Simone Martini

Background

Simone Martini was born about 1284 in Siena, Italy.

Education

The relationship between Simone's fresco and Duccio di Buoninsegna's "Maestà" altarpiece of 1311 for the Cathedral of Siena, in the theme of the "Madonna in Majesty" and in the figure types, suggests, that Simone may have received his training in the shop of that earlier Sienese master.

Career

The earliest evidence of Simone's activity is the "Maestà" fresco in the Palazzo Pubblico (Town Hall) in Siena, signed and dated 1315 (restored and perhaps revised by Simone's himself in 1321).

The divergence from Duccio's primarily Italo-Byzantine form and expression indicates, that Simone's art was rooted in the French Gothic tradition, although there is still no answer to the question of whether he actually worked in France in his earlier years. In the courtly treatment of the subject, the emphasis on richly decorative detail and the naturalness of space and scale, Simone's fresco announces a new Sienese style.

The Virgin's specific role as protector of Siena is conveyed by the location of the fresco in the Council Room of the Town Hall, by a moralizing inscription on justice and oppression and by the presence of the patron saints of the town. About 1317, King Robert of Anjou called Simone to Naples and knighted the painter during his stay.

The French accent in Simone's art was welcome at the Angevin court. "St. Louis of Toulouse Crowning Robert of Anjou" (Naples) depicts the saint, canonized in 1317, receiving the heavenly crown and bestowing on his brother the secular crown of the Angevins, thereby renouncing his right to the throne. The altarpiece thus served as both votive icon and testimony to the right of kingship. Simone reveals in this work his consummate skill in the use of the tempera medium and ornamented gold leaf. A series of small scenes (predella) beneath the main panel, depicting episodes from the life of St. Louis, heralds the painter's subsequent works in the varieties of spatial construction and the dramatic force of figure groupings, facial expressions and gestures. The Renaissance preoccupation of a century later with methods of space depiction had its origins in such early Sienese works. Following the sojourn in Naples, Simone worked in Pisa ("Madonna and Saints", 1319) and Orvieto ("Madonna and Saints", 1320).

In the "St. Martin" frescoes, the entire range of the artist's vision and method unfolds: the sophisticated rendering of interior space and details of architectural setting; a rich interplay of linear rhythms, subtly variegated and luminous colors, and elaborately ornamented costumes and trappings; the close observation of facial expression and a clear division of the personages of a narrative into a social hierarchy through the differentiation of types.

The fresco of Guidoriccio faces Simone's earlier "Maestà" so that in the same official room the religious and secular protectors of the city are confronted. The condottiere had liberated the Tuscan fortress-towns of Montemassi and Sassoforte in 1328. He rides his handsomely bedecked horse proudly in the foreground, both master and steed displaying the armorial device of diamond and vine. At the crest of the barren landscape the besieged towns rise in stark silhouette against the deep-blue background, while the general's encampment holds the far-right hill and valley. This fresco stands as the first in a series of equestrian portraits of heroes in Italian medieval and Renaissance art.

In contrast to the concern for time and place in the frescoes, the "Annunciation" altarpiece, painted in 1333 for the Cathedral of Siena (now in Florence), emits an atmosphere of sublime unreality. The inscription on the panel records, that Lippo Memmi, whose sister Simone had married in 1324, collaborated on the altarpiece. In its elegance of line and rhythm, the exquisitely rendered details of costume, setting and flower symbols and the fragile sentiment of the participants in the sacred event, the "Annunciation" is a supreme masterpiece in the history of lyrical art.

Simone spent his last years at the papal court in Avignon, where he arrived in 1340, accompanied by his brother and collaborator, Donato. They came to Avignon as artists and as official representatives of the Church in Siena. "The Holy Family" (1342) is the only one signed and dated work, known from this period in France. Frescoes in the Cathedral are in a ruined state. A group of four small panels with scenes of the "Passion" and an "Annunciation" diptych (now in various museums) project a fervent emotionalism and dramatic tension, matched only by the late sculpture of Giovanni Pisano.

In Avignon, Simone and the poet-humanist Petrarch formed a close friendship. The painter executed a frontispiece for Petrarch's copy of "Commentaries on Virgil" (now in Milan), and the poet records in one of his sonnets, that Simone painted a portrait, now lost, of his beloved Laura.

Subsequent generations of lesser Sienese painters of the 14th century relied heavily on Simone's model, but a more crucial inheritance is found in that late Gothic mode of European art about 1400 - the International Style.

Achievements

• Simone Martini was a major figure in the development of early Italian painting and greatly influenced the development of the International Gothic style. He also brought Sienese painting into the mainstream of European art.
  
  "Annunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanus" is one of his most renowned works.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Saint Catherine of Alexandria Polyptych

    1319

  • Maestà

    1321

  • Virgin and Child with Saints (Boston Polyptych)

    1325

  • Guidoriccio da Fogliano

    1328

  • The Annunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanus

    1333

  • The Angel of the Annunciation

    1333

  • St. Luke

    1330

  • The Miracle of the Child Attacked and Rescued by Augustine Novello

    1328

  • Petrarch's Virgil

    1336

  • Christ Discovered in the Temple

    1342

  • St. Peter

    1326

Connections

In 1324, Simone married Giovanna, who was the daughter of Memmo (Guglielmo) di Filippuccio.

Wife:

Giovanna di Memmo di Filippuccio

father-in-law:

Memmo (Guglielmo) di Filippuccio

mentor:

Duccio di Buoninsegna

Duccio di Buoninsegna was an Italian painter, active in Siena, Tuscany, in the late 13th and early 14th century.

References

• Simone Martini "Simone Martini" explores what is known and can be surmised about the life of this painter. This book shows reproductions of his paintings in full colour, including the cycle of ten episodes from the life of St. Martin.
  1989
• Simone Martini Book by Marco Pierini.
  2002
• Simone Martini and Ambrogio Lorenzetti in the Town Hall of Siena Book by Aldo Cairola.
  1979
• La Maestà di Simone Martini Book by Alessandro Bagnoli.
  1999