SIMONE MARTINI\u27S ST. MARTIN CHAPEL IN THE LOWER BASILICA OF SAN FRANCESCO, ASSISI (ITALY)

This study investigates the problems of assistants, patronage, iconography and date of the St. Martin chapel frescoes and stained glass in the lower basilica of San Francesco, Assisi. The assignment of these works to the Sienese artist, Simone Martini (1284-1344), also involves the examination of two other monuments in the lower basilica; the St. Louis chapel stained glass, and the frescoes at the base of the northeast transept. While the design of these complexes can be shown to have been by Simone, comparisons between different sections of the St. Martin chapel frescoes indicate the participation of several artists, including an Umbrian. Additional evidence for the employment of local artists is offered in the St. Louis chapel stained glass which was executed by Giovanni di Bonino d\u27Assisi. The identities of other assistants, however, especially Simone\u27s brother Donato and his brother-in-law Lippo Memmi, must remain tentative. The rediscovery of an unpublished document in the account book of the donor, the Franciscan Cardinal Gentile da Montefiore, establishes a terminus post quem of March 1312 for the St. Martin chapel\u27s construction. This date helps clarify its original function. The room was intended as a mortuary chapel, but due to the donor\u27s death intestate in October of 1312 and interment in the St. Louis chapel, was modified to a commemorative chapel. An iconographic analysis reveals an emphasis on funerary imagery and allusions to the Cardinal\u27s final diplomatic success: the coronation of Charles Robert of Anjou as King of Hungary in 1310, confirms the chapel\u27s revised function. Whereas parallels between Saints Martin and Francis stress the significance of the donor\u27s patron saint within a Franciscan context. A date of 1317-1319 for Simone\u27s activity in Assisi is suggested from the interpretation of the document of 1312 and buttressed by structural evidence. It is then supported by historical and stylistic factors, the latter focusing upon comparisons with two genuine early paintings by Simone, the Maesta in Siena, and the St. Louis of Toulouse altarpiece in Naples. An appendix of documents concerned with the Saints Martin and Louis chapels\u27 conservation history concludes the study