Description
This fresco by Simone Martini depicts the Virgin of Humility with the Christ Child, accompanied by angels and Cardinal Jacopo Stefaneschi, who is associated with the commission. Mary occupies the center of an arched composition, inclining her face toward the Child. Angels appear on either side, while the cardinal’s presence introduces the patron into a scene of Marian devotion. Remnants of blue, white, and reddish pigment survive, although much of the painted surface has been damaged.
The painting was created around 1336–1340 for the lunette of the porch at Avignon’s cathedral of Notre-Dame-des-Doms. It is now displayed in the Palace of the Popes alongside other surviving portions of the mural programme. When the frescoes were detached between 1960 and 1963, preparatory drawings known as sinopie were also recovered. The work is an exceptional witness to Simone Martini’s final years in France and to the spread of the Virgin of Humility iconography.
