GIOVANNI ANTONIO, surnamed IL Sodoma, an eminent Italian painter, was born at Vercelli in Piedmont. Reading about 1474. He first became notable at Siena as an artist of very eccentric conduct. Much of his attention was directed to horse-racing and other frivolous amusements. His house was turned into a menagerie for all sorts of animals. He prided himself in his whimsicalities, and gloried in the nickname of mattaccio (buffoon). He even could not refrain from leaving traces of levity in some of his serious paintings. Yet Razzi had a fine genius, which in his calmer and more collected moods rose to some of the highest excellences in art. Speaking of some of his select works at Siena, Annibale Caracci declared that "few such works were to be seen." There were "The Epiphany" in the church of S. Agostino, rivaling the style of Leonardo da Vinci; "The Scourging of Christ," in the cloister of S. Francesco, noted for the surpassing excellence of its figures; and "The Swoon of St Catherine of Siena," in a chapel of S. Domenica, enthusiastically admired by Peruzzi. Razzi died in the great hospital at Siena in 1554.