Description
The Virgin sits with the Christ Child against a radiant gold mandorla, surrounded by praying and music-making angels. The fresco belongs to the decoration of San Lorenzo in Ponte, San Gimignano, where this Marian image attracted longstanding devotion.
Mary's face is attributed to the young Simone Martini, around 1310. Most of what is visible today, including the Child and the surrounding angels, was repainted by Cenni di Francesco di ser Cenni in the early fifteenth century, around 1413. The entire composition cannot therefore be assigned to Simone.
Some pray while others play musical instruments, suggesting a continuous celebration of the sacred figure. The image was created to be encountered in a place of worship rather than as an independent gallery painting. The blue mantle gives the central figure its visual weight.
