Simone Martini: A Love of Harmony and Pure Color

Simone Martini - Maestà (Madonna with Angels and Saints) - 1315 - Fresco, 763 x 970 cm - Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Italy (click photo for larger image)Italian Gothic Era painter Simone Martine (ca. 1285-1344) was an important exponent of Gothic painting, who did more than any other artist to spread the influence of Sienese painting. Simone was very possibly a pupil of Duccio di Buoninsegna, from whom he probably inherited his love of harmonious, pure colors and most of his early figure types. To these he added a gracefulness of line and delicacy of interpretation that were inspired by French Gothic works that the young artist studied in Italy. He carried to perfection the decorative line of the Gothic style and subordinated volume to the rhythm of this line.

Simone’s earliest documented painting is the large fresco of the Maestà in the Sala del Mappamondo of the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Simone painted it as the ideal of the good and just government. This is the oldest painting that can be safely attributed to the artist. The end wall of the Sala del Mappamondo (formerly known as Sala del Consiglio) is entirely covered by this fresco. Surrounded by a frame decorated with twenty medallions depicting the Blessing Christ, the Prophets and the Evangelists and with smaller shields containing the coat-of-arms of Siena, the fresco shows a host of angels, Saints and Apostles, with the Madonna and Child in the center. The whole scene, set against a deep blue background, is surmounted by an imposing canopy of red silk.

The most obvious innovations present in Simone's style are his ideas of three-dimensional space. The supporting poles of the canopy are placed in perspective, thus giving a sense of depth to the composition. Under the canopy there is a crowd of thirty people: no more processions of people in parallel rows, but concrete spacial rhythms and animated gestures.