Pietro Lorenzetti and Ambrogio Lorenzetti

Pietro Lorenzetti

• Ambrogio Lorenzetti
• Born: c. 1290
• Birthplace: Siena, Republic of Siena (now in Italy)
• Died: 1348
• Place of death: Siena, Republic of Siena (now in Italy)

• Pietro Lorenzetti
• Born: c. 1280
• Birthplace: Probably Siena, Republic of Siena (now in Italy)
• Died: 1348
• Place of death: Siena, Republic of Siena (now in Italy)

Ambrogio Lorenzetti

Italian painters

The Lorenzetti brothers recognized the problems of depicting three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface. Although they did not fully solve the problems of perspective, their experiments with space provided a necessary stage for the development of Italian Renaissance painting.

Early Lives

As Pietro Lorenzetti (PYAY-troh loh-raynt-SAYT-tee) and Ambrogio Lorenzetti (ahm-BROH-joh loh-raynt-SAYT-tee) lived and worked in a period during which the lives of artists were not considered important, biographical information is based on a few public records, existing paintings (some of which are damaged and many of which are neither signed nor dated), and guesswork. For example, in 1306 the Sienese government paid 110 lire for a painting intended for the Palazzo Pubblico to a “Petruccio di Lorenzo.” Because Petruccio is a diminutive form of Pietro, most historians have concluded that the recipient was in fact Pietro Lorenzetti and that he was a relatively young man in 1306. To receive payment directly, however, the artist had, by Sienese law, to be at least twenty-five years old. Therefore, 1280 is generally given as the approximate date of Pietro’s birth.

Unfortunately, no similar documentation has been found in relation to Ambrogio’s birth date. Consensus that the two men were brothers is based on an inscription from a public hospital that has long since been torn down. On the facade of the Sienese hospital was a series of frescoes depicting the various stages in the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus. These frescoes, dated 1335, listed Pietro and Ambrogio as the two artists and also identified the artists as brothers. Because Pietro’s name appeared first, it is assumed that Pietro was older.

Pietro’s earliest work that can be dated with certainty is a panel for the altarpiece in the Church of the Pieve in Arezzo, a town in central Italy. On April 17, 1320, Pietro signed a contract for the composition, which is not one painting but nineteen. The central portion is a Madonna and Child with pictures of various saints in the side panels and an Annunciation immediately above the Madonna and Child.

This work illustrates one of Pietro’s chief concerns, the emotional state of his figures. In the central portion, the Christ Child gazes happily at his mother, and the saints, each of whom is encased in a separate archway, turn toward one another, almost as though they were in conversation. In the Annunciation panel, Mary’s eyes are locked into Gabriel’s as the young Virgin, awestruck by the news of her impending pregnancy, clutches at her throat. Some historians have theorized that the model for the bearded Saint Luke may have been the artist himself, a portrait signature common among later artists. Another trademark of Pietro that is evident in the Arezzo panel is the interest in spatial relationships. Although the figures seem flat by High Renaissance standards, Pietro employs the techniques of modeling and overlapping.

The only dated evidence of Ambrogio’s early work is also a Madonna and Child. Painted in 1319 for Vico l’Abate, a small church just outside Florence, Ambrogio’s panel depicts a stiff Virgin staring straight ahead. Although she is seated, Mary seems to have no lap. On the other hand, the baby seems much more realistic. His tender gaze almost manages to focus on his mother’s face, while the toes on his left foot curl backward in a touchingly realistic gesture that stands as an Ambrogioian signature. After painting the Vico l’Abate Madonna, Ambrogio may have remained in Florence for several years, as the next document related to him, dated 1321, indicates that creditors in Florence seized a suit of clothes belonging to the artist for payment of a debt that he owed.

Lives’ Work

The work that marks the transition into Pietro’s mature style is an altarpiece of 1329. This work for the Carmelite Church in Siena contains a Crucifixion, another Madonna and Child surrounded by saints, and a narrative sequence depicting scenes from the history of the Carmelite order. The figures in the main part of the altarpiece are not very interesting, because the crucified Christ could almost as easily be lying on a flat table as hanging from a cross, the crowned Virgin is stiff and joyless, and the Christ Child is weightless. On the other hand, the narrative scenes on the predella panels at the base of the altarpiece illustrate Pietro’s experimentation with perspective through the use of diagonal lines and proportion.

