Duccio di Buoninsegna

2011-05-31T03:47:00.000-07:00

Duccio was born in Siena in about 1255. He was the greatest exponent of thirteenth and fourteenth-century painting in Siena.
Even if he followed the ancient byzantine painting, he renewed it deeply: he dissolved the metal boundaries and the stereotyped frameworks in a very fluid line, proving to be an early supporter of Gothic rhythm. At the same time he exalted the fantastic colors of eastern enamel.
Duccio was the master of Simone Martini and had a series of imitators and followers of different levels.

Among his early works there is Our Lady of Crevole found in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (New Cathedral Workings Museum) in Siena. You can see clear evidence of the models which inspired him: the schematic drapery and the use of gold from Byzantine painting.
During the same period, while Cimabue and his followers tried to represent three-dimensional space and volume, Duccio focused his attention on the elegance of form and the harmony of lines and colors. In 1285 the artist painted a Majesty - key work in Duccio's production, now in the Uffizi Museum- which transformed the solemn Byzantine system in the new Gothic splendor (the splendid throne, the golden mantle) without forgetting the new sense of form that was then proposed by Cimabue in Florence. In 1308 he was commissioned the altar piece of the Cathedral in Siena (now located in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo), tied to the cult of the Virgin in Siena which was much felt. He depicted the Madonna enthroned among angels and in the back, divided into 26 sections, episodes of Christ's passion are represented . French Gothic influences are evident in the very soft lines of the features and in the choice of colors. The central figure of the Madonna and her child is still linked to Byzantine models because it has a real texture and its volume is disproportionate in comparison with the figures that surround her . It is very remarkable the composition plant as well as the intensity of colors.
Another work by Duccio is the Madonna of the Franciscans that is in the National Art Gallery in Siena. This is considered an early work by some critics and a later one by others. The small altar piece has a checkered background typical of French Gothic miniatures. Among the later works of the painter that correspond fully to his painting style, with inspiration drawn from the miniature French Gotic, with a delicate drawing of colors, with rhythimis correspondences, linear, typically Byzantine iconography, we mention the triptych of the Madonna and the Altarpiece Siena. Duccio died in about 1318.

G.A.L.E. Italia

Duccio di Buoninsegna