Pietro Lorenzetti, Assisi Basilica, 1310-1329

Pietro Lorenzetti (or Pietro Laurati; c. 1280 – 1348) was an Italian painter, active between approximately 1306 and 1345. Together with his younger brother, the painter Ambrogio Lorenzetti, he helped introduce naturalism into Sienese art. In their artistry and experiments with three-dimensional and spatial arrangements, the two brothers foreshadowed the art of the Renaissance.

Overview[link]

There is little documentation on the life of Pietro Lorenzetti. Although he was born and died in Siena, the dates of his life are not precise. He was influenced by Giovanni Pisano and Giotto, and worked alongside Simone Martini at Assisi. Many of his religious works are in churches in Siena, Arezzo, and Assisi. His last documented work is the Nativity of the Virgin (c. 1335-1342), now in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. His masterwork is a tempera fresco decoration of the lower church of Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi, where he painted a series of large panels depicting Crucifixion, Deposition from the Cross, and Entombment. In these works, massed figures display emotional interactions, unlike many prior depictions which appear to be iconic agglomerations, as if independent figures had been glued on to a surface, with no compelling relationship to one and another. The narrative influence of Giotto's frescoes in the Bardi and Peruzzi Chapels in Santa Croce (Florence) and the Arena Chapel (Padua) can be seen in these and other works of the lower church. The Lorenzetti brothers and their contemporary competitor from Florence, Giotto, but also his followers Bernardo Daddi and Maso Di Banco, seeded the Italian pictorial revolution that extracted figures from the gilded ether of Byzantine iconography into pictorial worlds of towns, land, and air. Sienese iconography, generally more mystical and fantastic than that of the more naturalistic Florentines, sometimes resembles a modern surrealist landscape.

One probable conclusion can be made that he did not read Latin. ^[1](Maginnis 1) The chronology of his works is also in much debate. Pietro Lorenzetti was responsible for works in Assisi, Florence, Pistoia, and Cortona, as well as Siena.^[2] (Norman35) His influences included Duccio, who he may have worked with in his workshop possibly alongside Simone Martini, Giotto’s style is also evident, as is Giovanni Pisano and his sculpture work. ^[3](Joseph Polzer-103) Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti collaborated on a now lost fresco, which decorated the façade of the Ospedale della Scala in Siena.^[4](Smart101)

Lorenzetti is believed to have died in 1348 probably from the Black Death that swept through the area.

Works[link]

Arezzo Polyptych[link]

The Aretine polyptych is significant in that it is the first dated work of Pietro Lorenzetti, and one of only four paintings with verifiable documentation including the Carmelite Altarpiece, the Uffizi Madonna, and the Birth of the Virgin.^[5] Giovanni Freni confirms, “The dating of the altarpiece, established with certainty as c. 1320-4, has allowed scholars to identify with precision a specific stage of the painter’s activity and style.^[6]"

The Aretine polyptych is an altarpiece that was commissioned by the bishop Guido Tarlati, for the Santa Maria della Pieve, Arezzo. ^[7] This three-story tempera on panel altarpiece is resplendent in gold groundwork.

Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi[link]

One of Pietro Lorenzetti’s most ambitious and largest works was the fresco cycle of the Passion of Christ in the left transept of the Lower Church of San Francesco in Assisi. Contained within the Lower Church are seventeen frescos. These very well preserved frescos represent one of the crowning achievements of Pietro Lorenzetti’s early career, which he builds upon successfully, with the influences of “Giotto’s monumentality, the impulse of Giovanni Pisano, thirteenth century Expressionism…and the teachings of Duccio.”^[8](Bellosi 2) The exact time line of the frescos is in question; some scholars believed the cycle was painted in sections over several years as the style had some similarities to Lorenzetti’s Carmelite Altarpiece.^[9](Dini 124) The reasons are varied, from painting only in the dry season to the bloody skirmishes in the area at the time.

