National Gallery of Art - THE COLLECTION

Tour: Painting in Siena in the 14th and Early 15th Centuries

Overview | Start Tour

image of The Angel of the Annunciation image of The Presentation of the Virgin image of Madonna and Child Enthroned
1 2 3
image of Joachim and the Beggars image of The Nativity of the Virgin image of The Presentation of the Virgin
4 5 6
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Overview

Siena, where most of the works on this tour were painted, is dominated even today by its cathedral, a dazzling facade of dark and light stone. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the centerpiece of its interior was a gold and brilliantly colored monumental altarpiece—Duccio's Maestà, some panels of which are in the Gallery's collection. Both the fame of the Maestà, which drew large numbers of pilgrims to Siena, and Duccio's influence as a teacher had a long-lived impact on the style of Sienese art. While painters in nearby Florence adopted rounder, more realistic forms, most Sienese artists in the early fourteenth century continued to prefer Duccio's linear and decorative style, which used gold and strong color to create pattern and rhythm.

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chronology


Captions

1.
1Simone Martini, The Angel of the Annunciation, c. 1333
2Paolo di Giovanni Fei, The Presentation of the Virgin, c. 1400
3Gentile da Fabriano, Madonna and Child Enthroned, c. 1420
4Andrea di Bartolo, Joachim and the Beggars, c. 1400
5Andrea di Bartolo, The Nativity of the Virgin, c. 1400
6Andrea di Bartolo, The Presentation of the Virgin, c. 1400
2.
7Andrea di Bartolo, Madonna and Child [obverse], c. 1415
8Andrea di Bartolo, The Crucifixion [reverse], c. 1415
9Master of the Osservanza (Sano di Pietro?), Saint Anthony Distributing His Wealth to the Poor, c. 1430/1435
10Giovanni di Paolo, The Annunciation and Expulsion from Paradise, c. 1435