Altarpiece of Five Saints

This Altarpiece of Five Saints by Lippo Memmi, painted around 1330, represents the elegant, aristocratic strand of Sienese Gothic painting. Lippo Memmi was the brother-in-law and closest collaborator of Simone Martini, the most refined painter of the Sienese school, and their styles are sometimes difficult to distinguish. The panel demonstrates the Sienese preference for graceful, elongated figures and sumptuous decorative surfaces that contrasted with the more austere, volumetric approach of contemporary Florentine painting.

Egg tempera and gold on panel with elaborate punch-work tooling in the haloes and background. Lippo Memmi's figures display the sinuous linear elegance and refined facial types inherited from Simone Martini, set against a rich gold ground with meticulous ornamental detail.