Madonna and Child

Madonna and Child
Simone Martini, Madonna and Child, 1326

By MARY MARGARET SIMS

In 1326 Martini was commissioned by the government of Siena to paint his interpretation of Mary and Jesus. This piece is part of a five panel altar piece, making it easier to transport by folding the panels together. This style was called, polyptych "a painting, typically an altarpiece, consisting of more than three leaves or panels joined by hinges or folds." This display was very unusual for this time period making it stand out more. Martini was one of the more notable painters of his time with his impeccable attention to detail. In this piece you might notice that the child is very plump and that the women is scary looking because of her vacant eyes and this is why I call this painting shrek baby and alien lady. 

Since I am new to art history I don't look at this piece of art and think, "Oh that's for sure a Martini because of the face shape and the eyes." I look at this painting and think, "That's an ugly baby and a weird looking women with scary long spider fingers." This may seem sacrilegious in the art world but since I am still a newbie in the art history realm this is all that my untrained eyes see.


  • 7:00 AM

Guidoriccio Da Fogliano

Ellie Schneider
Simone Martini, Guidoriccio Da Fogliano, 1330
By ELLIE SCHNEIDER

In Guidoriccio Da Fogliano, Simone Martini illustrates the capture of Montemassi, a village in Tuscany, by the condottiero Guidoriccio Da Fogliano in 1328 when he was fighting for Siena. This piece is a famous fresco from the Palazzo Pubblico of Siena.

When I look at this painting, the first thing that draws me in is Guidoriccio Da Fogliano himself and his horse. When looking at Guidoriccio Da Fogliano in closer detail, it amazes me that Martini painted with this amount of detail in the 1300s. Both the horse and Guidoriccio Da Fogliano wear an  argyle ensemble with a pattern in earth tones, complimenting the rich orange that acts as the base. The orange does not overwhelm you like a neon orange, but still demands your attention.

The orange balances well off of the deep blue background. While we just started studying Renaissance art, I have noticed that painters from this time period often use bright and rich colors. Rather than look completely realistic, painters attract viewers through their detailed works with bright and rich colors. I like that the blue looks like water colors, and the blue changes from a faded indigo on the right side of the fresco, to a vivid navy. When thinking about the story of the fresco, I am interested why the color gets darker when Guidoriccio Da Fogliano travels to Montemassi, which he conquered. I think that the deep navy over looming over Montemassi adds a dramatic effect to his capturing of the village.

The rest of the scene is not very attractive. It shows barren lands between two villages, all created with a variety of earth tones. While these colors do not attract my eyes, I appreciate that because of the presence of the orange and blue. The earth tones create a stage for Guidoriccio Da Fogliano and his horse. The sand colored lands also contrast nicely with the blue background. The extreme contrast between the orange, earth tones, and blue creates depth in the painting.

At first, I picked this painting because it did not depict a bible story or feature Jesus. I was naive after taking Modern Art History,  and I did not anticipate the mass amount of crucifixion paintings we would look at in Renaissance Art History. I am not as familiar with the bible, so I found this fresco,  which is not based off a bible story, to be refreshing. While, at first I picked it for what it was not, I now appreciate it for what it is. 
  • 7:00 AM

Sant'Ansano Altarpiece

Natalie Beyer
Sant'Ansano Altarpiece, Simone Martini 1333
By NATALIE BEYER

Starting Renaissance Art History, I thought that I would never fully appreciate how much time and effort an artist put into his or her paintings. Not even two weeks into class when I first saw this painting, I immediately fell in love with the colors and story it portrays. Not being a very religious person, I was not sure if I would enjoy paintings such as this one, but I was proven wrong.

The Sant'Ansano Altarpiece, painted by Simone Martini around 1333 depicts Angel Gabriel giving the Virgin Mary the news that she will be having a child soon. The annoyed look on her face and the words spewing out of Gabriel's mouth make this painting even more beautiful. However, Martini's technique and gentleness in this painting brings all the lines and color together harmoniously. 

Another aspect of this painting comes with the sense that each person is acting. From Mary's expression of surprise and fear to Gabriel leaning down on one knee, informing Mary with literal words flowing from his mouth to create drama for the Virgin all create a scene. However, all the movement in his painting stresses elegance, creating a sort of sophistication throughout this masterpiece. Also keeping traditions, Martini uses a bright gold for the background and uses blue for Mary's robe and white lilies. The Virgin sits in a throne, her flowers in a vase, and the detailed floors suggests an attempt to make a real space for the people to be in, instead of the Byzantine ways of one-dimension.  














