Probably the older brother of Ambrogio Lorenzetti. His first documented work is an altarpiece painted in 1320 (Arezzo). Unlike his brother and Simone Martini, Pietro Lorenzetti was active almost exclusively in Siena, except for frescoes carried out in Assisi in the Lower Church. He probably died, like his brother, in the Black Death.
Pietro Lorenzetti
active possibly 1306; died probably 1348
Paintings by Pietro Lorenzetti
The crown and the millstone, faintly visible at her right side, suggest the woman may be Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, who according to legend, after her death cured the hand of man after it was crushed by a millstone. Though royal, she joined a Franciscan lay order and took a vow of poverty, dedi...
Not on display
The upper layers of paint in the draperies are faded so that you can see the underdrawing – or sinopia – beneath. Traces of paint reveal that the draperies were originally blue. The figure’s pose – she recoils in fear, drawing her hand to her breast – is similar to images of the Virgin receiving...
Not on display
In the 1330s the Sienese city council commissioned four altarpieces showing scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary, the city’s protector, to decorate the cathedral. This panel by Pietro Lorenzetti, one of the city’s most important artists, comes from the altarpiece dedicated to the birth of the...