Maestà

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Cimabue's Maestà (Basilica of St Francis in Assisi)

Maestà ("Majesty"), the Italian word for sovereign, designates an iconic formula of the enthroned Madonna with the child Jesus often accompanied with angels and saints. The Maestà is an extension of the "Seat of Wisdom" theme of the seated "Mary Theotokos", "Mary Mother of God", which is a counterpart to the earlier icon of Christ in Majesty, the enthroned Christ that is familiar in Byzantine mosaics.

These paintings came into the artistic repertory in the second half of the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries, with the increased emphasis on the veneration of Mary. The Maestà was executed in fresco technique directly on plastered walls or as paintings on gessoed wooden altar panels.

Famous Italian examples for these kind of paintings are Simone Martini's Maestà in the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, or Cimabue's fresco in the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi.

A more domestic representation, suitable to private devotion, is the iconographic theme of Madonna and Child.

The central panel of the Maestà of Duccio: The Mother of God Enthroned with the Christ Child Amidst Angels and Saints, 1308-11,^[1] Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena

1 Duccio's Maestà
- 1.1 Panels of Duccio's Maestà altarpiece at the Museo dell'Opera della Metropolitana, Siena
- 1.2 Panels of Duccio's Maestà elsewhere
2 Notes
3 Reference
4 External links

[edit] Duccio's Maestà

Another most beautiful example of such a painting is the Maestà with Twenty Angels and Nineteen Saints, an altarpiece comprised of many individual paintings commissioned by the city of Siena in 1308 from the artist Duccio di Buoninsegna. Though it took a generation for its effect truly to be felt, Duccio's Maestà set Italian painting on a course leading away from the hieratic representations of Byzantine art towards more direct presentations of reality.

The painting was installed in the cathedral in Siena on June 9, 1311. One person who witnessed this event wrote:

"And on that day when it was brought into the cathedral, all workshops remained closed, and the bishop commanded a great host of devoted priests and monks to file past in solemn procession. This was accompanied by all the high officers of the Commune and by all the people; all honorable citizens of Siena surrounded said panel with candles held in their hands, and women and children followed humbly behind. They accompanied the panel amidst the glorious pealing of bells after a solemn procession on the Piazza del Campo into the very cathedral; and all this out of reverence for the costly panel… The poor received many alms, and we prayed to the Holy Mother of God, our patron saint, that she might in her infinite mercy preserve this our city of Siena from every misfortune, traitor or enemy."

The altarpiece remained in place until 1711, when it was dismantled in order to distribute the pieces between two altars. The five-meter high construction was dismantled and sawn up, and the paintings damaged in the process. Partial restoration took place in 1956. The dismantling also led to pieces going astray, either being sold, or simply unaccounted for. Today remains of the altarpiece not at Siena are divided among several other museums:

[edit] Panels of Duccio's Maestà altarpiece at the Museo dell'Opera della Metropolitana, Siena

The Mother of God Enthroned with the Christ Child Amidst Angels and Saints, central panel
The Wedding Feast of Cana
The Temptation of Christ atop the Temple
The Annunciation of the Virgin's death
The Virgin's Farewell to St John
The Virgin's Farewell to the Apostles
The Death of the Virgin
The Funeral of the Virgin
The Burial of the Virgin
The Appearance of Christ behind closed doors
The Incredulity of St Thomas
The Pentecost
The Appearance of Christ on Lake Tiberias
The Appearance of Christ on the Mountain in Galilee
The Appearance of Christ to the Apostles at Supper
The Adoration of the Magi; Salomon
The Presentation in the Temple; the prophet Malachi
The Massacre of the Innocents; the prophet Jeremiah
The The Flight into Egypt; the prophet Hosea
The Boy Jesus among the Doctors
Episodes from Christ's Passion Tempera and gold on wood. The work, consisting of 26 episodes on 14 panels, was originally the reverse surface of the Maestà.

[edit] Panels of Duccio's Maestà elsewhere

Angel (formerly in the Stoclet Collection, Brussels)
Angel (Philadelphia Museum of Art)
Archangel Gabriel (Castel Huis Bergh, in 's-Heerenberg, The Netherlands)
Angel (Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts)
The Coronation of the Virgin (Szépmüveszéti Muzeum, Budapest)
The Annunciation (National Gallery, London)
Isaiah; Nativity; Ezekiel (Andrew W. Mellon Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC)
Temptation of Christ on the Mountain (Frick Collection, New York, USA)
Calling of SS. Peter and Andrew (Samuel H. Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.)
Christ and the Samaritan Woman (Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid)
Healing of the Blind Man (National Gallery, London)
The Transfiguration (National Gallery, London)
The Raising of Lazarus (Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas)