LUCA DI TOMMÈ

Italian painter. He worked in Siena in the second half of the 14th century and was one of the generation of artists who inherited and upheld the conventions of Duccio, Simone Martini and Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti. While he was not an innovator, his extensive output helped to sustain the decorative Sienese style that was to survive well into the 15th century. Over 50 works have been attributed to him, mostly altarpieces, although it is not always possible to distinguish his hand. Documentary and inscriptional evidence shows that he was a prolific and respected artist. One of his main patrons was the Opera del Duomo, the authorities of Siena CathedralGLOSSARYThe principal church of a province or diocese, where the throne of the bishop is placed. For reasons lost to time and tradition, a cathedral always faces west - toward the setting sun. The altar is placed at the east end. The main body, or nave, of the cathedral is usually divided into one main and two side aisles. These lead up to the north and south transepts, or arms of the cross, the shape in which a cathedral is usually formed., for which he also acted as a consultant. In style his works developed from an early, more imitative mode to a distinctive interpretation of the relationship between figures and their backgrounds, with a growing interest in line, ornament and texture.