Born Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, Il Sodoma's work bridges the High Renaissance and Mannerist styles. He was active chiefly in and around Siena, where he settled in 1501.

St. Sebastian

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A contemporary critic explains the origin of his nickname - "the sodomite" - in this fashion: "His manner of life was licentious and dishonorable, and as he always boys and beardless youths about him of whom he was inordinately fond, this earned him the nickname of Sodoma; but instead of feeling shame, he gloried in it, writing stanzas and verses on it, singing them to the accompaniment of the lute."