Lorenzetti, Ambrogio

The date of birth of Ambrogio Lorenzetti, as well as the date of birth of his brother Pietro, is unknown. Art historians attribute it to 1290 years. Giorgio Vasari, in his Biographies of the Most Illustrious Painters, devoted Ambrojo a small but very flattering chapter, describing him as a man of philosophical mindset who "endured with good and calm spirit the good and evil bestowed by fate." In addition, Vasari writes that Ambrogio Lorenzetti was revered by his contemporaries not only as an artist, but also as a writer, that he constantly communicated with people scientists and honored, and "more like a nobleman and a philosopher than an artist ..."

Until 1319, the name Ambrogio Lorenzetti was not found anywhere. His first signed and dated work is “The Madonna and Child” (1319, Museum of Religious Art in San Casciano Val di Pesa). And already in this early work Ambrogio's interest is felt not so much in the traditional Siena singing line, but in volume and mass. Madonna in this picture is monumental, she looks frozen in tension. The influence of Giotto and Arnolfo di Cambio can be traced in his subsequent works. Ambroggio Lorenzetti's interest in the achievements of the Florentine school was expressed in his repeated trips to Florence. The first time his stay in this city was documented in 1321, however, as a debtor. In 1328-30, Ambrogio was already among the members of the Florentine corporation "Arte dei Medici e degli Speciali" (a workshop for doctors and pharmacists, which included artists). Not surprisingly, his Florentine aspiration was reflected in the works of this period - “ Madonna and Child ” (Milan, Pinacoteca Brera ), “Crucifixion” ( Siena Pinacotheca ), “Madonna and Child” (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art ), as well as in frescoes written in the Sienese church of San Francesco - “Martyrdom of the Franciscans” and “Vow of St. Louis of Toulouse ”whom Vasari admired so much.

These murals date back to 1324-1327 years. The “Martyrdom of the Franciscans” depicts a scene from the history of the Franciscan Order . In 1277, seven Franciscan preachers were executed in the Moroccan city of Ceuta on the orders of the Sultan. The fresco immortalized these fighters for faith. Despite her poor condition, today you can see how much Lorenzetti has advanced in depicting real space and dramatic plot compared with Florentine teachers.

In 1330, Ambrogio painted the fresco "Maesta" in the chapel of Piccolomini in the church of San Agostino in Siena. The limited space did not allow the master to expand the theme; he portrayed the melancholy Madonna and child and eight saints standing in front of her throne. The fresco is simple and unpretentious, but the figures already show great naturalness, which will be characteristic of his subsequent works, in particular, frescoes in the Palazzo Pubblico.

During this period, it seems that Ambrogio is freed from excessive Florentine dependence and develops his own individual style, which will be characterized by both a masterful image of space and the balance point found between the transfer of volume and the beauty of the line. These new properties are colored works created by Lorenzetti in 1330 - 40s. First of all, among them should be called the amazing "Polyptych of St. Michael "(1330-35, Auchano , Museum of Religious Art)," Polyptych "from the church of Santi Pietro e Paolo in Roccalbenia ," Scenes from the Life of St. Nicholas "(1332, Florence, Uffizi Gallery ),

panel polyptych from the church of Santa Petronilla - "Madonna of the Infant", "St. Dorothea "," St. Magdalen ”,“ The Assumption ”(Siena, Pinakothek), a large altar painting“ Maesta ”, painted by him for the Cathedral of Municipio in Massa Marittima (1335). In all these works, the artist’s ingenuity and the relaxedness of his brush are visible. Something new is also present in these paintings - psychologism, which unites the characters in a single plot. His images are becoming less symbolic and more human, and their gestures are more natural. In this regard, Ambrogio Lorenzetti looked far ahead, but the next generation of Siena artists for the most part adopted from Lorenzetti only the external, decorative canvas that so vividly characterizes the Siena art school as a whole.

In the same period, in 1335, Ambrogio, together with his brother Pietro, painted murals on the facade of Santa Maria della Scala in Siena, which depicted "Scenes from the Life of Mary." Vasari reports on these frescoes, but they, unfortunately, have not been preserved. Around 1340, he painted the fresco "Maesta" in the loggia of the Siena City Hall - Palazzo Pubblico, which has survived to this day in poor condition. After Simone Martini , who was the official artist of the Siena government in the 1330s, at the invitation of the pope, left for Avignon to work on a new papal residence, his place, again semi-officially, was taken by Ambrogio Lorenzetti. This is probably why in 1337 he received a large order for painting the Hall of Nine (the main hall of the government) in the Siena Palazzo Pubblico. Ambrogio's fame as a very skilled master of painting by that time had spread throughout Tuscany.

His last works, created after the frescoes in the Siena City Hall, include two magnificent works - “Bringing to the Temple”, which he wrote for Ospedaletto in Monna Agnese (1342, now Florence, Uffizi), and “The Annunciation”, which used to be was in the Siena Town Hall (1344 Siena, Pinacoteca). These are mature works written by the confident hand of a great master, with beautifully painted architectural surroundings and impeccably arranged figures in the “Bringing to the Temple”, and the chased contours of the angel and the Mother of God in the Annunciation.

Along with Duccio and Simone Martini, Ambrogio Lorenzetti is the largest Italian artist of the first half of the XIV century. The date of his death is unknown. According to Siena tradition, Ambrogio died in 1348 during a plague epidemic in the same year as his brother Pietro.

