Fresco cycle in the Palazzo Venturi, Siena (1519-23)

The Palazzo Venturi (later Palazzo Agostini then Palazzo Casini-Casuccini, now Palazzo Bindi Sergardi) is a palace in the Via dei Pellegrini, just a few steps from the Campo in Siena. Beccafumi painted here, on the ceiling in a room on the second floor, a fresco cycle with eight scenes of exemplary deeds of ancient heroes, ten medallions with scenes from ancient mythology and history, as well as twenty famous women of antiquity. The room now belongs to a private apartment.

The commission came from a member of the Venturi family. It is not clear whether Beccafumi was originally supposed to paint the walls, or at least the lunettes, in addition to the ceiling frescoes visible today. Vasari, who was the first to describe and praise the frescoes in his Vite (1550), named Marcello Agostini as the owner of the palace.