Lippo Memmi

Italian·1291–1356

14 paintings in our database

Working in tempera on panel with gilded grounds, Memmi mastered the flowing, calligraphic line, the delicate flesh tones, and the exquisitely rendered drapery of sinuous, luminous folds that characterized his brother-in-law's work.

Biography

Lippo Memmi (c. 1291-1356) was a Sienese painter who was the brother-in-law and principal collaborator of Simone Martini, the leading Sienese artist of the fourteenth century. He married Simone's sister and worked closely with him on several major commissions.

Memmi's most celebrated work is his collaboration with Simone Martini on the Annunciation with Two Saints (1333), now in the Uffizi, one of the masterpieces of Italian Gothic painting. While Simone painted the central figures, Memmi executed the flanking saints with skill that, while slightly less refined than his brother-in-law's, demonstrates considerable accomplishment. His independent works include a signed Madonna and Child in the Berlin Gemaldegalerie and numerous other devotional panels. His style closely follows Simone's elegant Gothic manner, with graceful figures, flowing linear draperies, and luminous gold grounds, though his forms tend to be somewhat more solid and less ethereally refined. After Simone's departure for Avignon, Memmi became one of the leading painters remaining in Siena.

Artistic Style

Lippo Memmi's paintings represent the closest continuation of Simone Martini's supremely refined Gothic manner available in Siena after Simone's departure for Avignon. Working in tempera on panel with gilded grounds, Memmi mastered the flowing, calligraphic line, the delicate flesh tones, and the exquisitely rendered drapery of sinuous, luminous folds that characterized his brother-in-law's work. His color sense is refined — the characteristic Sienese palette of brilliant rose, delicate azure, and warm gold — deployed with evident care for harmonic relationships.

The Annunciation with Two Saints (1333), on which he and Simone collaborated, allows direct comparison of the two painters' approaches: Simone's central figures achieve a transcendent elegance that Memmi's flanking saints, while accomplished, do not quite match. This honest assessment should not diminish Memmi's genuine achievement — his saints possess dignity, clarity, and technical refinement well above the average. His independent works, including the Berlin Madonna, demonstrate his capacity to work effectively on his own within the Simonian tradition he had absorbed so completely.

Historical Significance

Lippo Memmi was the primary inheritor and transmitter of Simone Martini's stylistic legacy in Siena after Simone's permanent departure for Avignon in 1340. By continuing to produce paintings in the Simonian manner for Sienese patrons, Memmi helped maintain the characteristic elegance of the Sienese Gothic tradition during the crucial middle years of the fourteenth century.

His collaboration with Simone on the Uffizi Annunciation created one of the touchstone works of Italian Gothic painting, a painting that would be studied and responded to by artists for generations. His documented family relationship with Simone and his long career in Siena provide valuable documentation for understanding the organization of the Sienese workshop system and the mechanisms through which stylistic traditions were transmitted within the family-based apprenticeship structure of medieval Italian painting.

Things You Might Not Know

•Lippo Memmi was the brother-in-law and closest artistic partner of Simone Martini, the greatest Sienese painter of the 14th century.
•He co-signed the magnificent "Annunciation" (1333) in the Uffizi with Simone Martini — one of the most celebrated paintings of the entire Middle Ages.
•Scholars have debated for centuries which parts of the Annunciation are by Simone and which by Lippo, with the two flanking saints generally attributed to Memmi.
•He traveled with Simone to Avignon, the seat of the papal court, where both painters worked during the late 1330s and early 1340s.
•His independent works show a style so close to Simone's that attribution between the two remains one of the most contentious problems in Italian art history.
•He was prolific as an independent painter in Siena and San Gimignano, producing altarpieces and frescoes for churches throughout Tuscany.

Influences & Legacy

Shaped By

Simone Martini — His brother-in-law was the overwhelming artistic influence on Lippo's style.
Duccio di Buoninsegna — The founder of the Sienese school provided the tradition both Simone and Lippo built upon.
French Gothic art — Through Simone and the Avignon sojourn, French Gothic elegance influenced Lippo's decorative sensibility.
Pietro Lorenzetti — The more dramatic Lorenzetti tradition provided a counterpoint to Simone's elegance.

Went On to Influence

Sienese painting tradition — Lippo helped perpetuate and disseminate Simone Martini's style after the master's death.
Avignon painting — His work at the papal court contributed to the Franco-Italian artistic synthesis.
Bartolo di Fredi — The next generation of Sienese painters inherited the tradition that Lippo and Simone had established.
Andrea Vanni — Lippo's continuation of Simone's style influenced the Sienese painters of the later 14th century.

Timeline

1291Born in Siena around 1291; son of the painter Memmo di Filippuccio and trained in his father's workshop, subsequently becoming the brother-in-law and closest collaborator of Simone Martini.

1317Documented in San Gimignano, where he painted the Maestà fresco in the Palazzo del Popolo — a direct adaptation of Simone Martini's Sienese Maestà showing how thoroughly he had absorbed his brother-in-law's manner.

1333Collaborated with Simone Martini on the Annunciation altarpiece (Uffizi, Florence) for Siena Cathedral — the joint signature ('Symon Martini et Lippus Memmi de Senis me pinxerunt') is one of the earliest collaboration inscriptions on a major Italian altarpiece.

1340After Simone Martini's departure for Avignon, continued his practice independently in Siena, producing polyptych altarpieces in the Martinesque manner for Sienese and Pisan churches.

1347Documented in Avignon in contact with the papal court — possibly following the path of Simone Martini, who had died there in 1344.

1356Died in Siena around 1356; his career demonstrates both the strength of Simone Martini's influence on the next generation and the continued vitality of the Sienese Gothic tradition.