Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, October 1, 2024 to January 26, 2025
I spent the morning in Gallery 999, and “breathtaking” feels like an understatement. This show is a focused, high-stakes argument for Siena as the true cradle of the Renaissance, or at least one of its primary tributaries. The curators have staged it like a darkened, monastic vault. Against black walls, the gold grounds of these 700-year-old panels glow.
Simone Martini’s Precision
While Duccio is the technical anchor of the show, the Simone Martinis are the absolute stars. Seeing the reassembled Orsini Polyptych is a rare privilege. Each panel is roughly the size of a sheet of paper, but the emotional scale is massive. In The Entombment, the grief is etched into the frantic, weeping faces of the figures. Martini’s line is incredibly sophisticated, sharper and more “Gothic” than his contemporaries. He manages to make tempera seem like silk.
Then there is his Christ Discovered in the Temple. The psychological tension between the young, defiant Christ and his worried parents is so modern it’s jarring. You can see Martini moving away from the static, “impersonal” Byzantine tradition toward something new.
The “Maestà” Reunion
The exhibition’s central accomplishment is the gathering of panels from Duccio’s Maestà. Seeing the Frick’s Temptation of Christ on the Mountain alongside its siblings is a chance in a lifetime. Without the heavy frames or glass boxes, you can see the physical reality of the wood, the centuries of warping and the incredible detail of the punched gold work.
Thoughts:
- The Atmosphere: The Met used a black-and-white color scheme for the walls, a subtle nod to the the Sienese flag. It makes the red pigments and gold leaf pop with intensity.
- Key Takeaway: Before the Black Death of 1348 wiped out this generation of artists, Siena was out-painting Florence.
- Favorite Detail: The floor tiles in Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Annunciation (1344). He was playing with one-point perspective decades before it became the Florentine innovation.