Maestà

Italian artist Duccio di Buoninsegna painted this monumental altarpiece between 1308 and 1311 for the main altar of Siena Cathedral. The front shows an enthroned Madonna surrounded by saints and angels. The back originally displayed over forty narrative panels depicting the lives of Christ and the Virgin, an unprecedented undertaking involving more than eighty figures.

When completed, Sienese citizens carried the altarpiece in a triumphant procession from Duccio's studio to the cathedral on June 9, 1311. Shops closed, bells rang, and the people processed around the city with the painting. It replaced an older image called the Madonna with the Big Eyes and became the spiritual center of Siena.

The altarpiece remained intact until 1771, when it was dismantled and sawn apart. Pieces were scattered, sold, or lost. The main front panel is now at the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Siena, displayed in a climate-controlled room. Other panels ended up in museums from London to Washington. Despite the damage, what survives shows Duccio as the founder of the Sienese style, distinct from the Florentine approach of Giotto.