Maestà

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Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi
.
The central panel of Duccio's Maestà with Twenty Angels and Nineteen Saints (1308–1311), Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena.

Maestà

mosaics. Maria Regina is an art historians' synonym for the iconic image of Mary enthroned, with or without the Child.[1]

In the West, the image seems to have developed from Byzantine precedents such as the coin of Constantine's Empress

Flavius Cresconius Corippus's celebration of Justin II's coronation in 565.[3] Paintings depicting the Maestà came into the mainstream artistic repertory, especially in Rome, in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries,[4] with an increased emphasis on the veneration of Mary. The Maestà was often executed in fresco technique directly on plastered walls or as paintings on gessoed wooden altar panels
.

A more domestic representation, suitable to private devotion, is the iconographic theme of

Madonna and Child
.

Examples of Maestà in painting

Main article: Maestà (Duccio)

The most famous example of the Maestà is the Maestà with Twenty Angels and Nineteen Saints, an

Duccio di Buoninsegna. The painting was installed in the city's cathedral on June 9, 1311. Although 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.[citation needed
]

Creating this altarpiece assembled from many wood panels bonded together before painting was an arduous undertaking. The work was not only large, the central panel was 7 by 13 feet, but it had to be painted on both sides since it could be seen from all directions when installed on the main altar at the centre of the sanctuary.[5]

On the back of the Maesta were episodes from the life of Christ, focusing on his Passion. Sacred narrative unfolds in elegant episodes enacted by graceful figures who seem to dance their way through these stories while still conveying emotional content.[6]

Because the Maesta was dismantled in 1771, its power and beauty can only be imagined from scattered parts, some still in Siena, Italy, but others elsewhere.[7]

Other noted examples of the Maestà are

Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi.[citation needed
]

Notes

  1. ^ See M. Lawrence's discussion of this image, Maria Regina, Art Bulletin 7 (1924–1925:150-61.
  2. ^ Suggested by Lawrence 1924:
  3. Queen of Heaven, is a late sixth century poem, perhaps by Venantius Fortunatus
    .
  4. Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore
    , are listed by John L. Osborne, "Early Medieval Painting in San Clemente, Rome: The Madonna and Child in the Niche", Gesta 20.2 (1981:299–310) p. 304f.
  5. ^ Stockstad, Marilyn
  6. ^ Stokstad, Marilyn
  7. ^ Stokstad, Marilyn

References

  • Ragioneri, Giovanna (1989). Duccio. Florence: Cantini.
    ISBN 88-7737-058-0
    . 1989.
  • Stokstad, Marilyn; Art History, 2011, 4th ed.,
    ISBN 0-205-79094-1

Further reading
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