For the Church of Saint Francis in Assisi, Pietro worked on a funeral chapel for the Cardinals Napoleone and Giovanni Orsini. The huge altarpiece is arranged on two levels. The central level contains figures of various saints with scenes from their lives. Above is a Passion cycle composed of eleven scenes from the last days of Christ, including the Crucifixion and the Ascension. Below the main level was originally a predella containing thirteen scenes the major portion of which is now in the Uffizi in Florence, while two small panels are in Berlin. Much of the work is thought to have been done by students of Pietro, but the master’s hand is evident in the later scenes from the Passion cycle, especially the powerful Descent from the Cross. In this scene, the angular body of Christ is being lifted off the cross by his friends. Mary tenderly cradles the head of her son as their left eyes almost touch. Particularly interesting is the state of Christ’s body, which, through line and modeling, is depicted in the early stages of rigor mortis.

Because Mary was considered the patron saint of Siena, the Sienese took a special interest in the Virgin. The Cathedral of Siena commissioned a whole cycle of altarpieces depicting the life of Mary. Pietro’s contribution, the Birth of the Virgin, signed and dated in 1342, is the artist’s latest work for which documentation exists. This painting, which has been moved to the Opera del Duomo in Siena, depicts Saint Anne, Mary’s mother, lying on her bed with its checkered bedspread while the baby Virgin is being bathed. The Birth of the Virgin is important for two reasons. One innovation is the secular setting for a religious subject. In addition to the aforementioned checkered bedspread, the water pitcher and basin, trunk, and blankets are all objects that could be found in a middle-class Sienese household. Another innovation is the use of space. The diagonals in both the bedspread and the rug seem to disappear in a single vanishing point, a technique that was to be used by artists for the next one hundred years to give the appearance of three-dimensional space. Also, the frame of the triptych and the architecture in Anne’s house are the same style and shape, so that the two appear to be part of the same system. The result is that the viewer seems to be looking not at a picture but through a window into the saint’s bedroom.

Ambrogio, a more introspective artist than Pietro, is generally considered the more talented of the two brothers. Around 1330, Ambrogio completed work on an altarpiece at Massa Marittima, a town to the south and west of Siena. This work, a Maestà , or “Madonna in Majesty,” emphasizes Mary’s position as queen of Heaven. A Maestà differs from a simple “Madonna Enthroned” because of the larger, more complicated design with the Madonna and Child being accompanied by a host of angels, prophets, and saints. Two other Sienese artists who are roughly contemporary with Ambrogio, Duccio di Buoninsegna and Simone Martini, also painted Maestàs. In contrast to Duccio’s and Martini’s figures, those of Ambrogio seem to be more energetic and less somber, and the supporting characters are more emotionally involved with the Madonna and Child. Also, in a marked improvement over the stiffness of the Vico l’Abate Madonna, the Virgin gazes tenderly into the child’s eyes while the child, curling the toes on his right foot, clutches at Mary’s collar.

Although most of Ambrogio’s paintings and frescoes concerned religious subjects, the work for which the artist is most famous is political in nature. Apparently in competition with his brother, Ambrogio won the commission for a fresco series entitled Good and Bad Government for the Sala della Pace in the Palazzo Pubblico of Siena. This signed work, dated 1338-1339, is monumental. Covering three walls of the chamber, it depicts good and bad government allegorically and the effects of each type of government in both town and country realistically. Ambrogio chose the better-lighted wall for the allegory of Good Government. Of all the figures, the semireclining Peace is the most often reproduced, because the body’s casual stance and enfolding drapery show a strong classical influence on which Renaissance artists were to build.

