View source for Duccio

{{Short description|13th- and 14th-century Italian painter}}
{{other people}}
{{Infobox artist
| name          = Duccio
| image         = Maesta 021.jpg
| image_size    = 300px
| caption       = ''[[Maestà (Duccio)|Maestà]],'' 1308–1311 (detail)
| birth_name    = Duccio di Buoninsegna
| birth_date    = {{circa|1255/1260}}
| birth_place   = [[Siena]], [[Republic of Siena]]
| death_date    = {{circa|1318/1319}} (aged 57–64)
| death_place   = Siena, Republic of Siena
| nationality   =
| field         = [[Painting]]
| training      =
| movement      = {{hlist|[[Sienese school]]|[[Gothic art|Gothic style]]}}
| works         = {{ubl|''[[Rucellai Madonna]]'' (1285)|''[[Maestà (Duccio)|Maestà]]'' (1308–1311)}}
| patrons       =
}}
'''Duccio di Buoninsegna''' ({{IPAc-en|UK|ˈ|d|uː|tʃ|i|oʊ}} {{respell|DOO|chee|oh}},<ref>{{Cite dictionary |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/Duccio |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200322182621/https://www.lexico.com/definition/duccio |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-03-22 |title=Duccio |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref> {{IPA|it|ˈduttʃo di ˌbwɔninˈseɲɲa|lang}}; {{circa|1255/1260}} – {{circa|1318/1319}}), commonly known as just '''Duccio''', was an Italian painter active in [[Siena]], [[Tuscany]], in the late 13th and early 14th century. He was hired throughout his life to complete many important works in government and religious buildings around Italy. Duccio is considered one of the greatest Italian painters of the [[Middle Ages]],<ref name="eb">[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Duccio Duccio]. ''Encyclopedia Britannica''.</ref> and is credited with creating the painting styles of [[Trecento]] [[Gothic art|Gothic style]] and the [[Sienese school]].

==Biography==
Although much is still unconfirmed about Duccio and his life, there is more documentation of him and his life than of other Italian painters of his time. It is known that he was born and died in the city of [[Siena]], and was also mostly active in the surrounding region of [[Tuscany]]. Other details of his early life and family are as uncertain, as much else in his history.

One avenue to reconstructing Duccio's biography are the traces of him in archives that list when he ran up debts or incurred fines. Some records say he was married with seven children. The relative abundance of archival mentions has led historians to believe that he had difficulties managing his life and his money. Due to his debts, Duccio's family dissociated themselves from him after his death.<ref>{{cite book |last=Eimerl |first=Sarel |others=et al |title=The World of Giotto: c. 1267–1337 |url=https://archive.org/details/worldofgiottoc100eime |url-access=registration |publisher=Time-Life Books |year=1967 |isbn=0-900658-15-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/worldofgiottoc100eime/page/62 62]}}</ref>

Another route to filling in Duccio's biography is by analyzing the works that can be attributed to him with certainty. Information can be obtained by analyzing his style, the date and location of the works, and more. Due to gaps where Duccio's name goes unmentioned in the Sienese records for years at a time, scholars speculate he may have traveled to [[Paris]], [[Assisi]] and [[Rome]].<ref>{{Cite web |url= http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T023857?q=duccio&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1 |title= Duccio (di Buoninsegna) |last=Gordon |first=Dillian |date=28 July 2014 |website= Oxford Art Online |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171224101352/http://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000023857?_start=1&pos=1&q=duccio&search=quick#T023873 |archive-date= 2017-12-24 |url-status= dead |access-date= 10 February 2017}}</ref>

Nevertheless, his artistic talents were enough to overshadow his lack of organization as a citizen, and he became famous in his own lifetime. In the 14th century Duccio became one of the most favored and radical painters in Siena.

==Artistic career==
[[File:Duccio di Buoninsegna 036.jpg|thumb|240px|''The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew'' (from the ''Maestà''), {{Circa|1308}}–1311]]
Where Duccio studied, and with whom, is still a matter of great debate, but by analyzing his style and technique art historians have been able to limit the field.{{sfn|Smart|1978|page=39}} Many believe that he studied under [[Cimabue]], while others think that maybe he had actually traveled to [[Constantinople]] himself and learned directly from a Byzantine master.

