Together with Florence, Siena was the chief economic, political, and cultural center of Tuscany in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Although only in 1559 did Siena become part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany under the rule of the Medici, its heyday was unquestionably two centuries earlier, between 1287 and 1355, when the independent commune was ruled by nine magistrates (referred to as the nove) drawn from a restricted oligarchy. During this time of peace and prosperity—interrupted by the devastating plague of 1348 that reduced the population by more than half—the city allied itself with the papal party of the Guelphs and had contacts with the Angevin dynasty in France and Naples. These political ties help explain the pronouncedly Gothic character of so much Sienese architecture and the fluent elegance of its paintings.
No other city outside Florence produced a comparably great school of painting, culminating in the figures of Duccio di Buoninsegna (active by 1278), Simone Martini (active by 1315, and the brothers Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti (active 1320–44, 1319–47). Duccio may be considered the father of Sienese painting and is, together with Giotto, one of the founders of Western art. His paintings introduce a lyrical note and a refined sense of color into European painting, and he was an unsurpassed story teller, or narrative artist. Although his early work shows a profound debt to Byzantine precedent, after about 1295 or 1300. His paintings show an increasing interest in space and an exploration of human emotions. The enormous altarpiece he painted for the cathedral of Siena—the Maestà—is one of the landmarks of European painting. From the Metropolitan Museum of Art
No other city outside Florence produced a comparably great school of painting, culminating in the figures of Duccio di Buoninsegna (active by 1278), Simone Martini (active by 1315, and the brothers Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti (active 1320–44, 1319–47). Duccio may be considered the father of Sienese painting and is, together with Giotto, one of the founders of Western art. His paintings introduce a lyrical note and a refined sense of color into European painting, and he was an unsurpassed story teller, or narrative artist. Although his early work shows a profound debt to Byzantine precedent, after about 1295 or 1300. His paintings show an increasing interest in space and an exploration of human emotions. The enormous altarpiece he painted for the cathedral of Siena—the Maestà—is one of the landmarks of European painting. From the Metropolitan Museum of Art
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