The exhibition will run at the gallery from the 8th March until the 22nd June 2025.
Duccio Maestà – Panels, 1308-11 – The Annunciation
Egg tempera on wood, 44.5 x 45.8 cm
© The National Gallery, London
The National Gallery has announced Siena: the Rise of Painting: 1300-1350 exhibition, which will reunite paintings by some of the greatest Italian artists of the 14th century, many of which have been dispersed throughout the world for centuries.
Considered to be some of the most innovative works in Western painting many of which were part of larger ensembles before they were separated, are being brought back together as part of a rarely staged exhibition focusing on 14th century painting.
This exhibition will mark the 200th anniversary of the National Gallery, celebrating the earliest pictures in its collection. It will feature around 100 works to explore the evolving status of painting among the arts of Europe and show the central role that Sienese artists played in this story, at home, in other Italian centres, and in the cities and courts of Europe.
Siena: the Rise in Painting will bring together several surviving panels from the monumental double-sided altarpiece known as the Maestà, painted by Sienese artist Duccio di Buoninsegna (active 1278, died 1319) for the city’s cathedral. Meanwhile, the National Gallery’s own three panels from the Maestà, will be reunited with other paintings from this ensemble detailing episodes from Christ’s life. These include Christ and the Woman of Samaria from the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid and The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew from the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.
The exhibition will also reunite Orsini Polyptych by Sienese artist Simone Martini (1284‒1344). This is a folding work of art made for private devotion, probably for Cardinal Napoleone Orsini, who belonged to one of the most influential princely families of medieval and Renaissance Italy. Today it is divided between the Louvre, Paris, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp and the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. All six panels – Christ Bearing the Cross, Crucifixion, Descent from the Cross and Entombment (depicted on the front of the folding panting); and The Archangel Gabriel and The Virgin of the Annunciation (seen on the reverse), will be brought together for the National Gallery’s exhibition.
As well as works by Simone Martini and Duccio, other artists featured in the exhibition are also set to include: Pietro Lorenzetti and his brother Ambrogio Lorenzetti.
Through a variety of media including: metalwork, enamel, gilded glass, wood, marble, and manuscript illumination as well as a selection of works from other countries and cultures, the display will highlight connections between these artists and their contemporaries.
Prior to the National Gallery, Siena: The Rise of Painting 1300‒1350 will be at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from 13 October 2024‒26 January 2025.
To find out more about the exhibition, visit: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/siena-the-rise-of-painting