Duccio DI BUONINSEGNA
(b. mid-13th century, Siena, Republic of Siena–d. c. 1318,
Siena?), one of the greatest Italian painters of the Middle Ages
and the founder of the Sienese school. In Duccio’s art the
formality of the Italo-Byzantine tradition, strengthened by a
clearer understanding of its evolution from classical roots, is
fused with the new spirituality of the Gothic style. Greatest of
all his works is “Maestà” (1311), the altarpiece of Siena
cathedral.
Beginnings
There is little documented information about Duccio’s life and
career. In large part his life must be reconstructed from the
evidence of those works that can be attributed to him with
certainty, from the evidence contained in his stylistic
development, and from the learning his paintings reveal.
Duccio’s father was from the town of Buoninsegna, near
Siena, but at the time of Duccio’s birth he lived in the town of
Camporegio. He is first mentioned in 1278, when the treasurer
of the commune of Siena commissioned him to decorate 12
strongboxes for documents. The following year he was given
the task of decorating one of the wooden covers of the account
books of the treasury. That Duccio was doing work more
appropriate for an artisan than an artist must not lead one to
assume that even at this time he was only a beginner. It is
known that services of this type were requested, both in Siena
and in Florence, of already established painters. Further, the
fact that he was designated as “painter” and was working for
himself demonstrate that he was a mature and independent
artist by 1278. In 1280 Duccio was fined the large sum of 100
lire by the commune of Siena for some unrecorded
misconduct. This was the first of a considerable number of
fines that the artist incurred at various times and for various
reasons, and they suggest that he was of a restless and
rebellious temperament. He was fined more than once for
nonpayment of debts; in 1295 he was penalized for refusing to
pledge allegiance to the head of the popolo party; in 1302 for
not appearing for military duty; and in the same year for what
appears to have been practicing sorcery.
The “Madonna Rucellai.” On April 15, 1285, the Compagnia
dei Laudesi, or singers of praise, of the Virgin Mary at the
church of Sta. Maria Novella in Florence, commissioned
“Duccio di Buoninsegna, painter of Siena” to paint a great
altarpiece that was to represent the Madonna and Child
together with other figures. For the work he was to be paid
150 florins, but if the painting, which had to be “a most
beautiful picture” and had to have a gold border, was not
satisfactory, the artist would receive no reimbursement.
Despite the fact that this employment contract, preserved in
the State Archives of Florence, came to light in 1790 and was
published in 1854, it was only in 1930 that it was indisputably
determined that the document referred to the Madonna of Sta.
Maria Novella, now called the “Madonna Rucellai.” From the
time of Giorgio Vasari, a minor Florentine Renaissance
painter who was the earliest, and probably the most
influential, biographer of early Italian artists, this altarpiece,
which was the largest yet painted, was considered to be a
masterpiece of the Florentine painter Cimabue. Vasari’s
attribution, whereas it was probably due in part to a desire not
to deprive the Florentine school and its founder of credit for so
brilliant a work, was accepted almost unanimously until the
present century because of strong similarities to the work of
Cimabue in the “Madonna Rucellai.” Some recent critics, no
longer able to deny that the work is by Duccio, have concluded
that he was a pupil, and in all essentials of his art even an
imitator, of Cimabue. (see also Index: Santa Maria Novella)
The problem of the relative influence of Cimabue upon
Duccio is critically very complex. The “Madonna Rucellai”
shows affinities with the work of Cimabue in the type of the
Virgin, in the serious and robust Child, and in the faces of the
six adoring angels; nevertheless, it reveals strikingly new
stylistic innovations in the softness of the angels set in midair,
in the elegant and subtle lines, in the first feeling of French
Gothic animated sweetness and spirituality, and in the light
and shade modulation of the free-flowing, clear brush strokes.
There is no doubt that his knowledge of Cimabue’s work was
one of the components of Duccio’s style at this time, but it was
not the predominant, nor even the earliest influence; very
probably Cimabue’s influence was a late insertion into a
personal style that had already evolved within the framework
of the well-developed Sienese tradition. In the years between
1260 and 1280, largely due to the inspiration of its
magnificent cathedral, Siena had emerged as one of the most
vital centres of art in Italy. A remarkable succession of
altarpieces by Sienese painters testifies to the simultaneous
work of a number of artists, some of whom possessed quite
distinct personalities. The variety of orientations of these
painters shows that they did not work in provincial isolation
but were sensitive to the diverse influences of the age,
including Cimabue.
Duccio certainly studied these painters and was influenced by
them. Notably evident in his style are the influence of the
older painter Guido da Siena with the serene dignity of his
figures, permeated by lyrical tenderness and grace, in the
now-fading stylized postures of the Byzantine tradition, and
of the master of the “St. John the Baptist Altarpiece” in the
Pinacoteca Nazionale of Siena, with his complex Byzantine
iconography and his vivid, dense colouring. Duccio was able
to draw from sources outside Siena as well: from the
combination of linear stylization and Hellenistic types that
characterized the illustrations of books imported from
Constantinople and also from contemporary French Gothic
miniatures, with their lively tone and lyrical, animated
stylizations of clothing and gesture. Duccio may also have
travelled to Florence in his early years, coming into contact
with Cimabue, but such an explanation is not entirely
necessary to account for the formation of his style. In fact, in
Duccio’s only certain work prior to the “Madonna Rucellai,”
echoes of Cimabue are even less apparent than in the Rucellai
altarpiece. The conclusion that Duccio was nothing more than
a follower of Cimabue at the time he painted the “Madonna
Rucellai” is implausible and overlooks the originality, as well
as the excellence, of the work. If, in fact, he was in 1285
entrusted with a work of such significance at Florence, his
reputation must have already been established and have spread
beyond the confines of his native Siena.
