Simone Martini | |
|---|---|
 Petrarch's Virgil (title page) (c. 1336) Illuminated manuscript, 29,5 x 20 cm Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan | |
| Born | Simone Martini c. 1284 |
| Died | July 1344 (aged 59–60) |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Education | Duccio di Buoninsegna |
| Known for | Painting, Fresco |
| Notable work | Annunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanus |
| Movement | International Gothic |
Simone Martini (c. 1284 – July 1344) was an Italian painter born in Siena. He was a major figure in the development of early Italian painting and greatly influenced the development of the International Gothic style.
It is thought that Martini was a pupil of Duccio di Buoninsegna, the leading Sienese painter of his time. According to late Renaissance art biographer Giorgio Vasari, Simone was instead a pupil of Giotto di Bondone, with whom he went to Rome to paint at the Old St. Peter's Basilica, Giotto also executing a mosaic there. Martini's brother-in-law was the artist Lippo Memmi. Very little documentation of Simone's life survives, and many attributions are debated by art historians. According to E. H. Gombrich, he was a friend of Petrarch and had painted a portrait of Laura.