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

Saviour Blessing (tympanum) and Madonna of Humility (lunette)

1341
Fresco
Notre-Dame-des-Doms, Avignon

Thanks to the evidence provided by two sonnets by Petrarch, we know that Simone arrived in Avignon, accompanied by his family and several collaborators, around the beginning of 1336. He had been called to Avignon by one of the Italian Cardinals, probably Jacopo Stefaneschi, who had also moved to the new papal seat. It was for Cardinal Stefaneschi that Simone frescoed the church of Notre-Dame-des-Doms in Avignon. The portal frescoes, the Saviour Blessing and the Madonna of Humility, the synopias of which are now in the Palace of the Popes, although in very bad condition, are interesting and reveal a very high quality.