From Oct. 13 to Jan. 16, the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum will showcase an exhibit titled “Metal of Honor: Gold from Simone Martini to Contemporary Art.”

Among the paintings displayed is “Saint Andrew” from Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.

Saint Andrew in Boston Museum

According to Boston MFA, Martini was the best painter to emerge from Duccio's workshop. 

He was also among the most influential painters in Europe in the 14th century, as evidenced by his painting of the saint's hair, beard, and the dynamic, serpentine line of the gold edging of his robe.

This panel, which may have originated from a church in Orvieto, was formerly a predella, a horizontal collection of pictures at the base of an altarpiece.

Evidently, during the Napoleonic Wars, this altarpiece was taken to Paris and returned to Italy in 1815.

Gardner Exhibit

As reported, the exhibit was put together by curators Pieranna Cavalchini (contemporary) and Nathaniel Silver (Renaissance) of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Through their knowledge and skills, the exhibition demonstrates that art is art regardless of the period. It also compared ancient and modern works that produce reverberations and reflections.

The exhibit jumps from works by the 14th-century Sienese master Simone Martini to works by African American artists Stacy Lynn Waddell, Titus Kaphar, and Kehinde Wiley from the 21st century.

Although made by different artists, all paintings in the exhibit use glittering gold leaves in their backdrops.

According to the museum, the exhibit honors the Black men and women they represent, just as the artists used gold to elevate their works.

Simone Martini Works at the Gardner

Before the start of the 20th century, Isabella Stewart Gardner purchased her two Simones. This made her and the museum she was establishing the owners of the first works by this artist in America. 

There are still twice as many Simone paintings in this museum as in any other museum on their side of the Atlantic.

One of the paintings is a little "Madonna and Child," measuring around 13 by 10 inches, with four tiny saints and a nun kneeling in prayer, reportedly raising a gesso on a strip across the bottom of the primary picture.

The Gardner's second Simone, “Virgin and Child,” is a much bigger polyptych with five panels about 9 feet wide and a little over 5 feet tall. This Simone Martini altarpiece is the largest and most complete in America.

In the artwork, two saints can be seen on each side, and in the middle are the risen Christ and trumpet-playing angels in smaller panels above.

Gardner also borrowed four other paintings. These include two smaller paintings—the mentioned "Saint Andrew" from Boston's MFA and a saint with a book, weeping.

According to the report, the other artworks borrowed were the "Saint Catherine of Alexandria" from the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa and “The Virgin and Child” from the Missouri-based Nelson-Atkins Museum. 

With all the paintings they acquired, the Gardner is currently the largest Simone Martini exhibit in the country, based on the website. 

More from Crossmap: Artworks of religious themes on display at Denver Art Museum