DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.57409#0257
DUCCIO.
241
THE SIENESE PAINTER DUCCIO*
[_The first mention of this master is in 1282—the last in 1339.]
The men who first originate remarkable inventions have at
all times received considerable attention from those who write
history, and this arises from the fact that the first discovery
of a thing is more prized—because of the charm attached to
novelty—than all the improvements that are afterwards made,
although by these last it may be that the matter is brought
to its ultimate perfection. Nor is this without reason, seeing
that if none made a beginning, there would be no place for
the gradual amelioration which brings us to the middle point,
and none for those last improvements by which the thing in-
vented attains to the perfection of its beauty. Duccio of
Siena, therefore, a painter much esteemed, deservedly appro-
priated a large amount of the fame which fell to the lot of
those who succeeded him for many years after, he being the
first to commence the decoration of the pavement of the
Sienese cathedral with those figures in “chiaro-scuro”, wherein
the artists of later times have performed the marvellous works
that we now see.f Duccio devoted himself to the imitation
of the ancient manner,| but very judiciously gave his figures
a certain grace of outline, which he succeeded in securing
notwithstanding the great difficulties presented by the branch
of art now in question. Imitating paintings in “ chiaro-scuro”,
Duccio designed and arranged the first commencements of
the above named pavement with his own hand ; he also
executed a picture in the cathedral, which was at first on the
high altar, but was afterwards removed to make way for the
tabernacle of the Sacrament which we now see there. This
picture, according to the description of Lorenzo di Bartolo
Ghiberti, represented a coronation of the Virgin, partly in
* For the rectification and completion of this somewhat defective
and meagre biography, see Della Valle, Lettere Sjnesi, and Rumohr,
Ital. Forsch. Vasari was not able to discover the masterpiece of this
painter, now restored to the cathedral of Siena.—See note, page 242.
f Cicognara declares these works to equal the most precious mosaics
of Greece and Rome.
J Duccio may be considered the great founder of the Sienese school,
being the first who sought to profit by the bequest left to art by Guido,
in his wondrous picture of 1221.—Ed. Flor. 1846.
R
241
THE SIENESE PAINTER DUCCIO*
[_The first mention of this master is in 1282—the last in 1339.]
The men who first originate remarkable inventions have at
all times received considerable attention from those who write
history, and this arises from the fact that the first discovery
of a thing is more prized—because of the charm attached to
novelty—than all the improvements that are afterwards made,
although by these last it may be that the matter is brought
to its ultimate perfection. Nor is this without reason, seeing
that if none made a beginning, there would be no place for
the gradual amelioration which brings us to the middle point,
and none for those last improvements by which the thing in-
vented attains to the perfection of its beauty. Duccio of
Siena, therefore, a painter much esteemed, deservedly appro-
priated a large amount of the fame which fell to the lot of
those who succeeded him for many years after, he being the
first to commence the decoration of the pavement of the
Sienese cathedral with those figures in “chiaro-scuro”, wherein
the artists of later times have performed the marvellous works
that we now see.f Duccio devoted himself to the imitation
of the ancient manner,| but very judiciously gave his figures
a certain grace of outline, which he succeeded in securing
notwithstanding the great difficulties presented by the branch
of art now in question. Imitating paintings in “ chiaro-scuro”,
Duccio designed and arranged the first commencements of
the above named pavement with his own hand ; he also
executed a picture in the cathedral, which was at first on the
high altar, but was afterwards removed to make way for the
tabernacle of the Sacrament which we now see there. This
picture, according to the description of Lorenzo di Bartolo
Ghiberti, represented a coronation of the Virgin, partly in
* For the rectification and completion of this somewhat defective
and meagre biography, see Della Valle, Lettere Sjnesi, and Rumohr,
Ital. Forsch. Vasari was not able to discover the masterpiece of this
painter, now restored to the cathedral of Siena.—See note, page 242.
f Cicognara declares these works to equal the most precious mosaics
of Greece and Rome.
J Duccio may be considered the great founder of the Sienese school,
being the first who sought to profit by the bequest left to art by Guido,
in his wondrous picture of 1221.—Ed. Flor. 1846.
R