Believed to be one of his earliest works beginning as early as 1310 is the Madonna and Child with Saint Francis and John the Baptist, not in the Lower Church but in the chapel of Saint John the Baptist. ^[10](Dini 128)

Lorenzetti’s fresco cycle begins with The Entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, the Washing of the Feet, the Capture of Christ, the Flagellation and the Way to Calvary. These first six scenes were painted beginning at the top of the vaulted roof working to the bottom, this to avoid any possible dripping from above onto a freshly painted scene.^[11].(Bellosi 2)

The Crucifixion after them, being the largest of the frescos but also heavily damaged, is still considered one of Lorenzett’s great paintings. Two scenes on the end wall, the Deposition from the Cross and the Deposition in the Tomb, show the mourners removing Christ lovingly from the cross then placing his lifeless limp body in the tomb with slow measured movements; these demonstrate Lorenzetti’s technical ability and maturity, resembling Giotto.^[12](Dini 124)

Facing wall is the Suicide of Judas at the corner between the entrance to the transept at the top of the stairs. It is painted as to appear as part of the architecture of the transept. This is the only fresco with an inscription (scariotas).^[13](Frugoni21)

In front of the Crucifixion is the Stigmata of Saint Francis. The portrayal of the life of Saint Francis appears in the nave of the church, suggesting a parallel between the life of Christ and that of Saint Francis. Lorenzetti carries the idea further by placing Saint Francis next to the Capture of Christ replacing Agony of Garden from the original Passion story with Saint Francis.^[14](Frugoni 23)

The upper scenes on the same wall and the final two stories of the Passion cycle, the Descent of Christ to Limbo and the Resurrection are horn shaped in a small difficult space. The two scenes represent examples of similar styles to the first six scenes, especially the face of Christ.^[15](Bellosi 6)

Madonna of the Sunsets below the Crucifixion in a painted frame is the Madonna and Child, Saint John the Evangelist, and Saint Francis, Mary has a unique gesture, holding her thumb up pointing back to Saint Francis, raising his hand to accept his calling. ^[16](Frugoni 28)

The last image of Lozenzetti’s Assisi frescos, portraits of Saints Rufino, Catherine of Alexandria, Clare and Margaret appear above a bench with an artistic illusion, appearing three-dimensional.

Birth of the Virgin[link]

Pietro Lorenzetti, Birth of the Virgin, 1342. Siena, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo

A triptych altarpiece, Birth of the Virgin was commissioned for the Siena Cathedral and was completed in 1342 by Pietro Lorenzetti.^[17] This tempera on panel painting like many Sienese paintings celebrates the Virgin, the patron saint of Siena. Around this time, a majority of Sienese paintings honored the Madonna with depictions of her life. ^[18] Scenes of the Nativity of Mary, or Birth of the Virgin, are no exception.

Birth of the Virgin was the third painting in a series completed for the Siena Cathedral, which started with Duccio di Buonisegna’s Maesta and included Simone Martini’s Annunciation.^[19] Duccio, Simone, and Pietro were all members of the Sienese School. Duccio’s high altarpiece, the Maesta was commissioned in 1308.^[20] As Hyman confirms, the Maesta was “part of the Commune’s wider programme to promote and strengthen Siena’s civic identity.”^[21] The Maesta’s central panel, like many Sienese paintings, honors the Virgin through the depiction of The Virgin and Christ Enthroned in Majesty with Angels and Saints. As Hyman points out, if a viewer compares Duccio’s Maesta with Pietro’s the Birth of the Virgin, one can “…recognize Pietro’s colour-world as startlingly different: dense, saturated, opaque, planar."^[22]

Simone Martini’s altarpiece, the Annunciation, was completed in 1333 and was displayed beside Duccio’s Maesta.^[23] Again the Virgin is being glorified in Simone Martini’s altarpiece, which depicts the Annunciation, or the angel Gabriel’s announcement to the Virgin Mary that she will become the mother of Jesus. As Hyman states when comparing Duccio’s Maesta with Simone’s Annunciation, "Simone’s blue-mantled figure silhouetted against the gold was both an echo and a rupture; the still icon transformed into narrative, the hieratic divinity swept up into dramatic action."^[24]

While Duccio’s Maesta and Simone’s Annunciation were displayed behind the choir screen, Pietro’s Birth of the Virgin was on view in the central part of the Siena Cathedral.^[25] In contrast to Duccio’s regal depiction of the Virgin in the Maesta and Simone’s Annunciation with a scene that appears supernatural, the Birth of the Virgin is notable for Pietro’s representation of the Virgin in a corporeal setting. In this scene, a bath is being poured for the Virgin, midwives attend St. Anne who lounges on a plaid blanket-covered bed, and an expectant father awaits news of the birth. The figures are modeled and solid. Although the holy persons are signified with crowns of light, they appear otherwise terrestrial. If not for their crowns of light, and St. Anne’s unnaturally large body, this painting could be interpreted as a genre painting depicting the everyday lives of ordinary people. If one compares this intimate household scene adorned with richly colored textiles to the gold groundwork that creates an otherworldly effect in Simone’s Annunciation, one quickly notices that Pietro has created a more accessible Virgin.

