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Altarpiece Of St. Louis Of Toulouse And The Renaissance

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While most Renaissance art is easily attributable to the artist that created it, an artist’s work could vary dramatically depending on the city and patron for which the piece was commissioned. The fourteenth century Sienese artist Simone Martini was and example of these easily recognizable artists. Martini was known for his Gothic style that was influenced by northern Europe, but within two of his panel paintings, The Altarpiece of St. Louis of Toulouse and The Annunciation, he exhibited different stylistic and compositional strategies. This variation in style was dependent upon the social, political, and civic contexts of each city which shaped the imagery that appeared within the works of art. This variation in Martini’s work displayed the tremendous influence that the patron could choose to take over the execution of a work of art during this particular period in history.

Martini’s Altarpiece of St. Louis of Toulouse, completed in 1319, was commissioned by Robert the Wise, the third king of Naples. Naples, throughout its modern history, has had a strong connection to France due to its location, identity as a port city, and familial ties between the French monarchy and its own. The city became part of the Sicilian Kingdom in 1264 when the grandfather of Robert the Wise and brother of King Louise IX of France, Charles I, was declared the king of the two Sicilies combining the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily. This installation of a king sparked a construction

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