Metal of Honor Gallery Guide

Simone Martini, An Allegory of Virgil: Frontispiece to a Manuscript of the Works of Virgil,1338. Tempera on parchment. Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, S.P. 10/27

Simone Martini, Maestà, 1315 with revisions 1321. Fresco with gold leaf, 763 × 970 cm. Sala del Mappamondo, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena

Simone Martini (Siena, about 1284 – 1344), Virgin and Child over Saints, about 1325. Tempera and tooled gold on panel. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.

Look closely at this tender scene. Holding his mother’s thumb, the infant Christ balances in the crook of her arm, resting his toes in her right hand. His costly garments complement hers. Both wear blue robes trimmed in gold and bear emblems of their identities. The gold star on the Virgin’s shoulder evokes her role as “guiding star,” an identity embraced by the followers of Saint Dominic called Dominicans. The eagle on the left arm of Christ’s thin white chemise, an emblem of the Italian city of Orvieto, suggests that Simone Martini made this small devotional painting for a member of the city’s leading family, probably the Dominican nun depicted in prayer at the bottom right.

Four tiny saints join her. Simone executed their garments with a level of quality typically reserved for monumental altarpieces. Compare the two saints at the far left. Simone applied streaks of gold to the surface of Saint Paul’s blue robe to suggest its folds. To the left, he created an iridescent effect by scraping blue paint away from Saint Helen’s dress to reveal the gold beneath.

Object Description

Mary, the mother, holds Christ, the child, in this vertical Virgin and Child that is painted in tempera on a rectangular panel. Gold predominates in the extensive gilded background, frame, halos and edging of Mary’s cloak. A predella, or base, of five small figures lines the bottom of the panel below Mary and Christ’s figures. All of the figures have light skin. Mary takes center stage in a rich dark blue cloak that covers her head and body to her lower torso where the image ends. A strip of fine gold ornamentation lines the hood, front and sleeves and a small gold star marks 2 her right shoulder. Around her face and neck a delicate white fabric peeks out from under her robe, and at her neck and wrists the rounded neckline and sleeves of her rich burgundy undergarment can be seen. Her head is tilted slightly toward our right, curving above her son’s head, her facial features small and thin. Mary’s arms are bent at her waist with Christ sitting on the crook of her left arm. Her fingers are very narrow, long and claw-like. Christ is perched upright on his mother’s arm, his proportions that of a small man. His hair is fair and features are unremarkable. Similar to his mother, he looks blankly with no identifiable emotion. He wears a filmy white undergarment below blue fabric wrapped around his upper torso and right arm, and coral-colored fabric covers his lower torso and legs, a piece drawn up to his chest in his right hand. His mother’s bare right hand stiffly covers his feet. You can see his small toes peeking out in between her fingers. Halos back the heads of both Mother and Child, represented by elaborately designed concentric circles. These figures are backed by a flat gilded surface rimmed by borders of intricate geometric designs, all within a multi-layered gold frame.

Below the Virgin and Child in the predella are five small arches each bearing a lightskinned figure and divided by pillars. From left to right they include: a crowned male saint dressed in blue and gold and holding a cross; a red-bearded saint in a blue tunic and shawl, perhaps holding a palm frond, and identified as St. Paul; a blackcloaked saint carrying a book and lily, identified as St. Dominic; a red, gold and blue cloaked unidentified female saint holding what appears to be a book; and finally on the far right a kneeling woman, dressed as a nun, and identified as the donor, raises her hands and eyes as if in prayer to the Virgin and Christ Child above.

Credit: Image courtesy of Bearwalk Cinema

Tarnished and scratched, this side of the painting originally glistened with silver that Simone Martini treated to look like gold. Simone may have introduced this novel approach to the reverse of the painting for symbolic reasons. Fake gold was not only cheaper than the real thing but also reflective, transforming the surface into a kind of mirror, an emblem of Christian faith.

