Martini simone biography
Martini simone biography
Martini simone biography book.
Simone Martini (1284-1344)
Altarpiece For Robert of Anjou, King of Naples (1317)
An important event from this period was Martini's contact with King Robert of Anjou at Naples, who awarded him the title of miles (knight) on 23rd July 1317, a title which carried with it a great deal of money.
His dealings with the court of Robert of Anjou probably went back even further, though the date 1317 is the most likely one for the great altarpiece representing St Louis of Toulouse Crowning King Robert (Capodimonte Museum, Naples), since the canonization of the Franciscan saint, brother of the King, had taken place that year.
What is more, if this work is compared with Martini's Sienese Maesta of 1315, the evolution of Martini's style corroborates the dating of 1317. The predella of the Naples altarpiece, depicting five episodes from the life of the saint, reveals the close attention paid by the artist to a rational interpretation of the Tuscan discoveries of the day, in pa