Duccio di Buoninsegna

Duccio di Buoninsegna brought warmth and human feeling into the gold-ground painting of the Middle Ages. His figures still sit against shining gold leaf in the Byzantine tradition, but their bodies have weight, their faces are tender, and the stories unfold in small rooms and landscapes with a real sense of space.

He was born in Siena around 1255 and is seen as the founder of the Sienese school. In 1285 he painted the Rucellai Madonna for Santa Maria Novella in Florence, now in the Uffizi. His great work is the Maestà, painted in 1308 to 1311 for the high altar of Siena Cathedral. The front shows the Virgin enthroned among saints and angels; the back shows dozens of scenes from the life of Christ, including his appearances to the apostles after the Resurrection. It is now in Siena’s Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. Only about 13 of his works survive.

Appearance on Lake Tiberias comes from the Maestà.