Object Description available soon

pastiglia: plaster applied to the painting’s surface and covered in gold to create depth and dimension

A frame within the frame, the arcade of tiny columns and arches that separates each miniature saint was conceived in pastiglia. The arcade separates the Virgin and Child from the saints and articulates their hierarchy from the center outward, with the largest compartments dedicated to Saints Dominic, Paul, and Stephen.

punchwork: a small repetitive allover pattern made with a tool known as a punch

Adapting a technique used in leather- and metalwork, Simone Martini stamped and punched the surfaces of his paintings, embossing them with pattern and texture. This painting encapsulates their variety, including circular, rectangular, and cruciform shapes.

granare a rilievo (relief granulation): tiny indentations that create matte contrasts in more reflective surfaces; also called stippling

Simone used this novel technique in the border of this painting to set off the glistening floral pattern with a matte background. In another example, the painting of St. Catherine at the end of this gallery, he used the same technique to shape the faceted gold handle of the saint’s sword. The miniscule marks transform the flat sheet of metal into a plausible illusion of reality and call attention to the means of the saint’s execution.

mordant gilding: the use of an adhesive (mordant) to which gold power is applied to create fine details

Find the star on the Virgin’s dress. After completing her blue cloak, the painter brushed mordant in the shape of the star and covered it with gold powder, which stuck only to the sticky design.

Mordant-gilded pseudo-Islamic inscriptions on the Virgin’s cloak, like on the to the left, suggest that Simone was familiar with gold dinars (coins) minted in North Africa. These coins reached Siena thanks to local traders, who gained a foothold in the North African trade routes by striking fake dinars in silver and exchanging them for the real coins.

Simone Martini (Siena, about 1284 – 1344), Saint Catherine of Alexandria (Polyptych for San Francesco), about 1320 – 1325. Egg tempera, mordant gilding and gold leaf on wood, likely poplar. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.

Saint Catherine of Alexandria, daughter of a king, cuts a regal figure. Her costly purple tunic—worn beneath a sumptuous damask cloak—closes at the neck with a circular gold clasp. Simone Martini transformed this precious jewel into an emblem of her martyrdom (Catherine was tortured for her faith on a spiked wheel). Daubs of paint evoke the clasp’s precious stones, pearls, and gems. Simone distinguished between her gold broach and gold tunic collar with two different finishes: burnishing the former to a high sheen and dulling reflected light on the latter with a series of minute pointed toolmarks.

Below, the painter employed his novel technique—called granare a rilievo—to remarkable effect. He used stippling to shape the faceted gold pommel, or handle, of Catherine’s sword, transforming the flat sheet of metal into a plausible illusion of reality and calling attention to the means of her execution.

Object Description

In this portrait St. Catherine of Alexandria is seen from the waist up with her body turned slightly toward the viewer’s right. She has medium-tan skin and wavy blonde hair that is pulled back at her neck. The crown she wears has blue and white jewels decorating it. She has brown arched eyebrows, small brown eyes, a straight pointed nose and a long, slender neck. Her head is tilted toward our right and she has a mournful expression on her face as she gazes into the distance to our far right. She is dressed in a deep purple dress with gold trim decorating the scooped neckline. At the center is a jeweled round pin. She wears a dark green shawl around her shoulders that is similarly trimmed and has a gold motif throughout. She holds the edge of the shawl with her long slender fingers, such that the white lining is visible in sharp contrast to her dark clothing. She holds a small gold leaf in her hand to our left and a long feather in her hand to our right. The gilded background depicts a halo behind her head and this image is displayed in a gilded frame has a pointed arch at the top.

Simone Martini, Italian (about 1284–1344). The Virgin and Child, ca. 1325-1330. Tempera and gold leaf on wood panel, 18 7/8 x 15 3/8 in (47.9 x 39 cm). The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri. Gift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, F61-62.

The Virgin Mary holds the infant Christ in both hands. He tugs at her veil, attempting to divert his mother’s attention. Dressed regally as the Queen of Heaven, she wears a lavish blue gown emblazoned with an elaborate floral motif picked out in gold, trimmed with a mordant-gilded border, and lined with scarlet.

