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

Ezekiel (prophet 2)

1308-11
Tempera on wood, 44 x 16 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington

The statues carved on the Cathedral façade have been identified as the most likely models for the figures of the prophets. In spite of their small size they preserve a solemn aspect, and the linearity of contour is enhanced by the gleaming gold ground. Ezekiel's scroll reads: "Porta haec clausa erit; non aperietur, et vir non transibit per eam" (Ezekiel 44, 2: This gate shall be kept shut: it shall not be opened, and no man may pass through it).