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Simone Martini (c. 1284 – c. 1344) was an Italian
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 painter born in Siena
Siena

Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site....
. He was a major figure in the development of early Italian painting and greatly influenced the development of the International Gothic
International Gothic

International Gothic is a phase of Gothic art which developed in Burgundy , Bohemia, France and northern Italy in the late 14th century and early 15th century....
 style. It is thought that Martini was a pupil of Duccio di Buoninsegna
Duccio

Duccio di Buoninsegna was one of the most influential Italian art of his time. Born in Siena, Tuscany, he worked mostly with pigment and egg tempera and like most of his contemporaries he painted religious subject matters....
, the leading Sienese painter of his time. His brother-in-law was the artist Lippo Memmi
Lippo Memmi

Lippo Memmi was an Italy painter from Siena. He was the foremost follower of Simone Martini, who was his brother-in-law.Together with Martini, in 1333 he painted one of the masterworks of the International Gothic, the Annunciation for the Sienese church of Sant'Ansano ....
. Very little documentation survives regarding Simone's life, and many attributions are debated by art historians.






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Simone Martini (c. 1284 – c. 1344) was an Italian
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 painter born in Siena
Siena

Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site....
. He was a major figure in the development of early Italian painting and greatly influenced the development of the International Gothic
International Gothic

International Gothic is a phase of Gothic art which developed in Burgundy , Bohemia, France and northern Italy in the late 14th century and early 15th century....
 style. It is thought that Martini was a pupil of Duccio di Buoninsegna
Duccio

Duccio di Buoninsegna was one of the most influential Italian art of his time. Born in Siena, Tuscany, he worked mostly with pigment and egg tempera and like most of his contemporaries he painted religious subject matters....
, the leading Sienese painter of his time. His brother-in-law was the artist Lippo Memmi
Lippo Memmi

Lippo Memmi was an Italy painter from Siena. He was the foremost follower of Simone Martini, who was his brother-in-law.Together with Martini, in 1333 he painted one of the masterworks of the International Gothic, the Annunciation for the Sienese church of Sant'Ansano ....
. Very little documentation survives regarding Simone's life, and many attributions are debated by art historians. Simone Martini died while in the service of the Papal court
Avignon Papacy

In the history of the Roman Catholic Church, the Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1377 during which seven popes, all List of French popes-speaking, resided in Avignon, :...
 at Avignon
Avignon

Avignon is a Communes of France in the Vaucluse Departments of France in southeastern France with an estimated mid-2004 population of 89,300 in the city itself and a population of 290,466 in the aire urbaine at the 1999 census....
 in 1344.

Simone was doubtlessly apprenticed from an early age, as would have been the normal practice. Among his first documented works is the Maestà of 1315 in the Palazzo Pubblico
Palazzo Pubblico

The Palazzo Pubblico is a palace in the city of Siena, located in the Tuscany region of Italy. Construction began in 1297 and its original purpose was to house the republican government, consisting of the Podesta and Council of Nine....
 in Siena
Siena

Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site....
. A copy of the work, executed shortly thereafter by Lippo Memmi in San Gimignano
San Gimignano

San Gimignano is a small Defensive wall Middle Ages hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. It is mainly famous for its medieval architecture, especially its towers, which may be seen from several kilometers outside the town....
, testifies to the enduring influence Simone's prototypes would have on other artists throughout the fourteenth century. Perpetuating the Sienese tradition, Simone's style contrasted with the sobriety and monumentality of Florentine
Florence

Florence is the Capital city of the Italy Regions of Italy of Tuscany and of the provinces of Italy Province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany and has a population of 364,779 ....
 art, and is noted for its soft, stylized, decorative features, sinuosity of line, and unsurpassed courtly elegance. Simone's art owes much to French manuscript illumination
Illuminated manuscript

An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the Writing is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and Miniature ....
 and ivory carving: examples of such art were brought to Siena in the fourteenth century by means of the Via Francigena
Via Francigena

The Via Francigena is an ancient road between Rome and Canterbury, passing through England, France, Switzerland and Italy. It was an important medieval road and Pilgrimage connecting north-western Europe with Rome....
, a main pilgrimage and trade route from Northern Europe to Rome.

Simone's major works include the Maestà (1315) in the Palazzo Pubblico
Palazzo Pubblico

The Palazzo Pubblico is a palace in the city of Siena, located in the Tuscany region of Italy. Construction began in 1297 and its original purpose was to house the republican government, consisting of the Podesta and Council of Nine....
 in Siena
Siena

Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site....
, St Louis of Toulouse
Louis of Toulouse

Saint Louis of Toulouse was a cadet of the royal France house of Anjou who was made a Catholic bishop. The Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, city and county of San Luis Obispo, California, are named after him....
 Crowning the King at the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples (1317), the S. Caterina Polyptych
Polyptych

A polyptych generally refers to a painting which is divided into four or more sections, or panels. Polyptych may also be used to refer collectively to all multi-panel paintings....
 in Pisa
Pisa

Pisa is a city in Tuscany, central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the Arno River on the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa....
 (1319) and the Annunciation
Annunciation

In Christianity, the Annunciation is the revelation to Mary, the mother of Jesus, by the angel Gabriel that she would Conception a child to be born the Son of God....
 and two Saints at the Uffizi
Uffizi

The Uffizi Gallery , one of the oldest and most famous art museums in the world, is housed in the Palazzo degli Uffizi, a palazzo in Florence, Italy, Italy....
 in Florence
Florence

Florence is the Capital city of the Italy Regions of Italy of Tuscany and of the provinces of Italy Province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany and has a population of 364,779 ....
 (1333), as well as frescoes in the Chapel of St. Martin in the lower church of the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi
Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi

The Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi in Assisi, Italy, is the burial place of Francis of Assisi and the mother church of the Franciscan Order....
. Francis Petrarch
Petrarch

Francesco Petrarca , known in English language as Petrarch, was an Italy scholar, poet and one of the earliest Renaissance humanism. Petrarch is often popularly called the "Father of Humanism"....
 became a friend of Simone's while in Avignon, and two of Petrarch's sonnets make reference to a portrait of Laura de Noves
Laura de Noves

File:Francesco Petrarca01.jpgLaura de Noves was the wife of Count Hugues de Sade . She could be the Laura that the Humanist poet Francesco Petrarch wrote about extensively; however she has never been positively identified as such....
 Simone supposedly painted for the poet.

Gallery

Image:Simone Martini - The Annunciation and Two Saints.JPG|The Annunciation with St. Margaret and St. Asano, 1333 Image:Simone Martini 020.jpg|Christ Discovered in the Temple, 1342 Image:Simone_Martini_047.jpg|detail depicting Saint Clare of Assisi from a fresco
Fresco

Fresco is any of several related painting types, done on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Italian word affresco which derives from the adjective fresco , which has Latin origins....
 (1312–20) in the Lower basilica of San Francesco
Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi

The Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi in Assisi, Italy, is the burial place of Francis of Assisi and the mother church of the Franciscan Order....
, Assisi
Assisi

Assisi , is a town in Italy in province of Perugia, Italy, in the Umbria Regions of Italy, on the western flank of Monte Subasio. It is the birthplace of St Francis of Assisi, who founded the Franciscan religious order in the town in 1208, and Clare of Assisi , the founder of the Poor Clares....
 Image:Simone Martini 012.jpg|Madonna with the Holy Ones, 1319

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