Little is known of his painting career prior to 1278, when at the age of 23 he is recorded as having painted twelve account book cases.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LdeIF0rQFDUC&q=duccio%20twelve%20panels%20the%20nine&pg=PA289 | title=Art and Architecture in Italy 1250–1400| isbn=0300055854| last1=White| first1=John| year=1993| publisher=Yale University Press}}</ref> Although Duccio was active from 1268 to about 1311 only approximately 13 of his works survive today.<ref>smarthistory.khanacademy.org/duccio-madonna.html</ref>

Of Duccio's surviving works, only two can be definitively dated. Both were major public commissions:<ref name=meta>{{cite web |title=Madonna and Child, Duccio di Buoninsegna (Italian, active by 1278–died 1318, Siena) |url= http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/110003462 |publisher= Metropolitan Museum of Art |access-date=10 December 2012}}</ref> the "[[Rucellai Madonna]]" ([[Galleria degli Uffizi]]), commissioned in April 1285 by the Compagnia del Laudesi di Maria Vergine for a chapel in [[Santa Maria Novella]] in [[Florence]]; and the [[Maestà (Duccio)|Maestà]] commissioned for the high altar of [[Siena Cathedral]] in 1308, which Duccio completed by June 1311.{{sfn|Smart|1978|p=40}}

==Style==
[[File:Duccio Di Buoninsegna - Madonna col Bambino.jpg|thumb|200px|Madonna and Child, the child touching the virgin's veil, c. 1300]]
[[File:Duccio di Buoninsegna, The Nativity with the Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, 1308-1311, NGA 10.jpg|thumb|left|''The Nativity with the Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel'', 1308–1311, [[National Gallery of Art]]]]

Duccio's known works are on [[panel paintings|wood panel]], painted in [[egg tempera]] and embellished with [[gold leaf]]. Differently from his contemporaries and artists before him, Duccio was a master of tempera and managed to conquer the medium with delicacy and precision. There is no clear evidence that Duccio painted [[fresco]]es.{{sfn|Smart|1978 |page=39}}

Duccio's style was similar to [[Byzantine art]] in some ways, with its gold backgrounds and familiar religious scenes; however, it was also different and more experimental. Duccio began to break down the sharp lines of Byzantine art, and soften the figures. He used modeling (playing with light and dark colors) to reveal the figures underneath the heavy drapery; hands, faces, and feet became more rounded and three-dimensional. Duccio's paintings are inviting and warm with color. His pieces consists of many delicate details and are sometimes inlaid with jewels or ornamental fabrics. Duccio was also noted for his complex organization of space. He organized his characters specifically and purposefully. In his ''[[Rucellai Madonna]]'' ({{Circa|1285}}) the viewer can see all of these qualities at play.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Polzer |first=Joseph |title= A Question of Method: Quantitative Aspects of Art Historical Analysis in the Classification of Early Trecento Italian Painting Based on Ornamental Practice |journal=Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorisches Institutes in Florenz |year=2005 |volume=49 |issue=1/2 |pages=33–100 |jstor= 27655375}}</ref>

Duccio was also one of the first painters to put figures in architectural settings, as he began to explore and investigate depth and space. He also had a refined attention to emotion not seen in other painters at this time. The characters interact tenderly with each other; it is no longer Christ and the Virgin, it is mother and child. He flirts with naturalism, but his paintings are still awe inspiring. Duccio's figures seem to be otherworldly or heavenly, consisting of beautiful colors, soft hair, gracefulness and fabrics not available to mere humans.

[[File:Duccio di Buonisegna, Madonna dei francescani.jpg|thumb|''Madonna dei Francescani,'' ca. 1280]]
He influenced many other painters, most notably [[Simone Martini]], and the brothers [[Ambrogio Lorenzetti|Ambrogio]] and [[Pietro Lorenzetti]].

==Followers==
In the course of his life, Duccio had many pupils even if it is not known if they were true pupils who were formed and matured artistically within his workshop, or they were simply painters who imitated his style. Many of the artists are anonymous, and their connection to Duccio has emerged only from analysis of a body of work with common stylistic traits. The first pupils, who can be referred to as a group as first-generation followers, were active between about 1290 and 1320 and include the [[Master of Badia a Isola]], the [[Master of Città di Castello]], the Aringhieri Master, the Master of the ''Collazioni dei Santi Padri'' and the Master of San Polo in Rosso.