Simone Martini inscribed an arch into the painting’s polished gold surface, adapting the architecture—and authority—of monumental altarpieces to a miniature scale. It draws attention to the Virgin and Child and separates them from two tiny saints enclosed by roundels. Innovatively, Simone extended the hand of John the Baptist across this fictive gold border, pointing out the future Savior with a bold gesture and rupturing the boundary between the picture’s space and ours.

Object Description

In this rectangular painting the Virgin wears a dark hooded robe with delicate gold paisley-like design. Underneath she wears a dark red dress and a while headwrap that curls around her neck. She is holding the infant Christ with her left hand on his hip and her right hand holding his foot. The child Christ is wrapped in a light red cloth with a gauzy underlayer. He reaches toward the Virgin’s face with his left hand and holds a piece of paper in his right. Both have elaborate gold halos against a gold background. In the upper corners of the painting two saints appear within small circles. The saint on the viewer's right points down at the Virgin and Child. The saint on the left is dressed in an elaborate red and gold cloth. The painting is held in a wide golden wooden frame.

Simone Martini, Italian (Sienese), about 1284–1344. Saint Andrew (?), early 1320s Tempera on panel. 18.4 x 19.7 cm (7 1/4 x 7 3/4 in.). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Charles Potter Kling Fund. 51.2397

Resting one elbow on the frame and pointing to his book, this aged saint captures our gaze. An elaborate halo of tiny ovals inset with a floral motif catches the light and directs attention to the saint’s face. The tripartite motif on his collar matches the punchwork border of the panel. Filled with stippling (called granare a rilievo), this surface treatment dulls reflected light, contrasting with the highly burnished surfaces within it and effectively creating a ledge for his elbow.

Object Description

This small octagonal work, which is painted with tempera on a panel, may portray Saint Andrew. The saint is shown from the waist up, looking straight at us with a serious, frowning expression. He has medium skin with slightly reddened cheeks, as well as a wavy head of hair, mustache and beard that, like his eyebrows, seem flecked with gray. His head is encircled by a gold halo that resembles a platter with an oval and flower design in between two rows of small beading. He is wearing a green robe with a sinuous gold edge on top of a red garment trimmed with a gold pattern around the neck. His right hand is mostly under the robe, but two long fingers emerge, point to our right, and touch the edge of a book that he is holding with his left hand, which is invisible under the robe. The book, which is closed, has two gold clasps, several circular gold splotches, and some red streaks on the greenish front cover. The background of the painting is gold, with some red areas and some cracks that are mostly vertical. Just inside the octagonal frame, except at the bottom edge, there is a delicate design that points inward toward the saint.

Simone Martini (Siena, about 1284 – 1344), A Saint Holding a Book, 1330– 1334. Tempera painting on panel. Lent by Birmingham Museums Trust on behalf of Birmingham City Council

Head bowed, this young saint weeps. His gaze beyond the frame likely addressed an image of Christ, a reminder that this panel was originally part of a larger, now lost altarpiece. Together, this saint and his companion, both of whom hold books, formed part of the altarpiece predella, or decorated base. They share the same octagonal format and punched border decoration, plausibly confirming their relationship to one another.

Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust, licensed under CC0

Object Description

This small octagonal work, which is a tempera painting on panel, shows a saint holding a book. The saint is shown from the waist up, turned slightly to our right, with head tilted to our right and eyes cast downward with a pensive expression. The saint has light skin and short brown hair tucked behind the one visible ear. The saint’s head is encircled by a gold halo that resembles a platter with a design in between two rows of small beading. The saint is wearing a light red shirt with gold braided trim around the neck and sleeve, and over the saint’s shoulder to our right is draped a green robe also with gold braided trim. Between two hands the saint is holding a closed book with a red and gold cover. The background of the painting is gold. Just inside the octagonal frame, except at the bottom edge, there is a delicate design the points inward toward the saint. The condition of this work is somewhat compromised, with cracking on the surface and damage at the outside edges and frame.