Giovanni di Paolo (1403-1482)

Sienese painter. He ranks with Stefano di Sassetta, by whom he was influenced, as the leading Sienese painter of the 14th century. Six scenes from the life of John the Baptist from a dismembered polyptych (Chicago and National Gallery, London) are among his most striking works.

He is also known as Giovanni del Poggio, from the district of Siena where he lived. His work is individual in its imaginative simplification, and fantastic in effect, as in his Miracle of St Nicholas of Bari (Philadelphia Museum of Art).