Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350 at the National Gallery

A century and a half before the Florentine flowering of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, another Tuscan city wondrous for its wealth and architectural beauty rose to a position of cultural preeminence. Siena’s magnificent Gothic cathedral, begun in 1226 testifies to the prosperity enjoyed by the citizens of this Central Italian pearl. By the dawn of the 14t^h century, the city had become the scene of remarkable developments in the art of painting with outstanding artists like Duccio, Simone Martini and the Lorenzetti brothers, Pietro and Ambrogio to the fore. Investing their work with new emotional power and displaying technical innovation, the impact was felt in France and England. Siena also became famous for its Gilded glass, ivory Madonnas and illuminated manuscripts. The National Gallery’s thrilling new exhibition chronicles this incredibly vibrant creative period that was tragically brought to a close by the devastating outbreak of bubonic plague that decimated the city’s population in 1348.

Organised in conjunction with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and eight years in the making, this show features over 100 exhibits. The dramatic lighting and dark backdrop deployed by curators draw attention to the shimmering luminosity of works like Duccio di Buoninsegna’s triptych, The Virgin and Child with St Dominic with its gold background. Siena’s wealth as a mercantile and financial hub led to the precious metal being incorporated into much of the city’s art during this era. In the early to mid-14^th century, Siena was a bustling metropolis and lay on the major pilgrimage route from Canterbury to Rome, the Via Francigena. Consequently, it was open to international artistic influences. Siena was a thriving part of a cultural network that extended to Avignon, Bohemia and England, thus its talented artists were exposed to delicate French gothic ivories, Byzantine icons, Iberian textiles and the frescoes of Giotto.

This is a treasure trove of stunning altarpieces and pious devotional paintings. The city republic’s patron saint, The Virgin Mary is a ubiquitous presence throughout the exhibition. One learns at the very beginning, that a 13^th-century icon depicting the Virgin and infant Christ is markedly stiff and hieratic compared with what it is to follow, serving to emphasise the level of sophistication, expression and emotional charge that the likes of Duccio would later achieve.

Duccio di Buoninsegna (c 1250/5-1319) a Sienese native and a contemporary of Giotto, was a talismanic figure in the city’s art. Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti, whose work also features in the current show were his pupils and Simone Martini, a follower. The four can be found here forging a new way of painting. Each is seen imbuing their biblical narrative with a greater sense of humanity for all the gilded backgrounds that exude divine power. Scenes are notably bound in an Earthly setting, moving away from abstract Byzantine evocations.

Arguably the greatest marvel on display is Duccio’s celebrated altarpiece, the Maestà. Commissioned for the Cathedral, it was the only work he signed. Originally five metres wide and five metres in height, it was painted and gilded on each side.  Curators have reunited panels from the back of the structure that capture key events in the life of Jesus Christ for the first time since their scattering around 250 years ago.  Though most of the 33 parts are still in Siena, in the Museo dell’Opera, the rest are now to be found in ten collections in five countries. One memorable panel at the National Gallery shows Lazarus being raised from the dead as onlookers bear witness with a mixture of awe and bewilderment.

Ambrogio Lorenzetti (c 1290-1348) reveals himself to be equally as sensitive to the relationship between a mother and her child in Madonna del Latte in which the infant Christ meets the viewer’s gaze as he takes succour from the Virgin’s breast, holding it in is tiny hand. Another work by the same artist, Birth of the Virgin (1335-42) is set in a space apportioned into three scenes. Lorenzetti deploys a rudimentary geometrical perspective. The mother of Mary, St Anne lies in a vaulted room which follows the shape of the panel, her newborn in the centre. On the left, Joachim, Mary’s father receives the news of his child’s birth. A holy event is being made more relatable to the audience.

A lavish work depicting a later episode of Jesus’s life by Simone Martini (c 1284 -1344), Christ Discovered in the Temple (1342) was painted in Avignon in France where the Papal court was in exile from Rome. The teenage Saviour had abandoned his parents in the Temple in Jerusalem and taught among the scholars before being found by Mary and Joseph. Christ’s moody expression and crossed arms in the face of a reprimand will strike a familiar note with many a middle-aged viewer. Mary sits before him with a book in her lap, which reads in Latin: “Son, why do you treat us this way?” Martini’s usage of ornately patterned gold and graceful figures suggests the influence of the Gothic art of France and Italian style too. 

There is much to admire here, aside from the paintings and altarpieces. This well-organised exhibition also features sculptures, illuminated manuscripts, reliquaries made from ivory, marble and terracotta, and wool and silk textiles.  A particularly impressive gilded silver chalice from 1320 captivates. Elsewhere, a mighty gold staff Crosier (1315-20) from San Galgano. A monastic ally of Siena. There’s a whole gallery devoted to textiles, which sheds light on Sienese cultural enrichment from Mongolian silks and Turkish carpets, explaining their appearance in artists’ paintings from the city-state.

As this beguiling Trecento exhibition draws to a close, a work familiar to every regular visitor to the`National Gallery makes an appearance.  The celebrated late medieval English panel painting, The Wilton Diptych, courtly and inlaid with gold leaf would suggest that the art of Siena came to exert an influence far beyond the walls of the Tuscan city. A rallying cry is being raised by the National for this city-state at its 14^th-century peak to be considered the equal of its rival, Florence 100 later. Equally compellingly, Siena’s golden age is presented as a transformative period when the static uniformity of Byzantine art was being superseded by the more human style characterising the proto-Renaissance.

James White
Image: Duccio, Maestà Panels – Christ and the Woman of Samaria (1308-11) © Copyright Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350 is the National Gallery at until 22^nd June 2025. For further information or to book visit the exhibition’s website here.