Madonna Madness

Thursday, 23 December 2004 09:33

NEW YORK—It sounds crazy: The Metropolitan Museum reportedly paid around $45 million for a little-known painting of the Madonna and Child that could fit on a magazine’s cover. But the precious little tempera-and-gold panel is by Duccio di Buoninsegna (c. 1255–1319), a Siennese master revered by many scholars and connoisseurs for having changed the course of art history. Like his Florentine contemporary Giotto di Bondone, Duccio added a touch of realism and emotion to the stiff Byzantine imagery then standard for Christian altarpieces. In doing so, he helped pave the way toward the Renaissance and became a must-have for any museum that aspires to relate the entire history of art. Surviving examples of his work are extremely rare outside Siena, and this one—with its naturalistic foreground parapet and touchingly observed relationship of mother and child—has all the hallmarks of Duccio’s innovations. Known as the “Stoclet-Stroganoff Madonna? after its previous owners, the piece was sold by a European collector through Christie’s London a few months ago. Neither the Getty nor the Louvre mustered the funds to compete with the Met, which paid more for this prize than it ever has before for a single object. —Jason Edward Kaufman

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