This paper should be considered as introductive part of a monographic study on Coppo di Marcovaldo on which the author has begun to work. This paper consists of three chapters. In the first chapter, the artistic situation in which the art of Coppo was formed is summarized. In the second chapter, the studies on the documents and later texts referring to Coppo are reported according to approximately chronological order. In the last chapter the author's intention is to show that the 'Orvieto Madonna' and the 'Pistoia Cross' which have been considered as the visual basis for the reconstruction of the profile of the artist are recently doubted their authenticity.