Santa Maria della Scala

Museum paths

The Fraternity of the Obedient to Most Holy Mary, which later became the Society of Executors of Pious Dispositions, is the oldest lay company headquartered in the subterranean spaces of Santa Maria della Scala. Originally formed in the Cathedral of Siena, the existence of a fraternity dedicated to pious works is also mentioned in a letter by Saint Catherine.
On April 14, 1785 a grand ducal decision counted the company among those to be suppressed, re-forming it as the Society of Executors of Pious Dispositions dedicated to charitable works, but divesting it of its religious aspects. Only in 1792 did Grand Duke Ferdinand III definitively restore the Society as a religious brotherhood.

The Society’s artistic patrimony, which over the course of the centuries has been enriched by both furnishings and art works, thanks in part to bequests by artists to whom this same institution had given scholarships, is still today outstanding, even though most of it is conserved in the Via Roma headquarters, including numerous movable art works such as paintings and furnishings of the Sienese School. However, still conserved at Santa Maria della Scala is a beautiful wood Crucifix between terracotta figures of Saint Bernardino and Saint Catherine, which tradition holds is the very same crucifix that induced Saint Bernardino to become a Franciscan. On the Oratory’s other altar we find a canvas by Alessandro Casolani depicting the Madonna with Child and Saints Peter and Paul. The Sacristy contains, among other things, very interesting frescoes attributed to Andrea Vanni and Luca di Tommè.

During restoration work, behind an air space that had been walled in for over two centuries along a stair leading to the historic headquarters of the Society of Executors of Pious Dispositions, a vast early Fourteenth-century fresco cycle depicting a Hermitage came to light, referable to the sphere of Ambrogio Lorenzetti: this was the most important discover of the past twenty years regarding the Sienese School of painting prior to the black plague of 1348.

Finally, we must mention the collection of samples left by the main Sienese artists of the Nineteenth century. This nucleus is the fruit of work by sculptors and painters who utilized scholarships, the so-called Alunnato Biringucci, which were granted by the institution thanks to the bequests of brotherhood members and benefactors.