It is as a divine decoration that Sienese art comes to us in the
profound and splendid work of Duccio di Buoninsegna, the delicate and
lovely work of Simone Martini, the patient work of the Lorenzetti. The
masterpiece, perhaps, of Duccio is the great Rucellai Madonna of S.
Maria Novella. There is none of his work in the Uffizi; but one of the
most beautiful paintings in the world, the Annunciation of Simone
Martini (23), from the Church of S. Ansano in Castelvecchio, is in the
first Long Gallery here. On a gold ground under three beautiful arches,
in the midst of which the Dove hovers amid the Cherubim, Gabriel
whispers to the Virgin the mysterious words of Annunciation. In his hand
is a branch of olive, and on his brow an olive crown. Madonna, a little
overwhelmed by the marvel of these tidings, draws back, pale in her
beauty, the half-closed book of prayer in her hands, catching her robe
about her; between them is a vase of campanulas still and sweet. Who may
describe the colour and the delicate glory of this work? The hand of man
can do no more; it is the most beautiful of all religious paintings,
subtle and full of grace. Simone was the greatest follower of Duccio.
Born in 1284, in 1324 he married Vanna di Memmo, and his brother, Lippo
Memmi, sometimes assisted him in his work. Lippo's hand cannot be
discerned in the Annunciation--none but Simone himself could have
achieved it; but the two saints, who stand one on either side, are his
work, as well as the four little figures in the frame.
Of the other early Sienese painters, only Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti
are represented in the Uffizi. The first, by a Madonna (15) and a
Thebaid; the second (16), in the two predella pictures for the
altar-piece of S. Procolo, Sassetta, the best of the Sienese
Quattrocento painters, is absent, and Vecchietta is only represented by
a predella picture (47); it is not till we came to Sodoma, whose famous
St. Sebastian (1279) suggests altogether another kind of art, a sensuous
and sometimes an almost hysterical sort of ecstasy, as in the Swooning
Virgin or the Swoon of St. Catherine at Siena, that we find Sienese
painting again.