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

Madonna and Child

1295-1305
Tempera on wood, 67 x 48 cm
Museo d'Arte Sacra della Val d'Arbia, Buonconvento

Madonna of Buonconvento and the Crevole Madonna are unanimously considered the earliest works attributable to Duccio. The basic approach of the two paintings is of evident Byzantine tradition: the elegant stylization of the hands, the typical downward curving nose, the red maphórion under Mary's veil, the dark drapery animated by shining gilded lines. New details appear, to a lesser extent in the Buonconvento Madonna and repeated with greater confidence in the Crevole painting, such as the subtle play of light on the Virgin's face, over her chin and cheeks, and a clear attempt at plasticism in the folds of the garment around the face.