Simone Martini

Simone Martini (1284–1344) was born in Siena and died at Avignon, where he spent his final years at the papal court. Giotto is recorded among his teachers, and Lippo Memmi — his brother-in-law and frequent collaborator — among his students. He is the central figure of the Sienese school after Duccio, and a founder of what became the International Gothic. Where Florentine painting of the period pursued weight and volume, Martini pursued line, pattern and colour: figures elongated and elegant, gold used structurally rather than as background, surfaces worked like goldsmithing. The Annunciation he painted with Memmi for Siena Cathedral is among the defining images of the style. At Avignon he knew Petrarch, who wrote about him. Four works here, including two scenes from the life of Saint Martin and a Saint Clare.