Simone Martini

Simone Martini
Petrarch's Virgil (title page) (c. 1336) Illuminated manuscript, 29,5 x 20 cm Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan
Born	Simone Martini c. 1284 Siena, Republic of Siena
Died	July 1344(1344-07-00) (aged 59–60) Avignon, Comtat Venaissin, Papal States
Nationality	Italian
Education	Duccio di Buoninsegna
Known for	Painting, Fresco
Notable work	Annunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanus
Movement	International Gothic

Simone Martini (c. 1284 – July 1344) 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.

It is thought that Martini was a pupil of Duccio di Buoninsegna, the leading Sienese painter of his time. According to late Renaissance art biographer Giorgio Vasari, Simone was instead a pupil of Giotto di Bondone, with whom he went to Rome to paint at the Old St. Peter's Basilica, Giotto also executing a mosaic there. Martini's brother-in-law was the artist Lippo Memmi. Very little documentation of Simone's life survives, and many attributions are debated by art historians. According to E. H. Gombrich, he was a friend of Petrarch and had painted a portrait of Laura.