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Madonna and Child

Madonna and Child
Martini Madonna and Child, 1326

Martini contrasts Florentine art with his magnificent and well-trained French Gothic art skills. He, like Duccio, was a leader in the Sienese School through the 14th and 15th centuries, and molded work with brilliant colors and delicate features. He focused mainly on miraculous events. Unlike the rigidness of byzantine art work, the Sienese school trained its students to create dramatic events and to literally bring light to their significance. The softness of such paintings is well demonstrated here by Martini. The school lived in Seina for most of his lifetime and temporarily in Florence, but at the turn of the 16th century, Siena fell to Florence and ceased the majority of Seniese painting. 

Most believe that Martini learned his trade from Duccio, but Renaissance art biographer, Giorgio Vasari, claims acquired his skill from Giotto. Duccio seems to make more sense to others because of their bond at the Sienese School where Giotto did not attend. Although, Giotto and Martini worked together at Old St. Peter's Basilica where the Nevicella mosaic is dedicated to Giotto. Whether Diccio or Giotto taught Martini, Martini infiltrated a growing Gothic art form in the 13th century and created wonderful pieces in his time. This particular Madonna and Child, assigned to Martini by the Siena government, and was created as a portable altarpiece that eventually joined his other works in a larger altarpiece in Seina's town hall, Palazzo Pubblico. 

  • 7:00 AM

Annunciation

Annunciation
Simone Martini, Annunciation, 1333
And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. And behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. Luke 1:31

Simone Martini, with his brother-in-law Lippo Menni, painted the famous masterpiece Annunciation in 1333 for the altar of the Cathedral of Siena.

This is the moment when Angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will conceive the Christ child. We can see the Angel's announcement literally coming out of his mouth from left to right to Mary. The painting well represents the Sienese style, which differs from the Florence's in the elegance of both line and color. For example, the great detail of Gabriel's wing and the delicacy of the drape flutters as if he has just landed. 

In the middle, we see lilies as symbols of Mary's virginity. In addition to that, Gabriel holds a branch of olive leaves, which is a symbol of Christ bringing the peace, as olive branches traditionally refers back to the story of Noah. We also see in the triangular space above and between Mary and theGabriel, the holy spirit, in the form of a dove, surrounded by angels. The haloed dove emits golden light that moves towards Mary; the light actually emerges from the beak, as if the holy spirit is speaking the divinity to Mary. 

Mary, who is thin and elongated, turns away. The line from the dove to Mary and Gabriel's words forms two sides of a triangle that meets at Mary. However, her cheek and body pull back from being in the center of this attention, showing her slight unwillingness to accept this fact. She has been interrupted, and her finger still holds a place in the Bible, which she has been piously reading at. As Gabriel has arrived, we have a sense of story unfolding here that Mary is about to - but has not yet - say "behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word" (Luke 1:38). She hasn't yet accepted her destiny as the mother of God. 

It is really interesting to see how the artist captures this momentary scene and turns it into an absolute and eternal story about the past, the present and the future. The mixture of time and the unity of divinity and human emotion speak to audience as if the painting itself can tell the story of Annunciation. On the top of all these, most essentially, as we see this work, our imagination is inspired, and we think beyond the painting. Thus, the artist's idea raises out of the work itself, and follows our minds to the core of human feeling. 

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Saint Martin and the Division of the Cloak

Camille O'Leary
Simone Martini, St. Martin and the Division of the Cloak, 1317

Martin of Tours, a patron saint of soldiers, is depicted in this Simone Martini fresco impulsively sharing his military cloak with a beggar by cutting it in half. An unbaptized Roman soldier, Martin saw a vision of Christ in his dreams the next night, clad in the half-cloak he had given to the beggar. In the morning, he found his cloak whole and uncut. He converted to Christianity and later left the military service, citing his faith as his reason, even though his superiors supposed cowardice. Exiled from Italy, he traveled through many countries of Europe, eventually dying in Candes-Saint-Martin, Gaul, which would later become central France.

Simone Martini, a prominent Italian painter, painted this work in the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi, the first of ten frescos depicting the life of St. Martin in the San Martino Chapel. The work has suffered some damage over the years, including a scraped-off area over the horse's head and flaking off of the blue background. Part of a head is visible in the upper-right hand corner, the remnants of an older composition that Martini eventually changed. Artists of this time period still lacked a good understanding of perspective and foreshortening, demonstrated by the buildings along the left side and the beggar's foot - check out those long toes. A rudimentary diagonal composition can be seen in the line of sight from the beggar to St. Martin, enhanced by both men's arms and the curve of the draped cloak. 

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