Simone Martini

Simone Martini
Petrarch's Virgil (title page)(c. 1336) Illuminated manuscript, 29,5 x 20 cm Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan
Born	Simone Martini c. 1284 Siena,Republic of Siena
Died	July 1344(1344-07-00)(aged 59–60) Avignon,Comtat Venaissin,Papal States
Nationality	Italian
Education	Duccio di Buoninsegna
Known for	Painting,Fresco
Notable work	Annunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanus
Movement	International Gothic

Simone Martini(c. 1284– July 1344) was an Italian painter born inSiena. He was a major figure in the development of early Italian painting and greatly influenced the development of theInternational Gothicstyle.

It is thought that Martini was a pupil ofDuccio di Buoninsegna,the leading Sienese painter of his time. According to late Renaissance art biographerGiorgio Vasari,Simone was instead a pupil ofGiotto di Bondone,with whom he went to Rome to paint at theOld St. Peter's Basilica,Giotto also executing a mosaic there. Martini's brother-in-law was the artistLippo Memmi.Very little documentation of Simone's life survives, and many attributions are debated by art historians. According to E. H. Gombrich, he was a friend of Petrarch and had painted a portrait of Laura.

Biography

Simone was doubtlessly apprenticed from an early age, as would have been the normal practice. Among his first documented works is theMaestàof 1315 in thePalazzo PubblicoinSiena.Lippo Memmi painted a similarMaestàfor the Palazzo Comunale inSan Gimignanoshortly afterwards, an example of the enduring influence Simone's prototypes would have on other artists throughout the 14th century. Perpetuating the Sienese tradition, Simone's style contrasted with the sobriety and monumentality ofFlorentineart, and is noted for its soft, stylized, decorative features, sinuosity of line, and courtly elegance. Simone's art owes much to Frenchmanuscript illuminationand ivory carving: examples of such art were brought to Siena in the fourteenth century by means of theVia Francigena,a main pilgrimage and trade route from Northern Europe to Rome.

Simone's other major works include theSaint Louis of Toulouse Crowning His Brother Robert of Anjou(1317, nowMuseo di Capodimonte,Naples); this work was painted during a stay in Naples at the request of the king. During this stay, putative pupils were his son Francesco,Gennaro di Cola,andStefanone.

Simone also painted theSaint Catherine of Alexandria PolyptychinPisa(1319) and theAnnunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanusat theUffiziinFlorence(1333), as well as frescoes in theSan Martino Chapelin the lower church of theBasilica of San Francesco d'Assisi.Francis Petrarchbecame a friend of Simone's while in Avignon, and two of Petrarch's sonnets (Canzoniere96 and 130) make reference to a portrait ofLaura de Novesthat Simone supposedly painted for the poet (according to Vasari). AChrist Discovered in the Temple(1342) is in the collections of Liverpool'sWalker Art Gallery.

Simone Martini died while in the service of thePapal courtatAvignonin 1344.

Gallery

• 
  TheAnnunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanus,1333
• 
  Annunciation Diptych,1333
• 
  Saint Catherine of Alexandria Polyptych,1319
• 
  Virgin and Child with Saints(Boston Polyptych), c. 1321–25
• 
  The Miracle of the Child Attacked and Rescuedfrom theBlessed Agostino Novello Triptych,c. 1328
• 
  Christ Discovered in the Temple,1342
• 
  Maestà,1315,Palazzo Pubblico,Siena
• 
  Detail of theMaesta

See also

• Memmo di Filippuccio

Sources

• Vasari, Giorgio; translation by George Bull (1965).Lives of the Artists.Penguin Classics.

External links

• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913)."Simone Martini".Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.
• Frescoes by Simone Martini in the Lower Basilica in Assisi
• Art of Simone Martini
• Simone Martini– Gothic Painter
• Simone Martini at the National Gallery of Art