Maesta (Duccio)
1311 · Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Siena), Siena
When Duccio finished it in 1311 the whole of Siena walked it to the cathedral in procession, with the bells going the entire way.
★ 8.8
Browse by time · century
14th century
1301 – 1400
Showing 31 artworks from the 14th century
Lamentation
1305 · Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
Two mourners sit with their backs turned to pull us in, and the angels overhead double over. Giotto frescoed it in the Arena Chapel at Padua.
★ 8.3
Annunciation (Martini)
1333 · Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Gabriel's greeting runs toward Mary in raised gold letters and she twists away from it, her thumb still caught in her book.
★ 8.2
Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains
1350 · National Palace Museum, Taipei
A collector loved the scroll so much he tried to have it burned with him at death. It was pulled from the fire in two pieces.
★ 8.0
The Arrest of Christ (Kiss of Judas)
1305 · Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
Torches and spears bristle against the sky, and at the still center Judas wraps Christ in his yellow cloak and meets his eye.
★ 7.6
Ognissanti Madonna
1310 · Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Where Cimabue and Duccio floated their Madonnas on gold, Giotto gave his weight, a real throne, and a body that presses through the cloth.
★ 7.6
The Rongxi Studio
1372 · National Palace Museum, Taipei
An empty pavilion, a few dry trees, no people at all. Ni Zan gave away his estate and spent his last years on a houseboat.
★ 7.5
The Crucifixion
1311 · Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Siena), Siena
This is the largest scene on the back of the Maesta, the Virgin fainting on one side and the crowd arguing on the other.
★ 6.6
St. Martin Shares his Cloak with a Beggar
1326 · San Francesco Church (Assisi), Assisi
Martin cuts his soldier's cloak in half with his sword to give a beggar the other part, dressed by Simone in courtly gold.
★ 6.5
Adoration of the Magi (Giotto)
1305 · Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
Giotto had watched Halley's Comet in 1301 and painted the Star of Bethlehem as a comet, apparently the first artist to do it.
★ 6.3
Christ Entering Jerusalem (Giotto)
1305 · Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
Boys climb the trees to break off palm branches while the procession moves along a stage-like ledge under deep blue. Padua, around 1305.
★ 6.1
Annunciation to the Shepherds
1338 · Basilica di Santa Croce, Florence
A shepherd twists onto his back and throws up a hand against the glare. One of the first real night scenes in Western art.
★ 6.1
Christ Entering Jerusalem (Duccio)
1311 · Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Siena), Siena
Duccio and Giotto painted this same entry within a year of each other. Duccio's is the crowded one, full of towers, incident and color.
★ 5.7
Crucifix (Giotto)
1312 · Santa Maria Novella, Florence
Where Cimabue's Christ swings in an elegant curve, Giotto's hangs straight down under his own weight, belly sagging, head on his chest.
★ 5.7
The Entombment (Martini)
1340 · Berlin State Museums, Berlin
One woman flings both arms over her head, others press their faces to the body. Simone drops all restraint against a sky streaked red.
★ 5.6
The Temptation of Christ (Duccio)
1311 · The Frick Collection, New York City
The Devil offers all the kingdoms of the world, rendered as tiny gold-edged walled towns scattered down the slopes, and is refused.
★ 5.4
The Massacre of the Innocents (Giotto)
1305 · Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
Herod gestures from a balcony while soldiers pull babies out of their mothers' arms. Giotto carries the horror on the mothers' faces alone.
★ 5.4
Maddona with Child and Six Angels
1305 · Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia
Six angels lean in along the throne with their heads tilted, which turns a rigid Byzantine formula into something nearly intimate.
★ 5.2
The Nativity (Giotto)
1305 · Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
The Virgin lies on the hillside and turns to lay her son in the manger, looking at his face. No gold, just a cold blue sky.
★ 5.2
The Road to Calvary (Duccio)
1311 · Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Siena), Siena
A soldier drags Christ out through the city gate by his robe, the diagonal of the cross cutting against a bristling line of lances.
★ 5.1
The Wedding Feast of Cana
1311 · Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Siena), Siena
Servants stoop over the great stone jars in the foreground to draw out wine that was water a moment ago.
★ 5.0
The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew
1311 · National Gallery of Art, Washington, District of Columbia
The brothers pause with the net still trailing fish through green water, caught between the work and the man on the shore.
★ 4.9
The Carrying of the Cross (Martini)
1335 · Louvre, Paris
Christ in vivid red is hauled by a rope through the gate of a white, many-towered Jerusalem while children scamper at the edge.
★ 4.9
The Descent to Hell
1311 · Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Siena), Siena
Christ strides into the cave to pull Adam out by the hand, treading on a chained Satan as he goes.
★ 4.8
Washing of the Feet
1311 · Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Siena), Siena
Christ kneels with the basin and Peter, flustered, raises a hand to his own head. Some of the others are already loosening their sandals.
★ 4.8
The Crucifixion
1333 · Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp
Angels dart and grieve around the cross while the Magdalene, hair loose, kneels to embrace its foot. A leaf from a travelling altarpiece.
★ 4.8
Christ Appearing on the Road to Emmaus
1311 · Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Siena), Siena
Christ turns up dressed as a pilgrim with a staff and a traveler's pouch, and the two disciples still have no idea who he is.
★ 4.7
Marriage at Cana
1305 · Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
A steward tastes from a bowl and a portly servant tends the jars, and the miracle goes by almost without anyone noticing.
★ 4.6
The Ascension
1305 · Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
Christ's fingertips cross out of the human part of the picture and blur into light, which is the whole event in one detail.
★ 4.6
The Virgin and Child (Ugolino)
1312 · Louvre, Paris
The Child reaches up to grasp the edge of his mother's veil. Ugolino followed Duccio more closely than anyone else did.
★ 3.6
Christ Bearing the Cross, with a Dominican Friar
1360 · The Frick Collection, New York City
Christ looks back over the cross at a tiny Dominican friar kneeling in the corner, the patron drawn into the road to Calvary.
★ 3.2