The Birth of Mary, 1342, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena
Pietro Lorenzetti
Formally a triptych, in fact it is a single scene. In the centre St. Anne in a position similar to the Etruscan sarcophags. The composition is Byzantine but the painting as a whole is Italian showing the influence of Giotto.

The framework structure of the panel shows the walls and supporting uprights of a house with the front wall removed. The rooms are shown in convincing perspective, with the anteroom on the left giving access to a tall, Gothic inner courtyard. In the main room St Anne, who has just given birth, is lying in bed while midservants wash the newborn Mary. The child's aged father Joachim is receiving the happy news from a boy in the anteroom.
     
   
 
 
   
Lorenzetti, two 14th-century Italian painters who were brothers. Pietro and Ambrogio, born in Siena, belonged to the Sienese school dominated by the stylized Byzantine tradition developed by Duccio di Buoninsegna and Simone Martini. Pietro trained under Duccio di Buoninsegna and participated in the decoration of the lower Basilica at Assisi. He then returned to Tuscany in 1320 where he left behind the testimony of his great artistic ability.
 
   

Monticchiello still retains its old walls, towers and castle, the village inside the fortifications has maintained intact its medieval characteristics. Walking down the main street, there is the church of S. Agata. The 13th century Church of Santo Leonardo e Cristóforo, with a Gothic facade, contains an altar-piece of the Madonna con bambino by Pietro Lorenzetti.		  
Madonna con bambino by Pietro Lorenzetti
Pietro Lorenzetti, Annunciazione dei Santi in the Chiesa di San Michele in Castiglione del Bosco, Montalcino  

Pietro Lorenzetti, Annunciazione dei Santi
Immersed in the clay landscape of the Crete Senesi rises Castiglione d'Orcia, a small medieval village of the Sienese countryside. An oasis not just of natural beauty, but also artistic beauty, including the Rocca di Tentennano fortress, an imposing structure built in the 13th century as a defensive outpost for the whole valley. Inside this structure, is the Sala d'arte San Giovanni: an important exhibit for gaining a deeper understanding of, and admiring, the masterpieces of the Sienese school between the 14th and 15th centuries.

In particular, a prestigious work of Pietro Lorenzetti stands out, the Madonna and Child.

This panel painting, after an attentive, year-long restoration, returns to its original splendour next to paintings of the calibre of Simone Martini, Il Vecchietto, and Giovanni di Paolo. On a gilded background, Maria holds her son delicately in her arms, in keeping with iconographic tradition. A deeply profound religious theme represented with great humanity. The style, the use of colour and the attempts to create volume show the direct stylistic influences of his unmatchable masters.

    
 
   
 
Pietro Lorenzetti, Madonna dei Tramonti, San Francesco, Assisi

Madonna dei Tramonti is a 1330 Madonna fresco by the Italian artist Pietro Lorenzetti. It is located in the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi in Assisi. The fresco is accompanied by a frescoed niche containing the liturgical implements.