DUCCIO di Buoninsegna
(b. ca. 1255, Siena, d. 1319, Siena)

Rucellai Madonna (detail)

1285
Tempera on wood
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The Christ Child is sitting in a relatively complicated position with his left leg bent and his right foot supported on his mother's lap. Duccio uses this position as a pretext for demonstrating his technical skill in depicting body and space graphically. This means that because of the Christ Child's position, we see the upper side of his left foot and the profile of his right, with the big toe in front and another toe visible behind.