The Maestà, or Maestà of Duccio, is an altarpiece composed of many individual paintings commissioned by the city of Siena in Tuscany in 1308 from the artist Duccio di Buoninsegna[1] and is his most famous work.[2] Duccio's the Maestà was originally composed with a front and back side that relied on each other to encompass the full knowledge of the altarpiece. This was the first altarpiece to contain both a front and back side.[3] The front panels make up a large enthroned Madonna and Child with saints and angels, and a predella of the Childhood of Christ with prophets.
The reverse has the rest of a combined cycle of the Life of the Virgin and the Life of Christ in a total of forty-three small scenes; several panels are now dispersed or lost. The base of the panel has an inscription that reads (in translation): "Holy Mother of God, be thou the cause of peace for Siena and life to Duccio because he painted thee thus."[4] Though it took a generation for its effect to be truly felt, Duccio's Maestà set Italian painting on a course leading away from the hieratic representations of the Italo-Byzantine style towards more direct presentations of reality, as developed in the rest of the Trecento.
History
Duccio di Buoninsegna painted the work with assistants in a studio located on Via Stalloreggi, very close to Siena Cathedral. The painting was installed in the cathedral on 9 June 1311 after a procession of the work in a loop around the city. One person who witnessed this event wrote:
And on that day when it was brought into the cathedral, all workshops remained closed, and the bishop commanded a great host of devoted priests and monks to file past in solemn procession. This was accompanied by all the high officers of the Commune and by all the people; all honorable citizens of Siena surrounded said panel with candles held in their hands, and women and children followed humbly behind. They accompanied the panel amidst the glorious pealing of bells after a solemn procession on the Piazza del Campo into the very cathedral; and all this out of reverence for the costly panel… The poor received many alms, and we prayed to the Holy Mother of God, our patron saint, that she might in her infinite mercy preserve this our city of Siena from every misfortune, traitor or enemy.
Creating this altarpiece assembled from many wood panels bonded together before painting was an arduous undertaking. The work was not only large, the central panel was 7 by 13 feet, but it had to be painted on both sides since it could be seen from all directions when installed on the main altar at the centre of the sanctuary.[4]
Dismantling and current locations
The altarpiece remained in place until 1771, when it was dismantled in order to distribute the pieces between two altars. The 5-metre-high (16 ft) construction was dismantled and sawn up, and the paintings damaged in the process. Partial restoration took place in 1956. The dismantling also led to pieces going astray, either being sold or simply unaccounted for. Extant remains of the altarpiece not at Siena are divided among several other museums in Europe and the United States.
The panels in Siena are housed in the Duomo museum adjacent to the Duomo di Siena. The central panel, lower panels, and rear are displayed separately in the same room.
Christ's followers, Joseph and John, remove him from the cross while Nicodemus removes nails from his feet. The Virgin Mary looks into his closed eyes while Mary Magdalene holds his arm, and all have painful expressions as they tend to the dead Christ. The background has the same gold texture as in the "Crucifixion" and the cross that held Christ has blood running onto the ground, increasing the sense of realism in the scene. This panel aroused the emotions of its audiences and the story helped to symbolize the birth of Christianity.
Burial
Immediately following the "Deposition" is the depiction of Christ as he is prepared for burial, surrounded by his mourning followers. His mother leans in close to him and kisses him one last time and Mary Magdalene throws her arms towards the sky in anguish. The background retains the gold setting of the "Deposition" and "Crucifixion," and the mountains in the background are similar to the mountains portrayed in previous and subsequent panels. These mountains lead the viewer's eye to Mary, who is accompanying him, and then to Christ's face. This scene also elicits an intense emotional response from its viewers and you can see the close connection that the burial party has to Christ, and especially to the Virgin Mary.
List of panels in the world
In Siena
FrontReverse
The Mother of God Enthroned with the Christ Child Amidst Angels and Saints, central panel
The Wedding Feast of Cana
The Temptation of Christ atop the Temple
The Annunciation of the Virgin's death
The Virgin's Farewell to St. John
The Virgin's Farewell to the Apostles
The Death of the Virgin
The Funeral of the Virgin
The Burial of the Virgin
The Appearance of Christ behind closed doors
The Incredulity of St. Thomas
The Pentecost
The Appearance of Christ on Lake Tiberias
The Appearance of Christ on the Mountain in Galilee
The Appearance of Christ to the Apostles at Supper
The Adoration of the Magi; Solomon
The Presentation in the Temple; the prophet Malachi
The Massacre of the Innocents; the prophet Jeremiah
The Flight into Egypt; the prophet Hosea
The Boy Jesus among the Doctors
Episodes from Christ's Passion Tempera and gold on wood. The work, consisting of 26 episodes on 14 panels, was originally the reverse surface of the Maestà.
Stubblebine, James H. (1973). "Duccio and His Collaborators on the Cathedral Maestà". The Art Bulletin. 55 (2): 185–204. doi:10.1080/00043079.1973.10789738.
Bellosi, Luciano (1999). Duccio: The Maestà. New York: Thames and Hudson. ISBN978-0500237717.
