were painted by Lippo Memmi, a pupil and brother-in-law of Simone, but
the entire center panel is by Simone. Note the elaborate architecture in the
frame, with many cusps, twisted columns, complex gables, pinnacles, and
intricately tooled designs in the gold leaf that dominates the ensemble.
The main panel is a stunning blaze of orange and gold—the background wall,
the Archangel Gabriel’s wings and plaid cloak, and Mary’s throne. The colors
are repeated in the radiance of the Holy Spirit as a dove, the urn holding
the lilies, and the veined marble pavement. The brilliance of the colors is
analogous to the effect of the Annunciation on Mary. As Gabriel alights, he
thrusts his head forward into the center of the painting, and his words, which
are embossed on the gold ground, proceed from his head to hers. Ave gratia
plena dominus tecum means “Hail thou that are full of grace, the Lord is with
thee.” The force of the angel’s arrival and news seems to push Mary away.
She shrinks from him and looks startled and unhappy. Simone’s masterpiece
is nearly two-dimensional in effect. The sweep and visual bounce of the gold
and the emphasis on contour and line assure this, and it is especially apparent
when compared with our next example.
Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Presentation in the Temple was also painted for
the Cathedral of Siena and is now in Florence. Here the pictorial space is
developed carefully and convincingly. The ¿ gures are proportionately larger
than the architecture, as in Giotto and Duccio, and the architecture attracts
our eyes. This is one of the ¿ rst fully developed renderings of architectural
space in late medieval painting. Joseph and Mary have brought Jesus to the
temple to be “consecrated to the Lord.” They have handed him to Simeon,
who had been told he would not die before he had seen the Christ. The
prophetess Anna stands behind him holding a scroll with a passage from
the Gospel of Luke relating this event. Ambrogio has characterized the holy
¿ gures with attention to detail and painted their costumes with rich colors
worthy of Sienese life and art.
We now look at Pietro Lorenzetti who, with his brother Ambrogio, dominated
Sienese painting after Simone Martini left the city to paint elsewhere.
Simone was called to do work in Naples and later in Avignon, which was the
seat of the papacy during much of the 14th century. In the 1320s, Pietro was
summoned to paint a major fresco cycle at the Basilica of San Francesco (St.