LORENZETTI, Ambrogio
(b. ca. 1290, Siena, d. 1348, Siena)

Effects of Bad Government on the City Life (detail)

1338-40
Fresco
Palazzo Pubblico, Siena

Inside the city surrounded by crenellated walls, houses are torn down and set ablaze, the streets are full of rubble, the palaces collapse, while all around hoards of soldiers commit acts of violence, killing and maiming. In this city, where loneliness reigns, no one is working; just one artisan, a blacksmith, is forging weapons.