Another group of followers, who could be termed followers of the second generation, were active between about 1300 and 1335 and include [[Segna di Bonaventura]], [[Ugolino di Nerio]], the Master of the Gondi Maestà, the Master of Monte Oliveto and the Master of Monterotondo. It should, however, be said that Segna di Bonaventura was already active prior to 1300 and so he overlaps as to period both the first and second generation of followers.

A third group followed Duccio only several years after his death, which shows the impact his painting had on Siena and on Tuscany as a whole. The artists of this third group, active between about 1330 and 1350, include Segna di Bonaventura's sons, that is, [[Niccolò di Segna]] and Francesco di Segna, and a pupil of [[Ugolino di Nerio]]: the Master of Chianciano.

Some of the artists were influenced by Duccio alone to the point of creating a decided affinity or kinship between their works and his. Among them was the [[Master of Badia a Isola]], and [[Ugolino di Nerio]], along with [[Segna di Bonaventura]] and their sons. Other artists were influenced also by other schools, and these include the Aringhieri Master (think of the massive volumes of [[Giotto]]), and the Master of the Gondi Maestà (who shows the influence also of [[Simone Martini]]).

The case of [[Simone Martini]] and [[Pietro Lorenzetti]] is somewhat different. Both artists painted works that have affinities with Duccio: for Simone from about 1305, and Pietro from about 1310 onwards. However, from the outset their work showed distinctive individual features, as can be seen in Simone's ''Madonna and Child no. 583'' (1305–1310) and in Pietro's ''Orsini Triptych'', painted at [[Assisi]] (about 1310–1315). Later the two developed styles with completely independent characteristics such that they acquired an artistic standing that elevates them well beyond being labelled simply as followers of Duccio.

== Exhibitions ==
Many of Duccio’s surviving paintings were displayed in the 2024-25 exhibit ''[[Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300–1350]]'' at the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] and [[National Gallery|National Gallery London]], alongside those of brothers [[Pietro Lorenzetti|Pietro]] and [[Ambrogio Lorenzetti]], [[Simone Martini]], and other Sienese masters of the era.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300–1350 |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/siena-the-rise-of-painting-1300-1350 |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=Metmuseum.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Siena: The Rise of Painting {{!}} Exhibitions {{!}} National Gallery, London |url=https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/siena-the-rise-of-painting |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=Nationalgallery.org.uk}}</ref> The exhibit was judged “the must-see art show of the season.”<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kennicott |first=Philip |date=October 30, 2024 |title=The Met's magical show of Sienese painting is the must-see of the season |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/art/2024/10/30/siena-the-rise-of-painting-metropolitan-museum-art/ |access-date=November 28, 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Cotter |first=Holland |date=October 17, 2024 |title=Art Show of the Season? It's These Centuries-Old Italian Paintings |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/17/arts/design/met-siena-italian-paintings-ducchio-review.html |access-date=November 28, 2024 |work=The New York Times |pages=Section C, page 1}}</ref>{{Clear}}

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="200" heights="200" perrow="5">
File:Duccio_—_Crevole_Madonna.jpg|[[Crevole Madonna]]
File:Duccio - Rucellai Madonna.jpg|''[[Rucellai Madonna]]'' ({{Circa|1285}})
File:MadonnaInTrono41.jpg|''Maestà,'' detail
File:Duccio - Triptych- Crucifixion and other Scenes - Google Art Project.jpg|Crucifixion Triptych
File:Duccio di Buoninsegna - Annunciation - WGA06752.jpg|Annunciation
File:Duccio di Buoninsegna - Flight into Egypt - WGA06766.jpg|Flight into Egypt
File:Duccio di Buoninsegna - Disputation with the Doctors - WGA06768.jpg|[[Christ Among the Doctors|Disputation with the Doctors]]
File:Duccio di Buoninsegna - The Raising of Lazarus - Google Art Project.jpg|The Raising of Lazarus
File:Duccio di Buoninsegna - Christ and the Samaritan Woman - Google Art Project.jpg|Christ and the Samaritan Woman
File:Duccio di Buoninsegna - Christ Before Caiaphas - WGA06797.jpg|Christ before [[Caiaphas]]
File:Duccio di Buoninsegna - Transfiguration - WGA06780.jpg|Transfiguration
File:Duccio_di_Boninsegna_—_Madonna_con_Bambino_in_trono_1311—1313.jpg|Madonna Enthroned

