Duccio

Duccio

Famous work: Maestà with Twenty Angels and Nineteen Saints (1308-1311)

Duccio di Buoninsegna (c. 1255-1260 – c. 1318-1319) was one of the most influential Italian artists of his time. Born in Siena, Tuscany, he worked mostly with pigment and egg tempera and like most of his contemporaries painted religious subjects. He 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. The centre of the Maestà depicts the Virgin and Child enthroned and surrounded by angels and saints. He also painted a work known as the Stoclet Madonna, the name stemming from its previous ownership by Stoclet in his collection in Brussels. The Madonna, painted on a wooden panel around the year 1300, was purchased in November 2004 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City for an estimated sum 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 the painting is a nineteenth century forgery; the Metropolitan Museum's curator of European Paintings has disputed Beck's assertion.

Known surviving works:

• Madonna with Child - Tempera and gold on wood, Museo d'arte sacra della Val d'Arbia, Buonconvento, near Siena,
• Madonna with Child and two Angels (Also known as the Crevole Madonna; c. 1280) - Tempera and gold on wood, Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana, Siena
• Madonna with Child enthroned and six Angels (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)
• Crucifix - Tempera on wood, Odescalchi Collection, Rome, formerly in the Castello Orsini at Bracciano
• Crucifix of San Francesco in Grosseto (1289), - Grosseto, Church of San Francesco
• Madonna of the Franciscans (c. 1300) - Tempera and gold on wood, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena
• Assumption, Burial and Crowning of the Virgin - Stained glass window, Siena Cathedral
• Maestà - Tempera and gold on wood - Kunstmuseum, Bern, Switzerland
• Madonna and Child (also known as the Stoclet Madonna or Stroganoff Madonna) - Tempera and gold on wood, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (formerly in the Stoclet Collection, Brussels, Belgium)
• Madonna with Child and six Angels - 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 (also known as Dossale no. 28; c. 1305) - 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 - Tempera and gold on wood, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena
• The Surrender of the Castle of Giuncarico - Fresco, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena
• Maestà with Episodes from Christ's Passion - Tempera and gold on wood,- Duomo, Massa Marittima, Italy
• Small Triptych: Flagellation of Christ; Crucifixion with Angels; Deposition in the Tomb - 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 - Tempera and gold on wood, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
• Small Triptych: Crucifixion with Angels; Annunciation and Madonna with Child and Angels; Stigmata of St Francis with Madonna and Christ enthroned - Tempera and gold on wood, Royal Collections, Hampton Court, near London, England
• Maestà (Madonna with Child Enthroned and Twenty Angels and Nineteen Saints) - Tempera and gold on wood, Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana, Siena
• Maestá (The Temptation of Christ on the Mountain) - Tempera and gold on wood - The Frick Collection, New York, USA