Simone Martini | |
|---|---|
 Petrarch's Virgil (title page) (c. 1336) Illuminated manuscript, 29,5 x 20 cm Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan | |
| Born | Simone Martini c. 1284 |
| Died | July 1344(1344-07-00) (aged 59–60) |
| 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 Gothic style.
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.
Simone was doubtlessly apprenticed from an early age, as would have been the normal practice. Among his first documented works is theMaestà of 1315 in thePalazzo Pubblico inSiena.[1] Lippo Memmi painted a similarMaestà for the Palazzo Comunale inSan Gimignano shortly 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 ofFlorentine art, and is noted for its soft, stylized, decorative features, sinuosity of line, and courtly elegance. Simone's art owes much to Frenchmanuscript illumination and 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.[2][3]
Simone also painted theSaint Catherine of Alexandria Polyptych inPisa (1319) and theAnnunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanus at theUffizi inFlorence (1333), as well as frescoes in theSan Martino Chapel[1] in the lower church of theBasilica of San Francesco d'Assisi. He was commissioned to paint a series of frescos for the porch of theAvignon Cathedral of which only the faintsinopia outlines remains.Francis Petrarch became a friend of Simone's while in Avignon, and two of Petrarch's sonnets (Canzoniere 96 and 130) make reference to a portrait ofLaura de Noves that 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 court atAvignon in 1344 having likely moved there in 1334 or 1335.
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