The most famous and outstanding work of Ambrogio Lorenzetti are frescoes under the general title "Allegory of Good and Bad Government in the Town and Country" (1338-39), written by him in the hall of the Nine Siena City Hall - Palazzo Pubblico ^[5] .

Documents related to the start of work on the frescoes were not preserved. Only invoices for payment of works from February 26, 1338 to May 29, 1339 survived, from which it follows that Ambrogio earned 113 florins during this period. At the bottom of the fresco composition on the north wall, the artist’s signature is preserved. Already in the second half of the XIV century, part of the frescoes required restoration, which, perhaps, was carried out by Andrea Vanni. The painting on the western wall suffered the most; whole fragments are missing there. The last restoration of the frescoes was carried out in 1985-87.

The visual program of this cycle is clear in general, but not in all details. The artist used allegory to express moral and political ideals. In these frescoes, the idea of ​​a peaceful, rational principle providing prosperity, and a bad, unreasonable principle, sowing destruction and chaos, is clearly expressed in these frescoes. Interestingly, in the time of Vasari, these murals were called “war” and “peace”. The main task of the artist was to give a clear example of a rational approach to organizing life, which meant the activities of the Siena government, and depict what should in all cases be avoided - human vices leading to destruction and death. Thus, the cycle of frescoes was divided into the image “Allegories of good governance” and “Fruits of good governance”, and “Allegory of bad government and its consequences”. It should be borne in mind that the names of the frescoes are given by modern scientists. In total, three walls were painted in the hall.

In the center of the “Allegory of Good Government”, a large figure of an old man in jeweled clothing seated on a throne is depicted. In his left hand he holds a shield with the image of the city seal, and in his right scepter. He is calm and majestic. At his feet is the mythical she-wolf - the founder of Siena, feeding Aschius and Senius, with whom the history of the city begins. So allegorically Ambrogio depicted the symbol of the city government of Siena. Three allegories of virtues hover above this symbol - Faith, Hope, Love, and on the sides of it are Peace, Strength, Prudence, Justice, Moderation, and Generosity. The most interesting figure in this set is undoubtedly personifying the World: she reclines on soft pillows with an olive branch in her hand; it really emanates peaceful calm. An interesting figure of Justice, which is somewhat apart on the left side. Angels were placed on the scales of justice, one in red clothes, crowning a man with a palm branch in his hand, and chopping his head to the other, and another angel in white clothes, which holds out two measures of length and grain to a kneeling person. The level below depicts a different, earthly hypostasis of Justice, sitting not on the "mountain throne", but on an ordinary armchair; on her lap lies a giant plane - a hint of universal equality before the law. At the same level, Lorenzetti's frescoes painted a large concentration of people, among which, perhaps, there are portraits of real people of that era.

On the eastern wall is the fresco "The fruits of good governance." Lorenzetti invested in her all the ideas about a happy peaceful life: herds are getting dark, peasants are growing in the fields and peasants are working peacefully, life is in full swing in the city, shops are being sold, people entertain themselves with games, and in the center of the stage are careless, fashionably dressed girls drive round dance.

Interestingly, in the part depicting the countryside, Lorenzetti topographically accurately conveyed its appearance, so that these places can still be recognized. In all likelihood, he used preliminary sketches.

At the entrance to the city gates, the artist depicted an allegorical figure of Security soaring in the sky; she is young and beautiful, but she holds in her hand a small gallows with a hanged criminal - a warning to everyone who might come to prosperous Siena with evil intentions.

On the western wall is the fresco “The Fruits of Bad Government” (located directly opposite the “Fruits of Good Government”, apparently, to enhance the contrast). The city and its surroundings are also represented here. A significant part of this fresco has been lost, but its composition is completely clear, and the most important semantic third with enlarged allegorical figures has been preserved relatively well.

In the center of the fresco is a city with clear signs of powerlessness and devastation, in which all kinds of atrocities, murders and robberies occur; further to the left there is a deserted countryside with some ruins, a burning village and crowds of marauding soldiers.

To the right, against the background of the city wall, is an allegorical part of the image. Emphasizing the dominance in the dying city of vicious human passions, the artist significantly enlarged the figures representing them, placing them on a special platform. In all its terrible power, in the center of the composition sits the embodiment of the Tyrant - on the head of the horn, in the mouth fangs, and at the feet of a black goat. In his left hand, Tyrant holds a glass of poison. Above him are greed - an old woman with bat wings and money bags in a vise; Pride in a red robe, solemnly showing the yoke from which she freed herself; Vanity admiring its reflection in a round mirror. At the feet of the Tyrant, outside the platform, there is bound Justice.

To the left of Tirana:

• Cruelty holding out a snake to an infant.
• Treason, on whose knees is a lamb with a scorpion tail.
• Deception with the wings of a bat holding a baton.

To the right of Tirana:

• Rage - a centaur with the head of a boar, clutching a dagger in his right hand.
• Discord, a saw sharing agreement. His robe represents the heraldic colors of Siena (white and black), on the chest on the one hand is written "yes", on the other - "no."
• War in a combat helmet, with a shield and a sword in his hands.

The uniqueness of these frescoes by Lorenzetti lies in the fact that in such a large and politically important allegory, he did without religious plots and references to the Bible (with the exception of the figure of Cruelty, where the allusion to the gospel text is obvious: Matthew 7:10). Such a fresco cycle program for the medieval Christian Siena soaked in Christian spirit was an absolute innovation.

• Works in museums of the world (neopr.) . Artcyclopedia . Date of treatment April 4, 2018.
• Giorgio Vasari on Ambrogio Lorenzetti