Later commissions
Traces of Duccio’s association with Cimabue remain in the
large round stained-glass window of the choir of the Siena
cathedral, for which Duccio made the designs. This work was
commissioned between 1287 and 1288 and is the earliest
known example of stained glass produced by an Italian.
Numerous documents attest to Duccio’s action in Siena during
the 20 years following the creation of the “Madonna Rucellai.”
He was by now the leading painter of the city and as such
executed in 1302 an altarpiece, now lost, for the altar of the
chapel of the Palazzo Pubblico, the city hall. During this
period, some unsigned and undocumented altarpieces appeared,
and some of these are certainly Duccio’s work; the most
significant of these is a small altarpiece representing the
Virgin enthroned with angels and called “The Madonna of the
Franciscans” because of the three monks kneeling at the foot of
the throne. In this work a developed Gothic style appears in the
curving outlines, which give an exquisite decorative effect.
The work in which the genius of Duccio unfolds in all its
brilliant fullness and the one to which the painter owes his
greatest fame, however, is the “Maestà,” the altarpiece for the
main altar of the cathedral of Siena. He was commissioned to
do this work on Oct. 9, 1308, for a payment of 3,000 gold
florins, the highest figure paid to an artist up to that time. On
June 9, 1311, the whole populace of Siena, headed by the
clergy and civil administration of the city, gathered at the
artist’s workshop to receive the finished masterpiece. They
carried it in solemn procession to the accompaniment of drums
and trumpets to the cathedral. For three days alms were
distributed to the poor, and great feasts were held. Never
before had the birth of a work of art been greeted with such
public jubilation and never before had there been such
immediate awareness that a work was truly a masterpiece and
not just a reflection of the religious fervour of the people.
Duccio himself was aware of the work’s significance; he
signed the throne of the Virgin with an invocation that was
devout yet proud for the time: “Holy Mother of God, grant
peace to Siena, and life to Duccio because he has painted you
thus.”
The “Maestà” is in the form of a large horizontal rectangle,
surmounted by pinnacles, and with a narrow horizontal panel,
or predella, as its base. It is painted on both sides. The entire
central rectangle of the front side is a single scene showing the
Madonna and Child enthroned in the middle of a heavenly
court of saints and angels with the four patron saints of Siena
kneeling at their feet. The back is subdivided into 26
compartments that illustrate the Passion of Christ. The front
and back of the predella contain scenes of the infancy and the
ministry of Jesus, and the pinnacles, crowning the entire work,
represent events after the Resurrection. In all, there are 59
narrative scenes.
The rigorous symmetry with which the groups of adoring
figures at the sides of the Virgin are arranged in the imposing
scene of the central panel is inspired by compositions of the
Byzantine tradition and gives evidence of Duccio’s keen
architectural sensibility by its power to draw attention to the
“Maestà” as the true focal point of the cathedral’s spatial and
structural organization. Like elements of a living architecture,
the 30 figures, through the slightest of gestures and turnings of
the head, are intimately related, their positions repeated to
give a feeling of intense lyrical contemplation. The
consonance of feeling that arises from this contemplation
gives the facial features of each a distinct, spiritual beauty,
reminiscent, especially the faces of the angels, of the more
idealistic creations of Hellenistic art. The Madonna, slightly
larger than the other figures, seated on a magnificent and
massive throne of polychrome marbles, inclines her head
gently as if trying to hear the prayer of the faithful. Duccio
thus succeeds in reconciling perfectly the Byzantine ideal of
power and dignity with the underlying tenderness and
mysticism of the Sienese spirit. The scenes in the predella,
pinnacles, and back are filled with the Byzantine iconographic
schemes from which Duccio finds it difficult to detach
himself, and they are developed with a deeper concern for
their narrative significance. The scenes are not, however,
merely descriptions or chronicles. They include many touches
from daily life, which provide a lyrical synthesis that
harmonizes the character and gestures of the figures with their
landscape and architectural surroundings.
Last years
Only scanty bits of information are available about the few
years that Duccio lived after the completion of the “Maestà.”
He had a prosperous workshop from which other works
emerged, but they seem to have been executed in great part by
students. His financial condition must have been quite sound
because by 1304 he bought a vineyard in the neighbourhood of
Siena. Nevertheless, in 1313 he was once again deep in debt.
At death he was survived by his wife, Taviana, and seven
children. At least two of his children, Galgano and Giorgio,
were painters, but nothing is known about their work or their
merits. The identity of one of his direct followers is known,
his nephew Segna di Buonaventura.