Twitter
Facebook
Bluesky
WhatsApp
Email
The start of the 14th-century was a golden age for art, when Italian artists like Simone Martini, Duccio, Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti began painting with a drama that nobody had ever seen before. Faces started to show real emotion, and stories sprang from their canvases in colourful scenes.
The National Gallery's latest exhibition will bring to life the vibrant cities of Siena, Naples, Avignon and beyond, where artists collaborated and learned by looking at the work of other painters, metalworkers, weavers and carvers, creating exquisite manuscripts, gilded glass, rugs and silks.
Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkSiena's goldsmiths were particularly admired, and Sienese painters dressed their subjects in fluttering fabrics and beautifully draped silks, making use of golden threads that would have shimmered in the candlelight.
These styles came to be admired in cities and courts across Europe, leading to important commissions from patrons in Florence, the Angevin Kings and the papal court in Avignon.
Photo: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkArtworks reunited after hundreds of years apart
On display will be over 100 paintings, panels and manuscripts made from wood, marble, gilded glass, textiles and enamel. A particular highlight is the alterpiece panels from Simone Martini's Orsini Polyptych, originally created for Siena's Palazzo Pubblico and now reunited from galleries in Antwerp, Paris and Berlin.
Photo: nationalgallery.org.ukThe exhibition will also include Duccio's Crucifixion, Virgin And Child and scenes from his monumental Maestà. This complex altarpiece has been split between Madrid, New York and Washington, and has not been seen together in centuries, allowing viewers to understand how they were meant to work together visually.
How to get to the National Gallery
| Bus fares | Cash | Oyster & Contactless | Travelcard | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single fare | Daily cap | One day | |||
| Anytime | Off-peak | ||||
| All zones | n/a | £1.75 | £5.25 | £6 | |
| Train fares | Cash | Oyster & Contactless | Travelcard | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single fare | Single fare | Daily cap | One day | ||||
| Peak | Off-peak | Peak | Off-peak | Anytime | Off-peak | ||
| Zone 1 | £7 | £2.90 | £2.80 | £8.90 | £8.90 | £16.60(zone 1-4) | £16.60(zone 1-6) |
| Zone 1-2 | £7 | £3.50 | £2.90 | £8.90 | £8.90 | ||
| Zone 1-3 | £7 | £3.80 | £3.10 | £10.50 | £10.50 | ||
| Zone 1-4 | £7 | £4.60 | £3.40 | £12.80 | £12.80 | ||
| Zone 1-5 | £7 | £5.20 | £3.60 | £15.30 | £15.30 | £23.60(zone 1-6) | |
| Zone 1-6 | £7 | £5.80* | £3.80* | £16.30 | £16.30 | ||
| * Journeys between zone 1 and Heathrow are always charged at the peak rate. Prices are correct as of | |||||||
You might be interested in…
Search for more art exhibitions in London, or look for things to do near Trafalgar Square. Check out all the other events in London today, tomorrow, this weekend and during March
Jose Maria Velasco – A View Of Mexico at the National Gallery
