Maestà (Duccio)

The Maestà of the high altar of the Cathedral of Siena (Italian Maestà del Duomo di Siena or Maestà di Duccio ) was created 1308-1311 by Duccio di Buoninsegna for the Cathedral of Siena, replacing an older, smaller altar, the revered Madonna del voto of Dietisalvi di speme. The panel painting was originally about 5 m wide and 4.70 m high and had a front and a back. The remaining parts are now in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo metropolitana ( Cathedral Museum of Siena).

Front

The front of the altarpiece shows the people go, is designed for remote viewing, and therefore quite large. It is traditionally the icon: The Virgin enthroned, the city's patron saint of Siena, surrounded by her heavenly court of saints and angels. The Madonna has great similarities to its predecessor, the Madonna del voto, which probably was to secure the goodwill of the people for the new plant. All this is complemented by the four patron saints Ansanus, Viktor, Savinus and Creszentius which kneeling before the Madonna and representative intercede for Siena's population. The Maestà with the child is shown meaningful perspective: Unnaturally large and in the center of the image. 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. Only the middle part of the front side, which is Madonna in the circle of angels and saints, still preserved as a unit. The idea of the whole altar requires the reconstruction of missing parts and the original framing. It turns out that the work of five image regions and an architectural ( Gothic ) outline with gables, pinnacles and striving possessed.

Back

The back is aligned to the choir, designed for close-up view, and was only of clergy cost. It replaced the usual in this position Christ altar and showed in an ensemble of small-scale panels, the Passion of Christ.

Supplements

After 1331 four side altars were erected, which were the " Quattro Santi Coronati ," the four patron saints Ansanus, Viktor, Savinus and Creszentius consecrated. The four altars were designed in the next 20 years by then important painters of the city. There is a total program was probably even then established, which established a reference to the high altar with the Maestà.

A special feature of the altar represents the Beiseiterückung of the saints who were no longer represented as usual in the middle. Instead of a scene from the life of the Mother of God has been shown ( in the read direction from left to right), the Saints were to their Dexter side, so to her right, represented. The old Retabeltypus who always represented the holy person in the center, has been replaced by a narrative altarpiece - an art-historical revolution.

The four altars in the reading direction

A. Lorenzetti: The Presentation in the Temple; Uffizi Gallery, Florence

P. Lorenzetti 's Birth; Museum Siena

The reference function by Tilt at the " Birth of Mary " by Pietro Lorenzetti

The unusual thing about Lorenzetti's painting is a reinterpretation of the three architectural compartments of the altar into two spaces: the left shows the entrance hall of the temple, where Joachim receives the news of the birth of his daughter, the Middle and the rights to show the birth room. The vanishing point of the painting is offset to the right place on the center vertical line of the painting, which situates the viewer in the central nave of the cathedral. It is, as one would see from there the two simulated interiors. This oblique view obviously has a reference function: It assigns to the side altar of the Maestà below, before you were standing by the observer point of view.

Also Bartolomeo Bulgarini of 1251 the last altar was created after the Pesttod his predecessors, he was guided by Pietro Lorenzetti's model of the perspective view.

The round window

The large round window in the choir of 1287 is visible above the reredos. The round window is Mary into heaven, about the Coronation of the Virgin, including the Death of the Virgin in the corners of the Evangelists with their attributes. The window contains a closer look barely visible lettering, suggesting that the window is not only meant for the terrestrial observer (who can not recognize the font from the church floor ). In terms of Maestà the window leads the narrative of the life of Marie on.

Viewing directions

1 Chronological and narrative: Including the side altars, the paintings are to be understood as a narrative of Mary's life. The side altars show the horizontal line of sight stages of her life, while the Maestà represents the incarnation of Christ.

2 Symbolic- transcendental: Including the round window to Maestà Mary's life is told after the death in the vertical direction of view: Death, Assumption, Coronation, commanding the armies in heaven.

3 Perspective: The Shifted vanishing points of the side altars to Maestà back and the imagined viewer's position, so the positioning of the viewer draw the eye again and again to Maestà: All is subordinated to her.

Swell

• Hans Belting, The work in context: Hans Belting, inter alia, (Ed.): History of Art - an introduction. Berlin, 2003. (P. 235 243 for Maestà )
• Diana Norman: Siena and the Virgin: Art and politics in a late medieval city state, New Haven, 1999.
• Giulietta Chelazzi Dini et al: Sieneische painting. Cologne 1997