A key exhibit in Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300‒1350 at the National Gallery, is a ‘Head of Christ’ by Lando di Pietro, which is split in two. First, it was made in two pieces and then glued together by the sculptor, and second, it was mistakenly bombed by Allied forces of the Basilica dell’Osservanza, where Lando’s large wooden crucifix was originally hung in front of the altar.
The bomb destroyed the central body of the church, including most of the crucifix. The head (now split in two) and the knee remained, however, with both containing parchments inserted in them by the sculptor. These include a lengthy prayer which, as Peter Dent notes, reveals that Lando states “this cross was carved by him, at God’s urging, ‘to recall for people Christ’s Passion” and that “this figure was completed in the likeness of Jesus Christ Crucified, the true and living son of God. And one should venerate him and not this wood’.”
Basilica di San Bernardino all’Osservanza, Siena. Museo Castelli, © Foto Studio Lensini Siena
The latter comment looks back to the two periods of Iconoclastic Controversy when there was heated debate within the Church as to whether prayers prayed before an icon were venerating the icon itself or the saint or divine being depicted therein. Lando’s comment reflects the views of the iconodules, who viewed icons as providing a window onto the divine.
While this comment supports the use of icons, Lando’s other comment reflects a new development in the creation of icons, which eventually, in the West, would free art from the constraints of icon writing and enable the creation of artworks for churches that were not icons. As Dent describes it, Lando’s “beautiful, three-dimensional painted likeness of the crucified Christ had an important role to play in reminding people of Christ’s suffering”. It did so by moving its viewers emotionally through its depiction of Christ’s suffering emotionally and physically.
This was the great leap forward (in terms of the Western canon of art) which is explored by this exhibition, as the four key artists whose work is highlighted – Duccio di Buoninsegna, Simone Martini and the brothers Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti – forged a new way of painting by painting with a drama that no one had seen before. In their works, faces show emotion, bodies move in space, and stories flow across panels in colourful scenes. While their works do not represent a complete break with icon writing, this aspect of their works differs from the stylised approach to representation, which focused on the spirituality and, in some cases, divinity of those depicted. By painting human emotions, Duccio, Simone Martini, and the Lorenzettis were exploring the incarnation (God as a human being in the person of Jesus Christ), while traditional iconographers were primarily using their representations of Jesus to connect the faithful with the risen and cosmic Christ.
We might, as a result, want to add a gloss to the title of the exhibition as painting per se had already risen by means of the icon tradition. The form of painting that arises from Siena and which is explored wonderfully in this exhibition is the tradition of realism as found in the Western canon of art.
Given the centrality of icons (aesthetically, historically and theologically) to what is being explored within this exhibition, it seems a shame that we do not begin with more examples of Byzantine or Italian icons. Instead, we move swiftly from an icon of ‘The Virgin and Child’ from Chiesa di San Niccolò al Carmine, Siena, via ‘The Virgin and Child with the Annunciation, Crucifixion and Scenes from the Last Judgement’ by the Master of the Clarisse, to the beginning of the feast of trecento art found in this exhibition, with the work of Duccio. The painting by the Master of the Clarisse shows us the beginnings of the innovations that these Sienese artists would explore more fully and with real finesse; the painting of narratives with movement and emotion.
Among the highlights of the exhibition is the bringing together of works which were part of larger ensembles before they were separated. These include several surviving panels from the monumental double-sided altarpiece known as the ‘Maestà’, painted by Duccio for the city’s cathedral. This was the first double-sided altarpiece in Western painting and marked a fundamental shift in narrative art. All six panels – ‘Christ bearing the Cross’, ‘Crucifixion’, ‘Descent from the Cross’, ‘Entombment’, ‘The Archangel Gabriel’ and ‘The Virgin of the Annunciation’ – of the ‘Orsini Polyptych’ by Simone Martini have also been reunited. Other reunions include two triptychs by Duccio – The Virgin and Child with Saint Dominic and Saint Aurea, and Patriarchs and Prophets, from the National Gallery, London; and ‘The Crucifixion’; ‘The Redeemer with Angels’, Saint Nicholas’; ‘Saint Clement’, from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Collection KMSKA – Flemish Community (public domain) (257), © Collection KMSKA – Flemish Community / photo Hugo Maertens
In addition to the focus on emotion, what is immediately apparent in these works is a surfeit of gold, which, in its many forms, dazzles throughout the exhibition. This is not primarily the result of Siena’s wealth, although the city was undeniably flourishing in the period under examination here, but an indication of the extent to which these works remain within the tradition of icons. Gold represents divine light and is, therefore, the backdrop to Biblical events and narratives from Church history. Duccio’s ‘The Transfiguration’ from the Back Predella of his ‘Maestà’ shows this most clearly as the artist depicts the revelation of Christ’s divinity by means of a series of gold lines emerging from the folds of his clothing, transfiguring light shining from within.
In addition to paintings by the four key artists, Sienese works in a variety of media (metalwork, enamel, gilded glass, wood, marble, and manuscript illumination) and a selection of works from other countries and cultures (ivories, enamels, illuminated manuscripts, rugs, silks) are introduced throughout the exhibition to illuminate connections between the paintings of the four artists and the works of their contemporaries. In this way, the exhibition brings to life a vibrant city of artists collaborating, learning and looking.
All these glorious artefacts were created either for public or private prayer and devotion. The emphasis within the exhibition, despite the reuniting of separated panels, is on private devotion because such works are more transportable than complex altarpieces and large fresco programmes. This brings a welcome focus on the everyday nature of worship and devotion within Christendom. ‘Triptych with Scenes from the Life of Christ’ is a tiny translucent enamel devotional object made by an English goldsmith that enabled the owner to carry Christ’s Passion with them wherever they went. Similarly, Duccio’s tiny painting ‘The Virgin and Child Enthroned with Angels’ was also created for private meditation and prayer. Handling such an image on a daily basis would now be unthinkable, given the value and appreciation of Duccio’s skill, but, at the time, would have been the norm for those possessing wealth.
Through works such as these, this exhibition opens up another world, a world of devotion and worship that, given the beauty and wonder of these works, we will certainly wish to revisit and maybe even seek to recapture. ‘The Telegraph’ rightly billed this exhibition in advance as Christian art becoming the National Gallery’s next smash hit. That is so, as what this exhibition principally reveals is the immense creative achievement of Christendom and the evolving nature of that achievement.
‘Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300‒1350’, 8 March to 22 June, National Gallery.