, two works of similar descriptions are listed in the same room off the Stanza di Parnaso and are described as being by Beccafumi, known also as Micherino da Siena. One panel (inv. no. 289) is described as “a picture with six women on horseback who are crossing the Tiber with three horses, two on each horse, with Rome in the distance, from the hand of Micherino da Siena, with a carved wooden frame, partly gilded.”³ The second panel (inv. no. 282) is described as “an overdoor, painted on panel, with several women on horseback crossing the Tiber, from the hand of Micherino di Siena, with a carved wooden frame, all gilded.”⁴ These pictures are recorded again with slightly more specificity, in the same room in the inventory made after Antonio Barberini’s death in 1671.⁵

1. Santoro 1990, p. 352, cat. no. 70.

2. Inv. no. 6057 / 1890, oil on panel, 74 by 112 cm.

3. As translated, “un quadro con sei donna a cavallo, che passano il tevere con tre cavalli a due cavallo, con Roma in lontananza di mano di Micherino da Siena con cornice di noce intagliata parte dorata.”

4. As translated, “un Quadro per sopraporto in tavola, con alcune donne a cavallo, che passono il…di mano di Micherino di Siena, con cornice di noce intagliata tutta d’oro.”

5. No. 289 in the 1644 inventory seems to correspond with no. 106 in this later inventory, while no. 282 in the old inventory seems to correspond with no. 114. Number 106 in the 1671 inventory lists “A picture painted on panel with the story of Cleria [Cloelia] fleeing from Porsenna with six female figures, the work of Micherino da Siena, 3 ½ palms high and 5 palms long in a wooden frame with gilding, number 1 – 100- [scudi]. As translated “un Quadro in tavola con l’Istoria di cleria che fugge da Porsena con sei figure di donne opera di Micherino da Siena di pmi 3 ½ d altezza a pmi 5 largo, con cornice color di noce intagliate indorata no. 1 – 100 -.” Number 114 in the 1671 inventory lists, “An overdoor by Micherino da Siena showing the story of Cloelia with a wooden frame edged with gold and carved, no. 1 – 100 [scudi]. As translated, “un Quadro sopraporto di Micherino da Siena rappresenta l’Istoria di Cleria con cornice color di noce profilata d’oro intagliata, no. 1 – 100.