documented around 1315 -1348 · Pisan Trecento, Sienese Gothic and Giottesque monumentality

Gold backgrounds, elegant lines, serious volumes and maternal tenderness make Francesco Traini one of the major personalities of Trecento Pisan painting.

Francesco Traini was probably born in Pisa towards the end of the 13th century. Documents point him out in the first half of the Trecento as a painter and probably illuminator, active for the commune, the cathedral, the brotherhoods and the religious orders. In 1322, he was paid for paintings now lost at the Anziani Palace. A contract from 1337, by which he received an apprentice for three years, shows that he already ran an established workshop. His training brings together several traditions. From Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi come the elegance of the lines, the softness of the faces and the precious accords of Sienese painting. Florentine and Giottesque culture brings more volume, weight and theater. Traini combines these influences in a Pisan language that is both refined and monumental. His only work signed and dated with certainty is the polyptych of Saint Dominic, completed in 1345 for the Santa Caterina church in Pisa. The saint occupies the center, surrounded by scenes from his life arranged in narrative compartments. Doctrinal precision unites with careful observation of gestures and spaces. Several Virgins and Children are attributed to him, including that of the Prado and the group with Saint Anne of Princeton. They show dense bodies under linear draperies, a sensitive maternal relationship and a golden background which transforms the scene into a sacred presence. The name Traini was long associated with the Triumph of Death and the frescoes of the Camposanto of Pisa; these attributions are today strongly discussed and often given to Buonamico Buffalmacco. This caution reinforces the importance of certain panels. Documented until the middle of the century, Traini remains the main landmark of the Pisan school before the next generation. The "Francesco Traini" selection notably compares Mary and the Child Jesus with a bird and Virgin and Child with Saint Anne. His reading favors drawing.

Traini unites two forces of the Trecento: the Sienese line gives grace and rhythm, while the Pisan volume makes the sacred body a stable and close presence.