Fig. 47. Pietro Lorenzetti, or Follower. St. Francis receiving the Stigmata. Fresco.—Lower Church, Assisi.
Fig. 48. School of Pietro Lorenzetti. The Last Supper. Fresco.—Lower Church, Assisi.
In the Birth of the Virgin, dated 1342, Figure [49], Pietro spoils a carefully studied and well-felt picture by elaboration of the setting. The frame is conceived as the plastic front of a Gothic room within and behind which, spaces are multiplied confusingly. Here the pedantic preoccupation with the problem of space offends the eye and destroys the unity of what in a simpler setting would be a monumental composition. It illustrates the dangers of that smaller realism which from Duccio down afflicted the more progressive painters of Siena. Such a picture enables us to appreciate the tact and thoughtfulness with which Ambrogio Lorenzetti approached his narrative themes.
Fig. 49. Pietro Lorenzetti. Birth of the Virgin.—Opera del Duomo, Siena.
Ambrogio Lorenzetti was born about the beginning of the century. In 1331 and later he painted remarkable frescoes for the Church of St. Francis. These if complete would afford the most interesting comparisons with Giotto at Florence, but the two that remain are among the best narrative paintings of the time. What will first strike the observer in the story of St. Louis of Toulouse renouncing his throne as he takes the Franciscan vow, Figure [50], is the variety and orderliness of the emotions. The devotion of the saint is well offset by the intense, melancholy curiosity of his brother Robert, who becomes king through the sacrifice. The audience is divided into admiring Franciscans and idly marveling courtiers, the whole well dominated by the kindly and reverend figure of the Pope. Remarkable is the methodical division of the spaces. A slender column establishes the picture plane and sets the figures back. A sort of desk in a hollow square defines and isolates the monastic group, while the courtiers have their appropriate location in a third plane of alcoves. Florence has next to nothing of this sort at this period, and it may be noted that this careful division of spaces is not matter of display and curiosity as in Duccio, but is logical and effective as regards the persons of the narrative.
Fig. 50. Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Prince Louis of Toulouse receives the Franciscan Vow.—San Francesco, Siena.