Simone Martini’s “Maestà” is in the Sala del Mappamondo in the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena, Italy. Considered to be the artist’s masterpiece, it depicts the Virgin Mary “in majesty” surrounded by various saints and angels. The work was meant to serve as a reminder to the lawmakers of Siena (the Great Council) that the Virgin Mary was watching over them, and that they should thereby make laws that would benefit all the people of Siena. It is one of the earliest examples of religious art used in a civic context.
