A New York Times best art book of 2022
New insights into the innovative multimedia work and early career of fourteenth-century Italian painter Simone Martini
Painter to popes, princes, and scions of Renaissance dynasties, Simone Martini (ca. 12841344) transformed Western painting with his groundbreaking devotional images and masterful manipulation of gold. This beautifully illustrated book highlights the astonishing novelty of his paintings in terms of their construction, multimedia techniques, and imagery. A focus of the bookthe first on Simone Martini in English in over thirty yearsis the work that he produced for churches in the Umbrian city of Orvieto, a papal refuge and stronghold of the Guelph political faction. The publication sheds light on Simones early career and technical accomplishments with extended catalogue entries for three Orvieto altarpieces and a painting of private devotion, including the results of new scientific analysis for the Gardner works. Leading scholars consider Simones patrons, artistic accomplishments, and contributions to the development of the polyptych altarpiece.
Distributed for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Exhibition Schedule:
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston (October 13, 2022January 16, 2023)
