Condotier Gvidoriccio da Fogliano by Simone Martini

In the history of art, it became the first depiction of a specific historical event with a portrait of a contemporary. This portrait was the prototype of future equestrian monuments.

In the upper part of the wall is a relatively narrow strip of painting. Against the background of a deep blue sky and a yellow-brown, deadly, naked, like a crystalline landscape depicting the fortresses of Montemassi and Sassoforte, as well as the fortified camp of Sientes, rides a horse condottier Gvidoriccio de Fogliani. He is depicted in profile, the master has given his features a portrait likeness to the original.

Kondotier conquered the fortress from the Pisans who captured them. The fresco captures for centuries his exploits and the harsh spirit of the times, in which reality is closely intertwined with fiction. The robe of the rider and the horseman in the saddle on the horse has the same pattern of large dark blue rhombuses on a yellow background. The pattern as if unites the rider and the powerful animal into one being. The fresco is dated by the artist in 1328.