Duccio

Duccio di Buoninsegna (c. 1255 probably in Siena, † 1319 in Siena ) was an Italian painter.

Life

Annalistic traditions According Duccio in 1280 was first occupied for an unspecified vested (but probably political ) crimes with a large fine. Additional penalties followed as in 1302 owing to financial liabilities for their settling, he was commissioned the making of a Maestà for the town hall in Siena. This is, however, not been preserved for posterity. Between 1296 and 1297 a Duche de Siene is mentioned in Paris, which suggests where Duccio and his successors had their Gothic influences. From 1285 to 1299 he is mentioned several times in Siena and punished, among other things, because he refuses, the Capitano del Popolo to swear fealty. He was also punished for refusing to perform military service and again for a seemingly minor infraction in connection to witchcraft.

Was mentioned for the first time in 1278 and 1279 Artistic Duccio with a work for the municipality of Siena. He painted 12 files chests. 1285 was known a work of Duccio for the Florentine church of Santa Maria Novella, also known as Madonna Rucellai, which is now exhibited in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence; it is at the center of a narrated by Giorgio Vasari in the 16th century episode that Frederic Leighton designed in the 19th century as an image. 1308 Duccio got the job, the old revered Madonna del voto to replace the old altarpiece of the Cathedral of Siena. The result was a larger, multipart high altarpiece of Duccio MAESTA. What Duccio painted after Maestà, remains uncertain. He died in 1318 or 19

Style

Duccio painted in the Byzantine tradition and gave this human expression, which was circulated at the time of the painters of the Sienese school. He was considered a profound innovator and the expression of his characters was profound. His style was characterized less naturalistic than that of his contemporary, the Florentine school associated Giotto di Bondone. Although a master of narrative technique, which equated him with Giotto, his lack of iconographic originality.

Duccio took for his scenes very often - though not always - the ancient Byzantine figures from the Old Testament to the original. His great skill, the use of gold as decoration and compositional property at the same time, the rich, subtle colors - which, in contrast to Giotto form a descriptive nature, form a distinct aesthetic feature - as well as the varied and elegant contours like as equally for the design of surface pattern Description served the forms, characterized the Sienese school of painting for another two centuries.

Painters of the next generation, such as Simone Martini and the brothers Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti, although fundamentally different in their style, Duccio took work as a basis for the development of their work.

Duccio's Maestà of the high altar of the Cathedral of Siena

From 1308 an altarpiece for the high altar of the Cathedral of Siena was born. On June 9, 1311 was the work Maestà of the high altar of the Cathedral of Siena, a Maestà, is completed. The front forms a magnificent Enthroned Madonna with Child in a circle of angels and saints. The main panel adds a predella, Christ's Childhood of the Annunciation depicts in seven fields to the dispute with the scribes in the temple. On the back of the Passion of Christ is portrayed in twenty-six fields. Among the predella various miracles and stories from the life of Christ. In 1771 they separated the front and back of each other, and later there was regrettable decompositions. Eight predella panels emigrated abroad, where they are now preserved in various collections and museums. A field of the predella is lost. The remaining parts - Maestà and the corresponding scenes from the back as well as seven Predellenbilder - are now in the cathedral museum in Siena.

Other works that come from Duccio or attributed to him, are in the Frick Collection, New York, in the Royal Collection, Windsor, Christchurch Picture Gallery in Oxford, Badia a Isola ( Monteriggioni ) near Siena ( a Madonna, often the master Badia a Isola attributed instead Duccio himself ), Bern, Turin, Budapest, London, Bologna, Perugia and Siena.

As a curiosity it should be mentioned that Duccio on a picture of the Last Supper painted as feed a piglet. This is anachronistic, as a pig with the Jews was regarded as unclean; Thus, the artist chose a typical dish of his time without the religious and historical context observed.

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