Movement, Style, School or Type of Art:
Proto-Renaissance; "Father" of the Sienese School
Date and Place of Birth:
Both are unknown. Though we've seen "ca. 1255," "ca. 1260," "ca. 1255/60" and "probably Siena," the first recorded mention we have of Duccio is that he had a painting commission for the Commune of Siena in 1278.
Life:
Frustrating, to have so little factual evidence on the first great Sienese artist. Only a few works attributed to Duccio are universally accepted as being his, and every attempt at dating these is an educated guess. None of which detracts from Duccio's innovative use of narrative composition, color and gilding, or for summing up the Byzantine style so splendidly. His huge masterpiece, Maestà, was unequaled, and his influence on Italian Renaissance painting lasted well into the 15th-century.
Important Works:
- Madonna of the Franciscans, ca. 1270-1300
- The Rucellai Madonna, ca. 1285
- Madonna and Child (a.k.a. "the Stroganoff Madonna"), ca. 1300-05
- Maestà, completed 1311
Date and Place of Death:
Siena, sometime prior to October of 1319. Duccio may have passed on in 1318 for all we know, but the aforementioned date is on court documents reporting that his seven children relinquished claims to his estate in favor of their widowed mother.
Sources and Further Reading
- Bellosi, Luciano. Duccio: The Maesta.
London : Thames & Hudson, 1999.
- Dini, Giulietta Chelazzi; Angelini, Alessandro and Sani, Bernardina.
Sienese Painting: From Duccio to the Birth of the Baroque.
New York : Harry N Abrams, 1998.
- Jannella, Cecilia. Duccio Di Buoninsegna (Library Great Masters).
New York : Riverside Book Company, 1991.
- Satkowski, Jane; Maginnis, Hayden B. J.
Duccio Di Buoninsegna: The Documents.
Athens : University of Georgia Museum of Art, 2000.
- Stubblebine, James H. Duccio Di Buoninsegna and His School.
Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1979.
Go to Artist Profiles: Names beginning with "D" or Artist Profiles: Main Index