Guidoriccio da Fogliano

Guidoriccio, the victorious captain who had conquered the two castles here depicted for the Republic of Siena, merited the tribute of the Sienese and a portrait that undoubtedly has brought him more glory and fame than his military exploits. Simone Martini shows him proud and elegant in his golden yellow tunic, with a matching horsecloth on his mount, equally stately with its parade gait. The image is on the borderline between a realistic, precise representation of a historically documented event and the transfigured celebration of a symbol; it can be also considered one of the earliest civilian portraits of the Middle Ages.