SIMONE MARTINI
(b. 1280/85, Siena, d. 1344, Avignon)

Meditation (detail)

1320-25
Fresco, 390 x 200 cm
Cappella di San Martino, Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi

Martin sits on a simple foldstool (the same one that Emperor Julian was sitting on in the scene of Martin renouncing arms), while two acolytes try to bring him back to reality so he can celebrate mass in the chapel nearby: one of them is shaking him gently.