Simone Martini’s Maestà, painted in Siena’s Palazzo Pubblico in 1315-16, is a study in the careful synthesis of religious iconography and political intent. It was commissioned by the governing committee of Siena, Li Signori Nove Governatori e Difenditori del Comune e del Popolo di Siena (fortunately known as the Nine, or I Nove), who held power in Siena from 1292 until 1355. The Maestà was painted within a few years of the completion of the Palazzo Pubblico itself, and was probably the first work in an extensive program of pedagogical decoration which includes Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Allegories of Good and Bad Government, Taddeo di Bartolo’s frescoes in the Antechapel, and Martini’s later Guidoriccio da Fogliano at the Siege of Montemassi.
Duccio's Influences Simone Martini, Simone Transforms Duccio
Compositionally, Simone’s Maestà is a direct descendant of Duccio’s work of the same name, which was installed in the Siena Cathedral to great fanfare in 1311. Martindale writes that Simone’s Maestà resembles “Duccio’s Maestà...surrounded by the frame of his Rucellai Madonna.” However, Simone utilizes a number of different techniques to subtly turn the straightforward religious imagery of Duccio toward the political purposes of the Sienese commune. For example, in Duccio’s work, there is no canopy. Simone added one as an indication of the Virgin’s assumed role as a symbol of secular and political authority, something which was more appropriately expressed in the Palazzo Pubblico than in the Cathedral.
In addition, the physical size differential between the Virgin and the surrounding saints and angels is greatly reduced in Simone’s work; by painting her as similar in size to the saints and angels surrounding her, Simone has brought her down to earth, so to speak, and made her more accessible as a human being, while still maintaining her majestic distance through her clothing, manner, and expression. The greatest difference between the two works can be found in the contents of the texts. On the step of the Virgin’s throne Duccio has inscribed “Holy mother of God be the cause of peace for Siena, and, because he painted you thus, of life for Duccio”. She is thus characterized solely as a bringer of peace and life, passively listening to the entreaties of the painter.
In contrast, in Simone’s work, the Virgin is speaking rather than being spoken to, and what she says would only be comforting to someone whose conscience was clean. In response to the prayers of the kneeling saints she says in part: “But if the powerful harm the weak, wounding them with shame or injury, your speeches are neither for them nor for whoever deceives my land.” The role of the Virgin is thus expanded from Duccio’s conception of comforter and giver of life to a far more complex role of protector of the weak and judge of the strong. In this more political role, interestingly, she can be seen to approach the position more commonly associated with her son.
Changing Roles of the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child in Simone Martini's Art
Whether as a coincidence or as part of a symbolic message relating to the Virgin’s changing role, it is interesting to note that the Christ child, whom Duccio depicts sitting somewhat passively and looking at the viewer, in Simone’s work has risen to his feet and is blessing the viewer, but looking off in the same direction as the Virgin. Both mother and child have become more active and engaged with the temporal world in Simone’s work, retaining their special status but combining it with a connection to the political realities of Siena.
The nuanced political and religious symbolism that is such an integral part of the Maestà in no way detracts from its visually engaging quality. Although nearly 700 years old and in poor condition, it still conveys a certain grace and power through its rich materials and its use of color, which, according to Ferdinand Schevill, “washes the draperies, throne, and faces with gay and delicate tints, mounting to a note of welcome austerity in the flat background, blue and cool and deep as an Italian night.” Schevill continues his lyrical praise with a description of the Virgin as “hieratic and remote...but touched for the first time in Sienese art with something of human grace.”
Sources
- Campbell, Jean. “The lady in the council chamber: diplomacy and poetry in Simone Martini’s Maestà,” Word & Image Vol. 14, No. 4 (October-December 1998), p. 377.
- Martindale, Andrew. Simone Martini: Complete Edition. Oxford: Phaidon, 1988.
- Norman, Diana. Siena and the Virgin: Art and Politics in a Late Medieval City State. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999.
- Schevill, Ferdinand. Siena: The Story of a Mediæval Commune. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1909.