It is, however, the section called “The Effect of Good Government in the Country” that is the most innovative. The first large-scale landscape since classical times, it is a panorama of the countryside surrounding Siena. Citizens are climbing up the hillside toward the cathedral, fields are being plowed, grain is being harvested, and peasants are bringing their meats and produce into the city. This portrayal of humankind in command of nature rather than the other way around marks an important stage in the concept of humankind’s relation to the universe. Floating above the scene is an allegorical figure named Securitas, whose semiclad figure marks another innovation in artistic thinking. The notion that the human body should be an object of joy and celebration rather than a source of shame, while only hinted at here, would be explored in detail by artists of the Renaissance.

In 1342, at the same time that his brother was painting the Birth of the Virgin in the cathedral in Siena, Ambrogio was painting the Presentation in the Temple . In this altarpiece, all the adults are depicted as separated and distinct individuals of varying ages, and the Christ Child is a real baby instead of a small adult. The thin, straight hair frames oversized eyes, while the baby sucks his finger. Even more interesting is the setting of this work, supposedly a medieval cathedral, whose immense space is suggested by the use of diagonal perspective, a system in which farther objects are higher on the picture plane than nearer objects and are aligned along an oblique axis.

Significance

Of necessity, Pietro and Ambrogio both concentrated on religious subjects. Tracing their many versions of the Madonna and Child is instructive, as both evolved from painting stiff, frontal Virgins to depicting tender, naturalistic mothers. Ambrogio from the first was more successful in capturing the essence of a baby and toward the end of his career was creating almost realistic infants.

Ironically, both brothers’ highest achievements occurred when they moved away from religious subjects, perhaps because they felt more free to experiment. Pietro’s Birth of the Virgin succeeds primarily because of the addition of everyday details whose arrangement contributes to the appearance of space on the picture plane. Ambrogio’s sensuous Peace and Securitas in the Good and Bad Government frescoes would have been unthinkable in a religious context.

Of the eight different ways of achieving perspective, the brothers experimented with at least five. Even so, Pietro’s most successful use of perspective, the Birth of the Virgin, seems stiff, crowded, and crudely executed by Renaissance standards. Although Ambrogio’s Presentation in the Temple presents the architectural space very convincingly, the figures are too large for the space they inhabit. As a result, to those who are accustomed to viewing work by High Renaissance artists, it is easy to dismiss the achievements of the Lorenzettis. Yet it is the concepts and experiments of Pietro and Ambrogio and other pre-Renaissance artists that laid the groundwork for their successors.

Bibliography

Becherucci, Luisa. “Lorenzetti.” In Encyclopedia of World Art. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964. Gives an exhaustive, chronological history of the dated works by both Ambrogio and Pietro Lorenzetti as well as every known detail relating to their personal lives in a clear, readable manner. Includes an extensive bibliography.

Cannon, Joanna, and André Vauchez. Margherita of Cortona and the Lorenzetti: Sienese Art and the Cult of a Holy Woman in Medieval Tuscany. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999. Details the relationship between the Margherita Cycle and the Lorenzetti brothers while providing much information about the brothers and their works. Illustrations, bibliography, and index.

Frugoni, Chiara. Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Florence: Scala, 1998. Part of the Great Masters of Art series, this volume examines the lives and works of the Lorenzetti brothers. Bibliography and index.

Leuchovius, Deborah. “Notes on Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Allegory of Good Government. Rutgers Art Review 3 (January, 1982): 29-35. Examines Ambrogio’s mural on good government and its political symbolism.

Rowley, George. Ambrogio Lorenzetti. 2 vols. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1958. Contains a detailed analysis of the stylistic features of Ambrogio’s work and traces the artist’s development through his dated as well as his undated works. A highly controversial commentary, partially because Rowley seeks to assign many works thought to be by Ambrogio’s hand to that of other artists. Includes an excellent bibliography and helpful chronology.

Starn, Randolph. Ambrogio Lorenzetti: The Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. New York: George Brazilier, 1994. Examines the fresco Ambrogio did for the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena and looks at the relationship between politics and art. Contains illustrations.

Vasari, Giorgio. The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. Reprint. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996. Vasari, a sixteenth century Italian painter and architect, wrote one of the earliest biographies of Italian artists. Contains a complimentary account of the work of Ambrogio but does not mention Pietro. Although known to include many inaccuracies, this work provides many useful details about painting that have either disappeared or disintegrated.