and end of each chapter occur puzzle-canons, wherein the primary
part or parts alone are given, and the reader has to discover the
canon that fixes the period and the interval at which the response
is to enter. Some of these are exceedingly difficult, but Cherubini
solved the whole of them. The Saggio is a learned and valuable
work, containing an important collection of examples from the best
masters of the old Italian and Spanish schools, with excellent
explanatory notes. It treats chiefly of the tonalities of the plain
chant, and of counterpoints constructed upon them. Besides being
the author of several controversial works, Martini drew up a Dictionary
of Ancient Musical Terms, which appeared in the second volume
of G. B. Doni’s Works; he also published a treatise on The Theory
of Numbers as applied to Music. His celebrated canons, published
in London, about 1800, edited by Pio Cianchettini, show him to have
had a strong sense of musical humour.
MARTINI, SIMONE (1283–1344), Sienese painter, called also
Simone di Martino, and more commonly, but not correctly,
Simon Memmi,[1] was born in 1283. He followed the manner
of painting proper to his native Siena, as improved by Duccio,
which is essentially different from the style of Giotto and his
school, and the idea that Simone was himself a pupil of Giotto
is therefore wide of the mark. The Sienese style is less natural,
dignified and reserved than the Florentine; it has less unity of
impression, has more tendency to pietism, and is marked by
exaggerations which are partly related to the obsolescent
Byzantine manner, and partly seem to forebode certain peculiarities
of the fully developed art which we find prevalent in
Michelangelo. Simone, in especial, tended to an excessive and
rather affected tenderness in his female figures; he was more
successful in single figures and in portraits than in large compositions
of incident. He finished with scrupulous minuteness,
and was elaborate in decorations of patterning, gilding, &c.
The first known fresco of Simone is the vast one which he executed in the hall of the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena—the “Madonna Enthroned, with the Infant,” and a number of angels and saints; its date is 1315, at which period he was already an artist of repute throughout Italy. In S. Lorenzo Maggiore of Naples he painted a life-sized picture of King Robert crowned by his brother Lewis, bishop of Toulouse; this also is extant, but much damaged. In 1320 he painted for the high altar of the church of S. Caterina in Pisa the Virgin and Child between six saints; above are archangels, apostles and other figures. The compartmented portions of this work are now dispersed, some of them being in the academy of Siena. Towards 1321 he executed for the church of S. Domenico in Orvieto a picture of the bishop of Savona kneeling before the Madonna attended by saints, now in the Fabriceria of the cathedral. Certain frescoes in Assisi in the chapel of San Martino, representing the life of that saint, ascribed by Vasari to Puccio Capanna, are now, upon internal evidence, assigned to Simone. He painted also, in the south transept of the lower church of the same edifice, figures of the Virgin and eight saints. In 1328 he produced for the sala del consilio in Siena a striking equestrian portrait of the victorious general Guidoriccio Fogliani de’ Ricci.
Simone had married in 1324 Giovanna, the daughter of Memmo (Guglielmo) di Filippuccio. Her brother, named Lippo Memmi, was also a painter, and was frequently associated with Simone in his work; and this is the only reason why Simone has come down to us with the family-name Memmi. They painted together in 1333 the “Annunciation” which is now in the Uffizi gallery. Simone kept a bottega (or shop), undertaking any ornamental work, and his gains were large. In 1339 he settled at the papal court in Avignon, where he made the acquaintance of Petrarch and Laura; and he painted for the poet a portrait of his lady, which gave occasion for two of Petrarch’s sonnets, in which Simone is eulogized. He also illuminated for the poet a copy of the commentary of Servius upon Virgil, now preserved in the Ambrosian library of Milan. He was largely employed in the decorations of the papal buildings in Avignon, and several of his works still remain—in the cathedral, in the hall of the consistory, and, in the two chapels of the palace, the stories of the Baptist, and of Stephen and other saints. One of his latest productions (1342) is the picture of “Christ Found by his Parents in the Temple,” now in the Liverpool Gallery. Simone died in Avignon in July 1344.
