St. Martin Shares his Cloak with a Beggar

Before his conversion, Saint Martin of Tours was a young Roman soldier; meeting a half-naked beggar at the gate of Amiens, he cut his military cloak in two with his sword to share it - and dreamed that night of Christ wearing the half he gave away. Simone Martini frescoed the scene in the chapel of Saint Martin in the lower church at Assisi, dressing the saint in courtly gold. The leading Sienese painter after Duccio, Simone turns charity into an act of aristocratic grace, all elegant line and refined color.