Milestones

Milestones
(documented facts of Simone's life)

1315: Simone paints the Maestà in the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena: the fresco is signed and dated: the inscription around the frame of this fresco gives the date, "mille trecento quindici" ( 1315), and the author, "a man di Symone" (by the hand of Simone).

1317: In an order of payment dated 23 July 1317 Robert of Anjou instructs that "Simone Martini milite" be paid fifty ounces of gold. Simone is not referred to as a painter, but as a "miles", a term used in the Middle Ages to mean a knight. Simone The panel of St Louis of Toulouse (signed) probably dates from this year.

1319: From the "Annales" and the "Cronaca" of the convent of Santa Caterina in Pisa: "Frater Petrus Conversus" ordered that a very beautiful painting done by "manu Symonis senensis" be placed on the high altar of the church. The polyptych for the church of Santa Caterina in Pisa was signed by Simone.

1320: The inscription "A.D.MCCCXX, "considered incomplete, appears on the frame of the polyptych in the Cathedral Museum in Orvieto. This same date (although it is considered apocryphal) appears on the frame of the St John the Evangelist in the Barber Institute in Birmingham.

1321: Together with his collaborators, Simone is paid for restoring the Maestà (twenty-seven lire) and for a Crucifix to be placed above the altar in the Chapel of the Nine in the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena (twenty florins).

1322: The Biccherna ledgers record payments to Simone for some unspecified paintings in the Palazzo Pubblico.

1323: Also in the Palazzo Pubblico Martini paints a further group of works and a St Christopher with the coat-of-arms of Podesta Mulazzo de' Mulazzi from Macerata (all destroyed).

1324: In January-February Simone buys a house from Memmo di Filippuccio and gives Giovanna, his wife-to-be, the sum of two hundred and twenty gold florins.

1326: He paints a panel for the Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo (now lost) and appears as witness in a land rental contract at Montecchio, near Siena.

1327: He is paid ten gold florins for two painted banners that the Comune of Siena presents to Charles, Duke of Calabria.

1329: He paints two angels for the altar of the Nine in the Palazzo Pubblico (now lost) and is paid for a service he rendered the Comune, involving a two week stay in Ansedonia.

1330: He paints the portrayal of the rebel Marco Regoli in the Sala del Concistoro in the Palazzo Pubblico (lost) and is paid for the fresco of the Capture of Montemassi.

1331: In September the government commissioned a series of paintings showing the castles that the city's troops had conquered in neighbouring areas, "Maestro Simone dipegnitore" actually went in person to look at the places, "chon un chavallo et uno fante a la terra d'Arcidosso et di Chastel del Piano" (with a horse and a servant he travelled to Arcidosso and Castel del Piano). Simone painted the capture of Arcidosso and Castel del Piano on the walls of the Sala del Mappamondo in December 1331: most scholars agree that this fresco has been destroyed.

1332: He is paid three gold florins for the pedestal of a Cross and for other unspecified works for the Chapel of the Nine.

1333: This is the date that appears, together with the signatures of Simone and Lippo Memmi, on the Annunciation painted for the Chapel of Sant'Ansano in Siena Cathedral {now in the Uffizi in Florence). The double signature visible inside the 19th-century frame is: "Symon Martini et Lippus Memmi de Senis me pinxerunt anno domini MCCCXXXIII".

1336: Two sonnets by Petrarch, written on 4 November 1336, "Per mirar Policleto a prova fiso" and "Quando giunsea Simon 1'alto concetto", attest that Simone was already in Avignon.

1340: Simone and Donato Martini are nominated by the Papal Curia of Avignon as the official representatives of a Sienese church.

1342: Simone signs and dates the Holy Family now in the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.

1344: Simone was reimbursed the sums that he had advanced in order to obtain four Papal privileges for a Sienese hospital.

1344: On 30 June Simone had drawn up a will, written and witnessed by the Florentine notary Ser Geppo di Ser Bonaiuto Galgani. All his worldly possessions (two houses, country properties with vineyards and a considerable sum of money) were divided between his wife, two nieces, Francesca and Giovanna, and his brother Donato's children. Since he had had no children of his own, Simone left almost all his wealth to his nieces and nephews.

1344: An obituary notice in the monastery of San Domenico in Siena, dated 4 August 1344, reads as follows: "Magister Simon (pictor) mortuus est in Curia; cuius exequias fecimus in Conventu die iiij mensis augusti 1344" (Master Simon, painter, died in the Curia; his funeral was held in the convent on the 4th day of the month of August 1344). Simone's funeral is celebrated in the church of San Domenico in Siena.