_Duccio_ (Sienese: about 1260-1340).
Duccio, the son of Buoninsegna, did much the same for the
Sienese School as Cimabue and Giotto did for the Florentine.
He was the first, that is to say, who, forsaking partly the
conventional manner of the Byzantine School, endeavoured to
give some resemblance to nature, and in religious subjects to
bring down heaven to earth. "He retained the ancient formulas,
destroying, however, their formalism by the inspiration of new
life." The development of Sienese art under his influence was
parallel to, yet distinct from, that in Florence. "His feeling
is quite distinct; his pure, sweet, transparent colouring is
his own; his type of beauty more graceful and more classical,
and he loved more gentle curves, more oval faces and longer
limbs. In these things he followed his own temperament, and
by so doing determined the characteristics of the Sienese
School" (Monkhouse: _In the National Gallery_, p. 17). In
1285 Duccio was commissioned to paint a large Madonna for
the church of S. Maria Novella at Florence. In 1308 he began
the execution of his Maestà for the cathedral of Siena, of
which some portions are now in the transept and others in the
Opera del Duomo. The revelation that Duccio made of the new
power of art was received, as was Cimabue's, with rapturous
applause, and a portion of the famous picture just referred to
was in 1310 carried in procession on a beautiful day in June
to the Cathedral amidst the ringing of bells and the sounding
of trumpets; the magistrates, clergy, and religious orders
escorting it, followed by a multitude of citizens with their
wives and families, praying as they went: the shops were closed
and alms distributed to the poor. For that masterpiece Duccio
received 16 soldi (8d.) the working day, paid to him in monthly
instalments. The city, however, found him his materials,
which, owing to the quantity of gold used (see 1139), raised
the whole cost to 3000 gold florins. Works by Duccio are a
speciality of the National Gallery, which has four of them to
show, 566, 1139, 1140, and 1330. The present picture is the
most important, and best illustrates the new departure made by
Duccio.
The young Christ, for instance, instead of being depicted in the act
of priestly benediction (as in 564), is shown as a true babe, drawing
aside the veil that hides his Mother's face. In this little incident
one may thus see the tendency which was to lead to the representation
of the Mother and Child as a Holy _Family_ (the spectator must have
"charity of imagination" to ignore the green hue of the Madonna's
face, for reasons stated under 565). "A conception like this of the
Infant Saviour is not met with, so far as I know, in the whole range
of Byzantine art from the fifth century onwards. The relation of the
Child to his mother, as here represented, the gesture of childlike
love, contrasting with the expression of melancholy in her face,
which, perhaps, constitutes the principal charm of the picture--is
an innovation. This motive does not occur in the work of Niccola
Pisano, the great sculptor who had executed a famous work in the
cathedral of Siena some twenty years previously. We find it, however,
in contemporary Gothic sculpture of France; a very characteristic
example is in the South Kensington Museum, a charming little ivory of
the Madonna standing with the Child in her arms" (Richter's _Lectures
on the National Gallery_, p. 18). Above are seen the prophets, headed
by David their king, while on either side St. Catherine[150] and St
Dominic adore the vision of the mother of God. The Byzantine influence,
on the other hand, may be seen in the Greek type of feature and long,
slender fingers.