San Martino Chapel
Encyclopedia
San Martino Chapel is a chapel in the Lower Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi
Assisi
- Churches :* The Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi is a World Heritage Site. The Franciscan monastery, il Sacro Convento, and the lower and upper church of St Francis were begun immediately after his canonization in 1228, and completed in 1253...

, Umbria
Umbria
Umbria is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.Its capital is Perugia.Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St...

, central Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. Commissioned and funded by Cardinal Gentile Partino da Montefiore, it features a cycle of frescoes by Simone Martini
Simone Martini
Simone Martini was an Italian painter born in Siena.He was a major figure in the development of early Italian painting and greatly influenced the development of the International Gothic style....

 (1313–1318).

The frescoes are neither dated nor signed, but the art historian have generally agreed in identifying Martini as the author for styilistical and historical reasons.

History

Gentile Partino da Montefiore was the Cardinal of the Basilica of Santi Silvestro e Martino ai Monti in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

. A document dating to March 1312 testifies the funding by the Cardinal of 600 golden florins for the construction and fresco decoration of a chapel in the Lower Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi. In the Spring of the same year the Cardinal is known to have been in Siena
Siena
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...

, while transferring the papal treasure to Avignon
Avignon
Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...

. Here he likely found an agreement with Simone Martini to paint the chapel. In the following October, the cardinal died at Lucca
Lucca
Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...

, without arriving in Avignon.

Martini worked in the chapel in at least three phases. He started the works in 1312-1313, leaving the unfinished Maestà
Maestà
Maestà, the Italian word for "majesty", designates an iconic formula of the enthroned Madonna with the child Jesus, whether or not accompanied with angels and saints...

of the Palazzo Pubblico
Palazzo Pubblico
The Palazzo Pubblico is a palace in Siena, Tuscany, central Italy. Construction began in 1297 and its original purpose was to house the republican government, consisting of the Podestà and Council of Nine....

 of Siena which he was working to. In this first period he designed the stained glasses and perhaps began the frescoes. He returned to Siena around 1314 to finish the Maestà; he was back to Assisi in June 1315, starting the second decoration phase. In 1317 he was called to Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

 by King Robert I of Anjou, but returned to Umbria soon to complete (and, in some cases, rework) the saints under the entrance arch. The work were finished around 1318.

Description

The side chapels show ten frescoes on the life of St. Martin
Martin of Tours
Martin of Tours was a Bishop of Tours whose shrine became a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela. Around his name much legendary material accrued, and he has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints...

, bishop of Tours. The scenes include:
  • St. Martin Sharing the Mantle with a Poor
  • Apparition of Christ and Angels in St. Martin's Dream
  • Investure of St. Martin as Knight
  • Renounce of St. Martin to the Weapons
  • Visit to the Emperor with Burning Throne
  • Resurrection of a Youth
  • Miraculous Mess
  • The Dream of St. Ambrose
  • Death of St. Martin
  • Funerals of St. Martin


Above the entrance arch is the dedication from Cardinal da Montefiore to St. Martin while the windows are decorated with busts of Saint Knights (left), Saint Bishops or Popes (center) and Saint Hermits or Founders of Religious Orders (right). The eight saints under the entrance arch are St. Catherine of Alexandria (lower right), St. Antony of Padua and St. Francis (upper right), St. Claire and St. Elizabeth of Hungary (lower left), St. Louis of France and S.t Louis of Toulouse (upper left). The three latter saints replaced, respectively, the previous St. Ursula, St. Nicholas of Bari and St. Antony of Padua, after Martini had returned from the Kingdom of Naples
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...

, as a homage to the family saints of the ruling Capetian House of Anjou
Capetian House of Anjou
The Capetian House of Anjou, also known as the House of Anjou-Sicily and House of Anjou-Naples, was a royal house and cadet branch of the direct House of Capet. Founded by Charles I of Sicily, a son of Louis VIII of France, the Capetian king first ruled the Kingdom of Sicily during the 13th century...

.
The emperor who looks sharply at St. Martin in the Renounce, accusing him of cowardice, is likely identifiable with Frederick II
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...

, due to the black eagle in his camp. As a reply to the accuse, St. Martin is portrayed while marching towards the enemy (symbolized by insignia with lions on red background) with a simple cross in his hands.
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