Focus on this artwork and analyze the abstract.
Guidoriccio da Fogliano at the Siege of Montemassi (Italian: Guidoriccio da Fogliano all'assedio di Monte Massi) is a fresco on the western wall of the Sala del Mappamondo in the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena. It shows Guidoriccio da Fogliano, the commander of the Sienese troops, on horseback against the background of a landscape in which the siege of Montemassi takes place..
For a long time it was assumed that the work was painted in 1330 by Simone Martini. This dating made it one of the first secular portraits and one of the first monumental landscape paintings. It is widely considered a masterpiece of European painting.
In 1977, a frequently acrimonious debate started among art historians about the question whether Martini was indeed the artist. On the same wall in the Sala del Mappamondo another fresco has been discovered that could support the theory that the fresco is not as old as originally thought, and not a work by Martini. However, this matter is still unresolved.
Guidoriccio da Fogliano Siena Simone Martini landscape painting Montemassi secular Guidoriccio da Fogliano at the Siege of Montemassi portrait Palazzo Pubblico fresco