</gallery>

==Known surviving works==
{{Category see also|Paintings by Duccio}}
[[File:Duccio di Buoninsegna cat01.jpg|thumb|200px|''Madonna and Child'', c. 1300–1305]]
* ''Madonna and Child'' <small>– Tempera and gold on wood, [[Museo d'Arte Sacra della Val d'Arbia]], [[Buonconvento]], near Siena</small>
* ''[[Gualino Madonna]]'' <small>– Tempera and gold on wood, [[Galleria Sabauda]], Turin </small>
* ''Madonna and Child and two Angels'' (Also known as the ''Crevole Madonna''; c. 1280) <small>– Tempera and gold on wood, Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana, Siena</small>
* ''[[Madonna with Child enthroned and six Angels]]'' ({{Circa|1285}}) <small>– Also known as the ''[[Rucellai Madonna]] / Madonna Rucellai'' – Tempera and gold on wood, [[Galleria degli Uffizi]], Florence (on deposit from [[Santa Maria Novella]])</small>
* ''Crucifix'' <small>– Tempera on wood, Odescalchi Collection, [[Rome]], formerly in the Castello Orsini at [[Bracciano]]</small>
* ''Crucifix (Grosseto)'' (1289) <small>– Church of [[San Francesco, Grosseto]]</small>
* ''Madonna of the Franciscans'' (c. 1300) <small>– Tempera and gold on wood, [[Pinacoteca Nazionale (Siena)|Pinacoteca Nazionale]], Siena</small>
* ''Triptych: Crucifixion and other Scenes c. 1302–08'' <small>[[Royal Collection Trust]]<ref>{{cite web |work= royalcollection.org.uk |date= 2018 |url= https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/400095/triptych-crucifixion-and-other-scenes |access-date= Jul 27, 2018 |title= Triptych: Crucifixion and other Scenes c. 1302–08 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150411060414/https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/400095/triptych-crucifixion-and-other-scenes |archive-date= April 11, 2015 |url-status= live}}</ref></small>
* ''Assumption and Crowning of the Virgin'' <small>– [[Stained glass window]], [[Siena Cathedral]]</small>
* ''Maestà'' <small>– Tempera and gold on wood, [[Museum of Fine Arts Bern]], Switzerland</small>
* ''[[Madonna and Child (Duccio)|Madonna and Child]]'' <small>– Tempera and gold on wood, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York (formerly in the Stoclet Collection, [[Brussels]], Belgium</small>)<ref name=meta/><ref>Christiansen, Keith. "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2004–2005." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 63 (Fall 2005), pp. 14–15, ill. on cover (color, cropped) and p. 14 (color).</ref>
* ''[[Madonna with Child and six Angels (Duccio)|Madonna with Child and six Angels]]'' <small>– Tempera and gold on wood, [[Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria]], [[Perugia]], Italy</small>
* ''Polyptych: Madonna and Child with Saints Augustine, Paul, Peter, Dominic, four angels and Christ blessing'' (also known as ''Dossale no. 28''; c. 1305) <small>– Tempera and gold on wood, [[Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena|Pinacoteca Nazionale]], Siena</small>
* ''Polyptych no. 47: [[Madonna and Child with saints polyptych (Duccio)|Madonna and Child with Saints]] Agnes, John the Evangelist, John the Baptist, and Mary Magdalene; ten Patriarchs and Prophets, with Christ blessing'' <small>– Tempera and gold on wood, [[Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena|Pinacoteca Nazionale]], Siena</small>
* ''The Surrender of the Castle of Giuncarico'' <small>– Fresco, [[Palazzo Pubblico]], Siena</small>
* ''Maestà with Episodes from Christ's Passion'' <small>– Tempera and gold on wood – [[Massa Marittima Cathedral]], Italy</small>
* ''Small Triptych: Flagellation of Christ; Crucifixion with Angels; Deposition in the Tomb'' <small>– Tempera and gold on wood, Società di Esecutori di Pie Deposizioni, Siena</small>
* ''Small Triptych: Madonna and Child with four Angels, Saints Dominic, Agnes and seven Prophets / Madonna con Bambino e con quattro angeli, i santi Domenico, Agnese, e sette profeti'' <small>– Tempera and gold on wood – [[National Gallery, London|The National Gallery]], London, England</small>
* ''Portable Altarpiece: Crucifixion with Christ blessing; St Nicholas; St Gregory'' <small>– Tempera and gold on wood, [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]], United States</small><ref>{{cite web|title=The Crucifixion; the Redeemer with Angels; Saint Nicholas; Saint Gregory, 1311–18, Duccio di Buoninsegna (Italian (Sienese), active in 1278, died by 1319) |url=http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/the-crucifixion-the-redeemer-with-angels-saint-nicholas-saint-gregory-32944|publisher=Museum of Fine Arts Boston|access-date=24 December 2016}}</ref>
* ''Small Triptych: Crucifixion with Angels; Annunciation and Madonna and Child with Angels; Stigmata of St Francis with Madonna and Christ enthroned'' <small>– Tempera and gold on wood, UK [[Royal Collection]]</small>
* ''[[Maestà (Duccio)|Maestá]] (Madonna and Child Enthroned with Twenty Angels and Nineteen Saints)'' <small>– Tempera and gold on wood, [[Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Siena)|Museo dell'Opera del Duomo]], Siena</small>
* ''Maestà (The Temptation of Christ on the Mountain)'' <small>– Tempera and gold on wood – [[The Frick Collection]], [[New York City|New York]]</small>
* ''The Crucifixion'' (c.1315) <small>– Tempera and gold on wood – [[New-York Historical Society]], New York</small>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{cite book|last=Beck|first=James|title=Duccio to Raphael|year=2006|publisher=European Press Academic Publishing|isbn=8883980433}}
* {{cite book|last=Smart|first=Alastair|title=The Dawn of Italian Painting 1250–1400|year=1978|publisher=Phaidon|location=Oxford|isbn=0714817694}}

