SIMONE MARTINI (b. 1280/85, Siena, d. 1344, Avignon) Burial of St Martin 1312-17 Fresco, 284 x 230 cm Cappella di San Martino, Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi Starting from the entrance of the chapel, from left to right and from top to bottom, the side walls and barrel-vaulted ceiling are frescoed with scenes from the life of St Martin: on the lower level, the Division of the Cloak, the Dream, St Martin is Knighted and Renounces his Weapons; on the middle level, the Miracle of the Resurrected Child, Meditation, the Miraculous Mass and the Miracle of Fire; on the top level we find
SIMONE MARTINI (b. 1280/85, Siena, d. 1344, Avignon) Burial of St Martin 1312-17 Fresco, 284 x 230 cm Cappella di San Martino, Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi Starting from the entrance of the chapel, from left to right and from top to bottom, the side walls and barrel-vaulted ceiling are frescoed with scenes from the life of St Martin: on the lower level, the Division of the Cloak, the Dream, St Martin is Knighted and Renounces his Weapons; on the middle level, the Miracle of the Resurrected Child, Meditation, the Miraculous Mass and the Miracle of Fire; on the top level we find the last two episodes, Death and Burial of the Saint. The frescoes of the Death and Funeral on the upper level are the last scenes of the cycle. Animated by light, colour and spatial depth, both these scenes have the same composition, with a crowd of acolytes and followers witnessing the events. The same characters, with the same features but depicted in different poses and with different gestures appear in both scenes: the priest celebrating the ritual of the deceased in the scene of Martin's Death appears in the fresco of the Funeral between the two figures with haloes; the tonsured acolyte dressed in green and red who in the Death is gazing meditatively upwards, in the Funeral is shown holding the celebrant's dalmatic. Another interesting element is the way the architectural style of the scenes follows the mood of the events: while the building in the scene of the Death of St Martin is a severe geometrical structure with bare walls, the Funeral takes place in a Gothic chapel with graceful and delicate decorations. --- Keywords: -------------- Author: SIMONE MARTINI Title: Burial of St Martin Time-line: 1301-1350 School: Italian Form: painting Type: religious
Size: 2892px × 3200px
Photo credit: © Carlo Bollo / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1300, 1300s, 14th, artwork, century, gothic, international, italian, late, martini, paint, painter, painting, paintings, simone
