Explore the New ideas about dating of this artwork.
The debate on the correct attribution of the Guidoriccio raged for decades in scientific journals as well as in the wider media; still no final conclusion has been reached. It is unusual for a debate among art historians about the dating and attribution of a 14th-century work of art to take this long and get so much public attention. Those who think that it is a work by Simone Martini base  their opinion on stylistic similarities with his other work.  Their opponents point out facts concerning the technical preparation of the fresco and possible anachronisms in the imagery that would make it unlikely that it was painted around 1330. They refer  to the architecture of the castles, heraldic elements and the siege engines depicted. They usually conclude that the Guidoriccio could not have been painted before the fifteenth century. The fact that Vasari in his famous painters' biography Le Vite from 1550 makes no mention of a work as prominent as the horseman fresco is seen by some as a reason to date it even later. There is still no consensus about the painter and the date of creation of the Guidoriccio.
siege engine Simone Martini Le Vite heraldic Vasari fresco anachronism