Simone Martini

Simone Martini probably trained in the circle of Duccio in Siena, where he painted the Maestà fresco in the Palazzo Pubblico in 1315. His art, with its sinuous line, gold and courtly elegance, drew on French manuscripts and ivories and helped shape the International Gothic style. With his brother-in-law Lippo Memmi he painted the Annunciation of 1333, now in the Uffizi. He spent his last years at the papal court in Avignon, where he befriended the poet Petrarch.