couplets that refer to the “unveiling” of the “secrets”
of Virgil by Servius. It depicts Servius pulling back a
curtain to reveal a reclining Virgil; nearby are a knight
(representing the Aeneid), a farmer (Georgics), and a
shepherd (Eclogues).
Two lost portraits by Martini probably also date
from the Avignon period. The fi rst, made for Petrarch,
depicted Laura; it is known only through two of the
poet’s sonnets that refer to it. The second was of Cardi-
nal Napoleone Orsini, and to it Martini added verses by
Petrarch, which appear to come from the sitter’s mouth.
It was mentioned in a fi fteenth-century text. These were
the fi rst-known individual portraits in Italy.
The seven surviving tempera panels of the Antwerp
(Orsini) Polyptych (Antwerp, Musées Royaux des
Beaux-Arts; Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Preussischer
Kulturbesitz; Paris, Musée du Louvre) are dated by
most scholars to Martini’s years in Avignon. Originally
a double-sided work, the polyptych probably folded like
a concertina. The panels portray Gabriel, the Virgin An-
nunciate, and the Via Crucis (backed by the Orsini arms),
Crucifi xion, Deposition, and Entombment. One narrative
panel and a second set of the family arms are lost. The
patron, shown in the Deposition, was one of the four
Orsini brothers, all of whom became cardinals. Most
remarkable is the Via Crucis, which includes perturbed
children; a rare depiction of Simon of Cyrene bearing
the cross behind Jesus (Matthew 27:32); and a compas-
sionate Saint John already protecting the Virgin, before
Jesus asks him to do so from the cross. The polyptych
was signed by Martini.
Saint Ladislas (Altomonte, Santa Maria della Con-
solazione, Museo), a small devotional panel in tempera
known only since 1929, is attributed to Martini on the
basis of style. It probably was made at Avignon. The
veneration of Ladislas was rare in Italy at this time,
and the portrayal of a saint standing in isolation was
also unusual.
Other Lost or Destroyed Works
Account books in Siena mention other works done in
the city but no longer extant. In addition, Ghiberti cites
an altarpiece for the cathedral of Siena, now lost, and
frescoes on the facade of the Opera del Duomo and the
Ospedale della Scala, both destroyed. Finally, Vasari
refers to an untraced panel in Santa Maria Novella in
Florence.
See also Duccio di Buoninsegna; Giotto di Bondone;
Petrarca, Francesco; Robert of Anjou
Further Reading
Borsook, Eve. The Mural Painters of Tuscany, from Cimabue to
Andrea del Sarto. London: Phaidon, I960. (Rev. ed. Oxford:
Clarendon, 1980, pp. 19–27.)
Brink, Joel. “Francesco Petrarch and the Problem of Chronology
in the Late Paintings of Simone Martini.” Paragone, 28(331),
1977a, pp. 3–9.
——. “Simone Martini, Francesco Petrarch and the Humanistic
Program of the Virgil Frontispiece.” Mediaevalia, 3, 1977b,
pp. 83–117.
Cannon, Joanna. “Simone Martini, the Dominicans, and the Early
Sienese Polyptych.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld
Institutes, 45, 1982, pp. 69–93.
Carli, Enzo, ed. Simone Martini: La Maestà. Milan: Electa,
1996.
Contini, Gianfranco, and Maria Cristina Gozzoli. L’opera
completa di Simone Martini. Milan: Rizzoli, 1970.
Denny, Don. “Simone Martini’s Holy Family.” Journal of the
Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 30, 1967, pp. 138–149.
Enaud, François. “Les frèsques de Simone Martini en Avignon.”
In Les Monuments Historiques de la France. Paris, 1963, pp.
114–180.
Gardner, Julian. “Saint Louis of Toulouse, Robert of Anjou, and
Simone Martini.” Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 39, 1976,
pp. 12–33.
Garzelli, Annarosa. “Peculiarità di Simone Martini ad Assisi: Gli
affreschi della cappella di San Martino.” In Simone Martini:
Atti del convegno: Siena, 27, 28, 29 marzo 1985, ed. Luciano
Bellosi. Florence: Centro Di, 1988, pp. 55–65.
Hoch, Adrian S. “A New Document for Simone Martini’s Chapel
of Saint Martin at Assisi.” Gesta, 24, 1985, pp. 141–146.
Hueck, Irene. “Die Kapellen der Basilika San Francesco in Assisi:
Die Auftraggeber und die Franziskaner.” In Patronage and
Public in the Trecento: Proceedings of the Saint Lambrecht
Symposium, Abtei Saint Lambrecht, Styria, 16–19 July 1984,
ed. Vincent Moleta. Florence: L. S. Olschki, 1986.
Mallory, Michael, and Gordon Moran. “New Evidence Con-
cerning Guidoriccio.” Burlington Magazine, 128, 1986, pp.
250–256.
Martindale, Andrew. “The Problem of Guidoriccio.” Burlington
Magazine, 128, 1986, pp. 259–273.
——. Simone Martini. Oxford: Phaidon, 1988.
Milanesi, Gaetano. Documenti per la storia dell’ arte senese.
Siena: O. Porri, 1854–1856.
Paccagnini, Giovanni. Simone Martini. Milan: A. Martello,
1955.
——. “Martini.” In Encyclopedia of World Art, Vol. 9. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1964, cols. 502–508.
Stubblebine, James H. Duccio di Buoninsegna and His School.
Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1979.
Vasari, Giorgio. Vite, ed. Gaetano Milanesi. Florence: G. C.
Sansoni, 1878–1885. (Originally 1550, rev. 1568.)
Mary D. EdwardsMASLAMA DE MADRID
(d. 1007)
Ab ̄u -l-Q ̄a sim Maslama ibn Ah.mad al-Majr ̄ıt. ̄ı , Andalu-
sian astronomer and mathematician, was born in Majr ̄ıt.
(Madrid). He studied in Córdoba and practiced astrol-
ogy: interested by the Saturn-Jupiter conjunction that
took place in 1007, he predicted a series of catastrophes
usually associated with the fall of the caliphate and the
period of civil wars (fi tna, 1009–1031). He is the author
of the fi rst documented astronomical observation in
al-Andalus (the longitude of Qalb al-Asad, Regulus,
135° 40' in 977 or 979). He wrote a set of notes on theMASLAMA DE MADRID