To make their conventional representations of Madonna's love and woe and glory burn with all the passion of a fervent spirit, and to testify their worship by the oblation of rich gifts in colouring and gilding massed around her, was their earnest aim.

It followed that, when they attempted subjects on a really large scale, the faults of the miniaturist clung about them.

I need hardly say that Ambrogio and Pietro Lorenzetti form notable exceptions to this general statement.

It may be applied, however, with some truth to Simone Martini, the painter, who during his lifetime enjoyed a celebrity only second to that of Giotto.[152] Like Giotto, Simone exercised his art in many parts of Italy.

Siena, Pisa, Assisi, Orvieto, Naples, and Avignon can still boast of wall and easel pictures from his hand; and though it has been suggested that he took no part in the decoration of the Cappella degli Spagnuoli, the impress of his manner remains at Florence in those noble frescoes of the "Church Militant" and the "Consecration of S.
Dominic."[153] Simone's first undisputed works are to be seen at Siena and at Assisi, where we learn what he could do as a _frescante_ in competition with the ablest Florentines.