Ambrogio Lorenzetti

Background

Ambrogio Lorenzetti was born in 1290, in Siena, Toscana, Italy. He is the younger brother of painter Pietro Lorenzetti.

Education

It is not known who Ambrogio’s teacher was, but his early works indicate that he early received his main inspiration from the art of Duccio, his brother Pietro, and Giotto.

Career

Although having done work in Florence, Ambrogio Lorenzetti was known within the Sienese School of painters. That school of painting from Siena, Italy, was an elegant style that was said to rival, at time, even the Florentine painters throughout the 13th and 15th centuries.

Lorenzetti’s work survived in history with a painting from 1328 that contains the first documented existence of the hourglass. Though he also contributed a piece of historic relevance, called "Well-Governed Town and Country", which is a pictorial encyclopedia that depicts an idealistic countryside, or medieval “borgo.” That piece was a familiar style of Lorenzetti’s from frescos he created on the walls of Sala dei Nove (Hall of the Nine), or the Sala della Pace (Hall of Peace) in Siena’s Palazzo Pubblico. They are important works in Siena’s preservation of history and exhibit the artist as an astute political and moral observer.

Those frescos, painted from 1337 – 1339, were secular representations of allegorical figures of virtue in how a republic was governed. Aside from "Well-Governed Town and Country" there are three more, less preserved frescos, "Allegory of Good Government", "Effects of Good Government", and "Allegory of Bad Government and its effects on Town and Country." They are complex, panoramic works that contained the Gothic influence of other Sienese painters like Simone Martini.

Though, Lorenzetti’s work showed more of a naturalistic approach than that of Martini or another Sienese artist, Duccio. Another influence the artist had was that of his brother, the painter Pietro Lorenzetti. The Lorenzetti brothers are both attributed for having introduced that naturalistic approach in the Sienese School. Through his brother, Ambrogio’s influence can also be traced to that of Giotto.

Very few of Lorenzetti’s pieces have survived and his earliest known work was the "Madonna and Child", painted in 1319. His other works, additional to the wall frescos on the Sala dei Nove, include a fresco at San Francesco, titled "The Investiture of St. Louis of Toulouse", created in 1329, an altarpiece in San Procolo from 1332, titled "Madonna and Child with Saints Nicholas and Proculus", another fresco at San Francesco, titled "Franciscan Martyrdom at Bombay", created in 1336, and an altarpiece of Santa Petronilla commissioned for the altar of San Crescenzo in Siena Cathedral from 1342.

It is sometimes mentioned that Lorenzetti’s work was in a style that anticipated the Italian Renaissance. As the bubonic plague ravaged the area during his time, it is believed that that is how both the Lorenzetti brothers died.

Achievements

Ambrogio Lorenzetti's most revolutionary achievement - one of the most remarkable accomplishments of the Renaissance - is the fresco series that lines three walls of the room in the Palazzo Pubblico where Siena's chief magistrates, the Nine, held their meetings. These frescoes are collectively known as "Allegory and Effects of Good and Bad Government."

Works

Bad Government and the Effects of Bad Government on the City Life Bad Government and the Effects of Bad Government on the City Life

Altarpiece of St Proculus Altarpiece of St Proculus

Scenes of the Life of St Nicholas Scenes of the Life of St Nicholas

$Madonna of Vico L\'Abate Madonna of Vico L\'Abate$ Madonna and Child Madonna and Child

The Charity of Saint Nicholas of Bari (left Wing of the Altarpiece) The Charity of Saint Nicholas of Bari (left Wing of the Altarpiece)

Martyrdom of the Franciscans Martyrdom of the Franciscans

A Group of Four Poor Clares A Group of Four Poor Clares

Madonna and Child with Mary Magdalene and St Dorothea Madonna and Child with Mary Magdalene and St Dorothea

Pope Boniface VIII Receiving St Louis of Toulouse as a Novice Pope Boniface VIII Receiving St Louis of Toulouse as a Novice

$Small Maest\u00E0 Small Maest\u00E0$ Allegory of the Good Government Allegory of the Good Government

The Presentation in the Temple The Presentation in the Temple

$Madonna with Angels and Saints (Maest\u00E0) Madonna with Angels and Saints (Maest\u00E0)$ Scenes of the Life of St Nicholas Scenes of the Life of St Nicholas

painting
- Bad Government and the Effects of Bad Government on the City Life
- Altarpiece of St Proculus
- Scenes of the Life of St Nicholas
- Madonna of Vico L'Abate
- Madonna and Child
- The Charity of Saint Nicholas of Bari (left Wing of the Altarpiece)
- Martyrdom of the Franciscans
- A Group of Four Poor Clares
- Annunciation
- Madonna and Child with Mary Magdalene and St Dorothea
- Pope Boniface VIII Receiving St Louis of Toulouse as a Novice
- Small Maestà
- Allegory of the Good Government
- St Michael
- The Presentation in the Temple
- Madonna with Angels and Saints (Maestà)
- Scenes of the Life of St Nicholas
- Nursing Madonna

Membership

Ambrogio was the member of the Sienese School of painting during the fourteenth century.

Personality

Ambrogio is seen as an acute observer, an empirical explorer of linear and aerial perspective, and a political and moral philosopher.

Main Photo