Maesta (Duccio)

The front of Duccio's vast double-sided altarpiece for the high altar of Siena Cathedral shows the Virgin enthroned in majesty - maesta - among ranks of saints and angels, the city's patron saints kneeling in front, with smaller scenes of the Virgin's life above. When it was finished in 1311 the whole city escorted it in procession to the cathedral amid ringing bells. The supreme achievement of the Sienese school, it answers Giotto's stern Florentine naturalism with a different ideal: Byzantine splendor warmed by line, glowing color, and tender, particular faces.