Perhaps one of the most extraordinary qualities of Birth of the Virgin is Pietro’s use of spatial illusion. It is likely Pietro was influenced by the work of his brother, Ambrogio Lorenzentti. As Christiansen states, “…the key impetus to his experiments with centralized spatial projection was doubtless his collaboration with Ambrogio, with whom he shared workshop materials.”^[26] Pietro creates a seamless architectural world with the integration of the frame and picture plane.^[27] The vertical columns and bed frame running parallel to the picture plane create a planar composition. In addition, Pietro’s rendering of the vaulted ceilings adds dimension to the rooms and encloses this intimate scene. Depth is further generated in the left panel of the triptych, as the viewer peers outside the waiting room to see a nearby building. As Hyman affirms, "[Birth of the Virgin] reads both as a triptych… and as a deep, unified space –the most convincing interior space of the entire fourteenth century."^[28] Pietro’s innovative use of spatial illusion in Birth of the Virgin solidifies his place amongst the great masters of trecento Sienese art such as Duccio di Buonisegna, Ambrogio Lorenzetti, and Simone Martini.

See also[link]

• Sienese school

References[link]

1. ^ Maginnis, Hayden B.J. "Pietro Lorenzetti: A Chronology." Art Bulletin 66, no. 2 (June 1984): 183. Accessed April 12, 2012. http://stats.lib.pdx.edu/proxy.php?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=5315367&site=ehost-live
2. ^ Norman, Diana. Painting in Late Medieval and Renaissance Siena (1260-1555). New Haven: Yale University Press. 2003
3. ^ Polzer, Joseph. “Pietro Lorenzetti’s Artistic Origin and His Place in Trecento Sienese Painting.” Jahrbuch der Berliner Mussen 35, (1993): Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. 71-110. Accessed April 6, 2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4125907
4. ^ Smart, Alastair, The Dawn of Italian Painting 1250-1400. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 1978
5. ^ Maginnis, Hayden B. J. “Pietro Lorenzetti: A Chronology.” The Art Bulletin Vol. 66, No. 2 (Jun., 1984): 184. College Art Association. JSTOR. Web. 24 April 2012.
6. ^ Freni, Giovanni. “The Aretine Polyptych by Pietro Lorenzetti: Patronage, Iconography, and Original Setting.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes Vol. 63 (2000): 59. The Warburg Institute. JSTOR. Web. 24 April 2012.
7. ^ Maginnis, Hayden B. J. “Pietro Lorenzetti: A Chronology.” The Art Bulletin Vol. 66, No. 2 (Jun., 1984): 184. College Art Association. JSTOR. Web. 24 April 2012.
8. ^ Bellosi, Luciano. Pietro Lorenzetti at Assisi. Assisi: DACA Publications. 1988
9. ^ Dini, Giuletta Chelazzi. Angelini, Alessandro. Sani, Bernardina. Sienese Painting: From Duccio to the Birth of the Baroque. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1998
10. ^ Dini, Giuletta Chelazzi. Angelini, Alessandro. Sani, Bernardina. Sienese Painting: From Duccio to the Birth of the Baroque. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1998
11. ^ Bellosi
12. ^ Dini, Giuletta Chelazzi. Angelini, Alessandro. Sani, Bernardina. Sienese Painting: From Duccio to the Birth of the Baroque. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1998
13. ^ Frugoni, Chiara. Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Florence: Scala Books. 1988
14. ^ Frugoni, Chiara. Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Florence: Scala Books. 1988
15. ^ Bellosi, Luciano. Pietro Lorenzetti at Assisi. Assisi: DACA Publications. 1988
16. ^ Frugoni, Chiara. Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Florence: Scala Books. 1988
17. ^ Hyman, Timothy. Sienese Painting. New York: Thames & Hudson, Inc., 2003. p 90-92. Print.
18. ^ Hyman, Timothy. Sienese Painting. New York: Thames & Hudson, Inc., 2003. p 17. Print.
19. ^ Hyman, Timothy. Sienese Painting. New York: Thames & Hudson, Inc., 2003. p 90. Print.
20. ^ Hyman, Timothy. Sienese Painting. New York: Thames & Hudson, Inc., 2003. p 16. Print.
21. ^ Hyman, Timothy. Sienese Painting. New York: Thames & Hudson, Inc., 2003. p 16. Print.
22. ^ Hyman, Timothy. Sienese Painting. New York: Thames & Hudson, Inc., 2003. p 93. Print.
23. ^ Hyman, Timothy. Sienese Painting. New York: Thames & Hudson, Inc., 2003. p 60. Print.
24. ^ Hyman, Timothy. Sienese Painting. New York: Thames & Hudson, Inc., 2003. p 61. Print.
25. ^ Hyman, Timothy. Sienese Painting. New York: Thames & Hudson, Inc., 2003. p 91. Print.
26. ^ Christiansen, Keith. “Paul Delaroche’s Crucifixion by Pietro Lorenzetti.” Apollo (London. 1925). No. 492 (February 1, 2003): 13. Print. 24 April 2012.
27. ^ Maginnis, Hayden B.J. Painting in the Age of Giotto: A Historical Reevaluation. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997. p 107. Print.
28. ^ Hyman, Timothy. Sienese Painting. New York: Thames & Hudson, Inc., 2003. p 91. Print.

Giorgio Vasari includes a biography of Lorenzetti in his Lives.

• 

  The Tarlati polyptych, 1320, Arezzo

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  Madonna dei Tramonti, c.1330, Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi, Assisi, Italy

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  Saint Humility Transports Bricks to the Monastery (c.1341) Oil on wood, 45 x 32 cm. Uffizi, Florence.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pietro Lorenzetti

• Pietro Lorenzetti at the Web Gallery of Art
• Pietro Lorenzetti at Panopticon Virtual Art Gallery

Simone Martini
Petrarch's Virgil (title page) (c. 1336) Illuminated manuscript, 29,5 x 20 cm Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan
Birth name	Simone Martini
Born	c. 1284 Siena, Republic of Siena
Died	July, 1344 (Aged about 60) Avignon, Kingdom of France
Nationality	Italian
Field	Painting, Fresco
Training	Duccio di Buoninsegna
Movement	International Gothic
Works	The Annunciation with St. Margaret and St. Asano

Simone Martini (c. 1284–1344) was an Italian painter born in Siena. He was a major figure in the development of early Italian painting and greatly influenced the development of the International Gothic style.

It is thought that Martini was a pupil of Duccio di Buoninsegna, the leading Sienese painter of his time. According to late Renaissance art biographer Giorgio Vasari, Simone was instead a pupil of Giotto di Bondone, with whom he went to Rome to paint at the Old St. Peter's Basilica, Giotto also executing a mosaic there. Martini's brother-in-law was the artist Lippo Memmi. Very little documentation survives regarding Simone's life, and many attributions are debated by art historians.

Biography[link]

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 in Siena. A copy of the work, executed shortly thereafter by Lippo Memmi in San Gimignano, testifies to 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 of Florentine art, and is noted for its soft, stylized, decorative features, sinuosity of line, and courtly elegance. Simone's art owes much to French manuscript illumination and ivory carving: examples of such art were brought to Siena in the fourteenth century by means of the Via Francigena, a main pilgrimage and trade route from Northern Europe to Rome.

Simone's other major works include the St. Louis of Toulouse Crowning the King at the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples (1317), the Saint Catherine of Alexandria Polyptych in Pisa (1319) and the Annunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanus at the Uffizi in Florence (1333), as well as frescoes in the San Martino Chapel in the lower church of the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi. 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 of Laura de Noves that Simone supposedly painted for the poet (according to Vasari).

A Christ Discovered in the Temple (1342) is in the collections of Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery.

Simone Martini died while in the service of the Papal court at Avignon in 1344.

