Home	Duccio: The Life of Duccio, Sienese Painter [c. 1255-c. 1316]
	Guido da Siena (ca. 1221). The first important work in this development is the large Madonna from San Domenico in the Palazzo Pubblico which is signed by Guido: Me Guido de Senis Diebus Depinxit Amenis quem Xps Lenis Nullis Velit Agere Penis Ano Di MCCXXI. The panel was originally the center piece of a triptych, with small scenes from the life of Mary and the Passion of Christ on the wings. About ten of these small panels are still extant in the museums of Altenburg, Siena, and Utrecht. The clear evidence of later retouching of the Madonna panel and the character of the style that has resulted from the repainting has led to the assumption that an "L" was removed from the original date and that the panel was really painted in 1271. The picture would then be a parallel to the art of Coppo di Marcovaldo, perhaps a development of the style shown in Coppo's Servite Madonna of 1261. The earlier date seems more probable, but whether 1221 or 1271, the panel is significant, along with the anonymous St. Peter altar in the Academy of Siena (sometimes ascribed to Guido), and the anonymous triptych in the Pinacoteca of Perugia in being the chief painted documents linking the older Romanesque form (e.g., the strictly frontal Madonna of 1200 in the Siena Cathedral Opera or the one in the Palazzo Saracini, Siena) and the decorative refinements of the maniera bizantina to the masterpieces of Duccio and his followers. Duccio (active 1278-1319). Concerning the life of Duccio di Buoninsegna the first record noted in documents is in 1278, when he received payment for certain cassone or chest paintings. In 1285 he was paid for a painting -- quam fecit in libris camerarii -- indicating either a miniature or a painted book cover. In 1285 he received a contract to paint a Madonna panel for Santa Maria Novella in Florence, which is probably to be identified with the Rucellai Madonna. The Majestas was ordered in 1308, finished in 1311 and carried to the cathedral by the townspeople amid great jubilation. Various notes in records ( 1295-1302) indicate that he was brought before the courts several times for debts and avoiding military service. He died in 1319; his widow, Taviana, and her seven children renounced all claims to his estate, which was probably nothing but debts. Chronologically the first work ascribed to Duccio is the Madonna with the Three Franciscans in the Academy of Siena. In spite of its damaged condition it shows many of the traditional features of the Byzantine manner, but the hierarchic stiffness of the older Hodegetria type has been softened into a more kindly and human, yet still dignified, manner reflected in the gestures of Mother and Child toward the kneeling figures. Likewise the design has been softened and made more flowing in character. Whether the Madonna Enthroned in the Rucellai Chapel of Santa Maria Novella is the same panel which Duccio painted in 1285 for that church or not is much disputed, but the general tendency among critical scholars has been in the affirmative. Stylistically the panel appears as a development of the type seen in the Franciscan Madonna and a close parallel to the Uffizi Madonna of Cimabue. In color, particularly in the green underpainting, and design it is more conservative than the Cimabue panel; instead of the more architecturally built throne and plastic figure, the arrangement has the flat decorative character of the Byzantine manner, but much more refined and delicate. Duccio's greatest work, and along with Giotto's decoration of the Arena Chapel the most important monument of the whole fourteenth century, is the Majestas in the Cathedral Opera of Siena. The huge panel was contracted for in 1308 and completed three years afterward -- apparently, from a note of 1310, under considerable pressure by the operai. Contemporary chronicles describe the elaborate celebration and festivities of the townspeople when the work was transferred from. his shop to the high altar of the cathedral. It was removed in 1506, later to be sawed up into many separate panels, so that while the main parts are today still in the cathedral museum, smaller panels are to be found in the National Gallery of Washington, the National Gallery in London, and in the Frick, Rockefeller, and Mackay collections of New York. The front side of the altar represents the Virgin Enthroned with accompanying hosts of angels and saints, of whom the four patron saints of Siena -- Savinus, Ansanus, Crescentius, and Victor -- are placed in the front row on either side of the Madonna. The signature, Mater sancta dei sis causa senis requiei sis Duccio vita te quia depinxit ita, is inscribed on the base of the throne. About this are smaller panels with scenes from Her life, including predellas with scenes from the youth of Christ insofar as they are associated with Mary (below), a row of half-length apostles, and those scenes (above) from Her life after the Saviour's death, with Her Coronation as the climax. The original back side of the altar was divided into small scenes from the life of Christ with the Passion in the center, the Public Life in the predellas below, and scenes after the Resurrection in the panels above. The total number comes to about ninety-two scenes. A close examination of the separate panels reveals many variations in quality and style, which might again be interpreted as either a development of Duccio's own style or the assistance of pupils. The enthroned Madonna appears stiff and flat, particularly in the head and the framing formed by the inlaid throne. Likewise the halflength apostle figures reflect the antiquated Byzantine manner. Others show a greater development of space and sense of figure composition, as in the Last Supper or Christ's Entry into Jerusalem. Parallel to this goes a development in color sensitivity from hard contrasting colors to a greater emphasis on even and soft transitional tones. The more general analysis of Duccio's style will show the remarkable parallel and contrast to that of Giotto. The tremendous size and elaborate iconography are far beyond anything that Siena had produced in altarpieces up to that time, and as such, with its large number of separate scenes, might be compared to the many separate fresco scenes which decorate the walls of the Assisi and Padua churches. But where Giotto's genius lay in the simplified and easily comprehended narrative and its dramatization through a more realistic interpretation of the story and his strong, monumental form, Duccio has retained the more abstract character of the theme rather than the realistic story. These themes iconographically are more in keeping with the Byzantine manner, as might be traced in Byzantine mosaics and miniatures. Duccio's genius lay in the soft, lyric character of his interpretation as shown in the design in drapery and figure groups, the subdued luminosity of his coloration. The hierarchic abstraction of the Byzantine and the lyric, spiritual character of the French Gothic styles are thus here combined into new forms. The comparison of such similar themes as Duccio's Three Women at the Grave and Giotto's Christ and Mary Magdalene in the Arena Chapel will demonstrate the iconographical and formal differences, not only of the respective artists, but also of the two dominating traditions, Sienese and Giottesque, of fourteenth-century painting in Italy.