==Further reading==
* Bellosi, Luciano (1999). ''Duccio: The Maestà''. London: Thames and Hudson. {{ISBN|978-0500237717}}.
* Bellosi, Luciano; Ragionieri, Giovanna (2003). ''Duccio di Buoninsegna''. Giunti Editore. {{ISBN|978-8809032088}}.
* Deuchler, Florens (1984). ''Duccio''. Milan: Electa. {{ISBN|8843509721}}.
* Jannella, Cecilia (1991). ''Duccio di Buoninsegna''. Scala/Riverside. {{ISBN|978-1878351180}}.
* Cannon, Joanna; Campbell, Caroline; Wolohojian, Stephan (2024). ''Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300–1350.'' ISBN 185709716.

==External links==
{{Commons-inline|Paintings by Duccio di Buoninsegna}}<!--LEAVE THIS HERE TO AVOID BLANKS-->
{{Catholic Encyclopedia poster|Duccio di Buoninsegna}}
* [http://www.ducciodibuoninsegna.org DuccioDiBuoninsegna.org] with 130 works by Duccio
* [[Calvin Tomkins]], [http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/050711fa_fact "The Missing Madonna: The story behind the Met's most expensive acquisition"], ''The New Yorker Magazine'', July 11 & 18, 2005.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927191241/http://www.aiwaz.net/gallery/duccio-di-buoninsegna/gc16 Duccio in Panopticon Virtual Art Gallery]
* [https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1249.html Duccio di Buoninsegna] at the [[National Gallery of Art]], Washington DC
* {{Cite NSRW|short=x|wstitle=Duccio di Buoninsegna}}
*Carl Brandon Strehlke, ''[https://publications.philamuseum.org/entries/102710# "Archangel by the Workshop of Duccio di Buoninsegna (cat. 88)"]{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}'' in ''[https://publications.philamuseum.org/jgj/vol1 The John G. Johnson Collection: A History and Selected Works]{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}'', a Philadelphia Museum of Art free digital publication.

{{Duccio}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Duccio}}
[[Category:Gothic painters]]
[[Category:Italian male painters]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Painters from Siena]]
[[Category:Trecento painters]]
[[Category:1310s deaths]]
[[Category:13th-century births]]
[[Category:13th-century Italian painters]]
[[Category:14th-century Italian painters]]
[[Category:Catholic painters]]