new artistic language of the Renaissance period. Santa Maria della Scala, Siena was one of Europe's first hospitals, and whilst it is now a museum on display, it is still one of the oldest hospital buildings surviving today. The hospital is conveniently located across both the Siena Cathedral and the Opera del Duomo, where Domenico also completed commissioned works around the same time. The hospital was also, at one point in time, one of the wealthiest and most powerful institutions in Siena. The hospital's significance extended beyond serving as the central ward for the city and its surrounding territories. It also functioned as a charitable institution. The hospital was facilitated by a wide and diverse range of committees that were considered prominent citizens. In particular, the committee included main artists who employed their own group of painters and sculptors to help decorate the wards and the church within the building. Some of the earlier contributors to the hospital from the Trecento period include Ambrogio Lorenzetti and Pietro Lorenzetti. The hospital became the ultimate destination to host meaningful Sienese art. During the time that Domenico di Bartolo was employed to paint sections of the hospital, the primary artist in charge of decorating the interior frescoes was Bartolomeo Bulgarini. Each fresco that was to be produced would display some kind of attribution to the hospital's philanthropic work. Domenico was but a minor artist to contribute to the artistic works within the building. The six frescoes he did produce however, were acknowledged by many art historians to be unique and incorporative of Gothic styles. Consequently, one could never mistake Domenico's frescoes to be executed by a Florentine. During this time, Domenico began to display greater interest in his own native art, and many of the paintings were carried out with strong Sienese elements. The frescoes that Domenico produced were located on the walls of the Pellegrinaio di Santa Maria della Scala, which served as a ward for sick patients at the time. Pellegrinaio is alternatively referred to as the Pilgrim's Hall, and the art that decorates the hall's interiors serves to represent as a strong proof of artistic development over the progressive years since the hospital had first been built in 1268. The project to decorate the Pilgrim's hall was first proposed by Giovanni di Francesco Buzzichelli (1434–1444). Giovanni is the one who summoned both Vecchietta and Domenico di Bartolo to carry out