Duccio, The Rucellai Madonna, 1285-86

Art History

Siena

Duccio's Maesta (front)
Duccio's Maesta (back)
Duccio, The Rucellai Madonna, 1285-86
Duccio's Madonna and Child
Duccio's The Virgin and Child with Saints Dominic and Aurea
Ambrogio Lorenzetti's Palazzo Pubblico frescos: Allegory and Effect of Good and Bad Government
Lorenzetti's Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
Simone Martini's Annunciation
Nicola, Pulpit, Pisa Baptistery; and Giovanni Pisano, Slaughter of the Innocents, Pulpit, Sant'Andrea church, Pistoia

Duccio, The Rucellai Madonna, 1285-86 Duccio, The Rucellai Madonna, 1285-86, tempera on panel, 177 x 114" or 450 x 290 cm (Uffizi, Florence) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker

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Duccio, The Rucellai Madonna, 1285-86

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You know--the Florentines get all the credit
and it's important to remember that
there was another major city in the 1300s
--that was also in Tuscany
--that was another independent republic
and this is the Republic of Siena with the capital city of Siena.
And there was an enormously important and influential painter there
whose name was Duccio.
And so let's look at one of his most important paintings
--the Rucellai Madonna.
Dr. Beth Harris: We're looking at a painting of the Madonna holding the Christ child
surrounded by three angels on either side,
and twelve feet high
--so a very large painting.
Dr. Zucker: Yeah, it's a huge painting.
In fact, the virgin Mary herself is twice the height
if not larger than a human being
--it's an altar piece that's meant to be seen a great distance within a huge church.
Dr. Harris: And there's so many decorative patterns here,
on the throne,
in the spaces in between the posts that make up the throne,
we see reds and blues.
And then we've got more patterning in the drapery behind the throne.
Dr. Zucker: The characteristics that you're referencing
are seen by art historians to be the definition of Sienese art of this time
--highly decorative, highly patterned
and with a subtlety of color that we don't often see in Florentine.
Dr. Harris: First of all, Mary's whole body is in this lovely ultramarine blue
which was a very expensive paint,
but the angels--we see purples and greens and pinks and blues
Dr. Zucker: And they are subtle and prismatic
in a way that we don't so much see
in the flatter colors of the Florentine style.
Dr. Harris: It's hard to say that Mary's sitting "in" her throne.
(laughter)
Dr. Harris: The throne itself is so flat.
Dr. Zucker: It's almost a background against which she is seen.
There's so much details and so much decorative patterning in the throne,
especially in the cloth that drapes the throne
--that it's structure get's lost,
because pattern of course does emphasize the two dimensional.
You know when I look at Sienese art
especially the Rucellai Madonna,
I tend to think of an artist
who is so in love with the ability to create beauty
that pattern and form tend to trump the overall representation
and the emphasis on any kind of naturalism--or any physicality.
For instance look at the Byzantine influenced hands of Mary
--look how long those fingers are.
It's almost as if the artist has gotten lost
in the length of those fingers
as they wrap around christ waist.
Dr. Harris: They are very beautiful--those hands.
I'm thinking also about the amount of gold here.
We see the disappearance of all of that gold
through the 1300s and to the 1400s.
Here the painting's value is largely
in that ultramarine paint that was expensive
and in the use of gold.
And what happens during the Renaissance
is that the artist, himself, is valued
--the artist's skill becomes more valued.
Not that Duccio's skill wasn't valued,
but the value was also heavily in the materials that were used
that were often dictated by the patron.
Dr. Zucker: Now the ultramarine blue that you are referencing
was actually made of the semi-precision stone--lapis lazuli.
And during the Renaissance,
the only mines that were available for lapis were in Afghanistan
--still a remote place for us in the 21st century.
One can only image how exotic and rare and difficult
importing from Afghanistan would have been in the 1200s.
Dr. Harris: And here we have an enormous quantity of that color being used.
Dr. Zucker: So this is--in some ways--ostentatious.
In some ways this is a painting
that is broadcasting its value, its wealth, its importance.
what's so interesting is this was a commission
for the main altar in Santa Maria Novella in Florence
although it's by a Sienese artist
and Santa Maria Novella is the main Dominican church
that is one of the mendicant orders
--this order of begging monks
that had renounced worldly pocessions
so there's this interesting tension
--we had mentioned that this is called the Rucellai Madonna
and that's a later title
this painting was later moved away from the main altar
in Santa Maria Novella and into the Rucellai Chapel
--that is the private chapel that was controlled
by the Florentine family--the Rucellai
(music)

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