Abstract: Ten years after his assistance in payment disputes over decorations by Antonio di Simone in the Trecerchi ‘palazeto’, Francesco di Bartolomeo Alfei was himself recorded as carrying out similar work for Lodovico Martinozzi, the legitimised son of Niccolò di Angelo di Giovanni. Like Antonio di Simone, Francesco di Bartolomeo Alfei became embroiled in a dispute with his employer. This chapter considers whether the latter artist may have defaulted over completion of the work whilst involved in other commissions or because engaged in government service outside Siena. Analysing the significance of Lodovico Martinozzi's legitimacy and inheritance as well as the prestigious location of the Martinozzi palace on the Croce del Travaglio in Siena, consideration is given to a number of threads linking the artist, the Martinozzi and the Friars Minor of San Francesco.

Keywords: Martinozzi; palace on Croce del Travaglio; Franciscan connections; Beato Pietro Pettinaio; arguments and payment disputes.

According to Gaetano Milanesi, a record drawn up in late November 1475 showed that Francesco di Bartolomeo Alfei had recently been involved in painting furniture and carrying out fresco work in one of the private chambers of Lodovico di Niccolò Martinozzi. Somewhere along the way, though, the two men appear to have fallen out. But there seems to be some confusion about the course of events in this particular case; not least about the identity of the individual Milanesi cites in the ‘Archivio detto, filza 1 dei Lodi di Ser Priamo Cecchini’.

In a Mercanzia register entitled ‘Manualis Mei priami Ambrosis Not(ar)is: Curie mercantie in k(a)l(en)dis Julii vice prima’ there are indeed a number of references during the latter months of 1475 to an individual named Francesco di Bartolomeo, including several references to his being absent from Siena during those periods. However, no reference is made in any of the entries in that register to the painter Francesco di Bartolomeo Alfei or to the affairs of Lodovico di Niccolò Martinozzi. It seems, in fact, that the Francesco di Bartolomeo cited there was Francesco di Bartolomeo di Francesco Guglielmi; his name being laid out in full by the notary Meo di Priamo on the first page and elsewhere, as one of the residing officials of the Mercanzia in the second half of 1475.