Some of the works with which Simone’s name and fame have been generally identified are not now regarded as his. Such are the compositions, in the Campo Santo of Pisa, from the legend of S. Ranieri, and the “Assumption of the Virgin”; and the great frescoes in the Cappellone degli Spagnuoli, in S. Maria Novella, Florence, representing the Triumph of Religion through the work of the Dominican order, &c. (W. M. R.)
MARTINIQUE, an island of the West Indies, belonging to the chain of the Lesser Antilles, and constituting a French colony, between the British islands of Dominica and St Lucia, 25 m. S. of the one and 20 m. N. of the other, about 14° 40′ N., 61° W. Its length is 40 m., its greatest width 21 m.; and the area comprises 380 sq. m. A cluster of volcanic mountains in the north, a similar group in the south, and a line of lower heights between them, form the backbone of the island. Its deep ravines and precipitous escarpments are reduced in appearance to gentle undulations by the drapery of the forests. The massif of Mont Pelé in the north is the culminating point of the island (4430 ft.); that of Carbet is little inferior (3963 ft.), but the mountains in the south are much lower. Mont Pelé is notorious for an appalling eruption in May 1902.
Of the numerous streams which traverse the few miles of country between the watershed and the sea (the longest radiating from Mount Carbet), about seventy-five are of considerable size, and in the rainy season become deep and often destructive torrents. On the north-west and north the coast is elevated and bold; and similarly on the south, where a lateral range, branching from the backbone of the island, forms a blunt peninsula bounding the low-shored western bay of Fort de France on the south. Another peninsula, called Caravelle, projects from the middle part of the east coast, and south of this the coast is low and fretted, with many islets and cays lying off it. Coral reefs occur especially in this locality. Plains, most numerous and extensive in the south, occupy about one-third of the total area of the island.
The mean annual temperature is 80° F. in the coast region, the monthly mean for June being 83°, and that for January 77°. Of the annual rainfall of 87 in., August has the heaviest share (11.3 in.), though the rainy season extends from June to October; March, the driest month, has 3.7. Martinique enjoys a marked immunity from hurricanes. The low coastal districts are not very healthy for Europeans in the hotter months, but there are numerous sanatoria in the forest region at an elevation of about 1500 ft., where the average temperature is some 10° F. lower than that already quoted. The north winds which prevail from November to February are comparatively fresh and dry; those from the south (July to October) are damp and warm. From March to June easterly winds are prevalent.
The population increased from 162,861 in 1878 to 175,863 in 1888 and 203,781 in 1901. In 1902 the great eruption of Mont Pelé occurred, and in 1905 the population was only 182,024. The bulk of the population consists of Creole negroes and half-castes of various grades, ranging from the “Saccatra,” who has retained hardly any trace of Caucasian blood, to the so-called “Sangmêlé,” with only a suspicion of negro commixture. The capital of the island is Fort de France, on the west-coast bay of the same name, with a fine harbour defended by three forts, and a population of 18,000. The other principal centres of population are, on the west coast Lamentin, on the same bay as the capital, and on the east coast Le François and Le Robert. The colony is administered by a governor and a general council, and returns a senator and two deputies. There are elective municipal councils. The chief product is sugar, and some coffee, cocoa, tobacco and cotton are grown. The island is served by British, French and American steamship lines, and local communications are carried on by small coasting steamers and by subsidized mail coaches, as there are excellent roads. In 1905 the total value of the exports, consisting mainly of sugar, rum and cocoa, was £725,460, France taking by far the greater part, while imports were valued at £596,294, of which rather more than one-half by value came from France, the United States of America being the next principal importing country. In 1903,
- ↑ The ordinary account of Simone is that given by Vasari, and since repeated in a variety of forms. Modern research shows that it is far from correct, the incidents being erroneous, and the paintings attributed to Simone in various principal instances not his. We follow the authority of Crowe and Cavalcaselle.