Gallery[link]

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  The Annunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanus, 1333

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  Saint Catherine of Alexandria Polyptych, 1319

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  Virgin and Child with Saints (Boston Polyptych), c. 1321-5

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  The Miracle of the child attacked and rescued by Augustine Novello, c. 1328

Sources[link]

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

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Simone Martini

• Simone Martini Works at Artst.org
• Simone Martini at Panopticon Virtual Art Gallery
•  "Simone Martini". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. 
• Art of Simone Martini

v t e Petrarch Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374) Works Poetry Canzoniere (Rerum vulgarium fragmenta) Africa Trionfi Bucolicum carmen Treatises De viris illustribus De remediis utriusque fortunae De vita solitaria De otio religiosorum Rerum memorandarum libri Epistles Familiares Ascent of Mont Ventoux Liber sine nomine Seniles Letter to Posterity Others Secretum Itinerarium syriacum Related people Philippe de Cabassoles Laura de Noves Ser Petracco Stefano Colonna Dionigi di Borgo San Sepolcro Francescuolo da Brossano Giovanni Boccaccio Dante Alighieri Robert, King of Naples Francesco Nelli Simone Martini Miscellaneous Petrarch's library Petrarchan sonnet Petrarch's and Shakespeare's Sonnets Arquà Petrarca Chaucer coming in contact with Petrarch or Boccaccio Renaissance humanism Italian literature Avignon Papacy Dark Ages Poet Laureate

Ambrogio Lorenzetti
Birth name	Ambrogio Lorenzetti
Born	c. 1285/1290 Siena, Italy
Died	9 June 1348
Nationality	Italian
Field	Painting, Fresco
Movement	Gothic
Works	Allegory of good government, Allegory of bad government

Ambrogio Lorenzetti (or Ambruogio Laurati) (c. 1290 – 9 June 1348) was an Italian painter of the Sienese school. He was active between approximately 1317 to 1348. His elder brother was the painter Pietro Lorenzetti.

His work shows the influence of Simone Martini, although more naturalistic. The earliest dated work of the Sienese painter is a Madonna and Child (1319, Museo Diocesano, San Casciano). His presence was documented in Florence up until 1321. He would return there after spending a number of years in Siena.^[1]

The frescoes on the walls of the Room of the Nine (Sala dei Nove) or Room of Peace (Sala della Pace) in the Palazzo Pubblico of Siena are one of the masterworks of early renaissance secular painting. The "nine" was the oligarchal assembly of guild and monetary interests that governed the republic. Three walls are painted with frescoes consisting of a large assembly of allegorical figures of virtues in the Allegory of Good Government.^[2] In the other two facing panels, Ambrogio weaves panoramic visions of Effects of Good Government on Town and Country, and Allegory of Bad Government and its Effects on Town and Country (also called "Ill-governed Town and Country"). The better preserved "well-governed town and country" is an unrivaled pictorial encyclopedia of incidents in a peaceful medieval "borgo" and countryside.

The first evidence of the existence of the hourglass can be found in one of his paintings.

Like his brother, he is believed to have died of bubonic plague in 1348. Giorgio Vasari includes a biography of Lorenzetti in his Lives.

Selected works[link]

• Virgin and Child Enthroned (1319)
• Investiture of St. Louis of Toulouse (1329), fresco at San Francesco, Siena
• San Procolo altarpiece (1332)
• Annunciation (1334). Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena
• Franciscan Martyrdom at Bombay (c. 1336), fresco at San Francesco, Siena
• Santa Petronilla Altarpiece (1340s)
• Presentation at the Temple (1342). Uffizi, Florence
• Good Government (1338)

Paintings[link]

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  Stories of St. Nicholas c. 1332

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  Stories of St. Nicholas c. 1332

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  Saint-Nicolas Miraculously Filling the Holds of the Ships with Grain, c.1332

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  Good Government in the Countryside, c. 1338 - 1340, 2 panels, Palazzo Pubblico of Siena

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  Presentation in the Temple, c. 1342, The Uffizi Gallery

• 

  Annunciation, c. 1344, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena

References[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ambrogio Lorenzetti

• Ambrogio Lorenzetti at Panopticon Virtual Art Gallery
• Arch 343: Cities in History - Lecture 10: The Uses of Decorum - Lorenzetti's Good and Bad Government