duccio

Duccio di Buoninsegna (c. 1255-1260, Siena - c. 1318-1319, Siena) was the most influential Sienese artist of his time and one of the key figures in the development of European painting. Duccio is considered to have had a major influence on the formation of the International Gothic style, and to have influenced Simone Martini and the brothers Ambrogio and Pietro Lorenzetti, among others.

His works include the Rucellai Madonna (1285) for Santa Maria Novella (now in the Uffizi) and the fabled Maestà (1308-11), his masterpiece, for Siena's cathedral. Originally carried through the streets of Siena in a religious ceremony, the multipaneled Maesta represented a major step forward in painterly style and narrative storytelling through visual art.

His Madonna and Child, painted on a wood panel around the year 1300, was purchased in November 2004 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City for an estimated sum in excess of 45 million USD, the most expensive purchase ever by the museum. In 2006 James Beck, a scholar at Columbia University stated that he believes painting is a nineteenth century forgery; the Metropolitan Museum's curator of European Paintings has disputed Beck's assertion[1]

Known surviving works

• Madonna with Child / Madonna con Bambino - Tempera and gold on wood - Museo d'arte sacra della Val d'Arbia, Buonconvento, near Siena

• Madonna with Child and two Angels / Madonna con Bambino e due angeli (c. 1280) - Also known as the Crevole Madonna / Madonna di Crevole - Tempera and gold on wood - Museo dell'Opera della Metropolitana, Siena

• Madonna with Child enthroned and six Angels / Madonna con Bambino in trono e sei angeli (c. 1285) - Also known as the Rucellai Madonna / Madonna Rucellai - Tempera and gold on wood - Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy, On deposit from Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy

• Crucifix / Crocifisso - Tempera on wood - Odescalchi Collection, Rome, formerly in the Castello Orsini at Bracciano

• Madonna of the Franciscans / Madonna dei franciscani (c. 1300) - Tempera and gold on wood - Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena

• Assumption, Burial and Crowning of the Virgin / Assunzione, Sepoltura e Incoronazione della Vergine - Stained glass window - Duomo, Siena

• Maiestà (Madonna with Child and six Angels / Madonna con Bambino e sei angeli) - Tempera and gold on wood - Kunstmuseum, Berne, Switzerland

• Madonna and Child / Madonna con Bambino - Tempera and gold on wood - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (formerly in the Stoclet Collection, Brussels, Belgium)

• Madonna with Child and six Angels / Madonna con Bambino e sei angeli - Tempera and gold on wood - Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia, Italy

• Polyptych: Madonna and Child with Saints Augustine, Paul, Peter, Dominic, four angels and Christ blessing / Madonna con Bambino e con i santi Agostino, Paolo, Pietro, Domenico, quattro angeli e Cristo benedicente (c. 1305) - Also known as Dossale no. 28 - Tempera and gold on wood - Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena

• Polyptych no. 47: Madonna and Child with Saints Agnes, John the Evangelist, John the Baptist, and Mary Magdalene; ten Patriarchs and Prophets, with Christ blessing / Madonna con Bambino e con i santi Agnese, Giovanni Evangelista, Giovanni Battista e Maria Maddalena; dieci patriarchi e profeti, e Cristo benedicente - Tempera and gold on wood - Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena

• The Surrender of the Castle of Giuncarico / La resa del castello di Giuncarico - Fresco - Palazzo pubblico, Siena

• Maiestà with Episodes from Christ's Passion / Maiestà e Storie della Passione di Cristo - Tempera and gold on wood - Duomo, Massa Marittima, Italy

• Small Triptych: Flagellation of Christ; Crucifixion with Angels; Deposition in the Tomb / Flagellazione di Cristo; Crocifissione; Deposizione nel Sepolcro - Tempera and gold on wood - Società di Esecutori di Pie Deposizioni, Siena

• Small Triptych: Madonna and Child with four Angels, Saints Dominic, Agnes and seven Prophets / Madonna con Bambino e con quattro angeli, i santi Domenico, Agnese, e sette profeti - Tempera and gold on wood - The National Gallery, London, England

• Portable Altarpiece: Crucifixion with Christ blessing; St Nicholas; St Gregory / Crocifissione con Cristo benedicente; San Nicola; San Gregorio - Tempera and gold on wood - Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

• Small Triptych: Crucifixion with Angels; Annunciation and Madonna with Child and Angels; Stigmata of St Francis with Madonna and Christ enthroned / Crocifissione e angeli; Annunciazione e Madonna con Bambino e angeli; Stimmate di san Francesco e Madonna con Cristo in trono - Tempera and gold on wood - Royal Collections, Hampton Court, near London, England

• Maiestà (Madonna with Child enthroned and twenty Angels and nineteen Saints / Madonna con Bambino in trono e venti angeli e dicianove santi) - Tempera and gold on wood - Museo dell'Opera della Metropolitana, Siena