Luciano Bellosi

"In this volume, we are brought face to face with the ultimate masterpiece of Sienese painting: Duccio's Maesta or Virgin in Majesty. Painted between 1308 and 1311, the Maesta was destined for a venerated position on the high altar of Siena Cathedral. Measuring nearly five metres in height and width, the completion of this vast altarpiece was celebrated by the whole city, marking an exceptional moment in the artistic and cultural history of Siena." "Beginning by looking at the work as a whole, Luciano Bellosi goes on to document each section, before isolating and examining particular details, reproduced to scale. He explores the historical background and provides an iconographic interpretation of the altarpiece, while shedding light on Duccio's personality and the creative process behind his work."--Jacket.

Definitive and richly illustrated, this volume is the first extensive examination of Cimabue's work to appear in English in more than thirty years. Cimabue (c. 1240-1302) was the most admired artist of his time in Tuscany and Central Italy. His paintings and mosaics are seen by some as the last great flowering of Medieval art, and by others as the first works of the Renaissance. The earthquakes that shook Central Italy in late 1997 struck hardest at the legacy of Cimabue, crumbling his brilliantly-colored paintings in the vault of the Upper Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi. The tragic Florentine flood of 1966 had already destroyed much of the master's famous Santa Croce Crucifix. But in this book a combination of archival and newly commissioned photographs - including pictures of the Assisi vault shot just moments before its collapse - offer a complete panorama of the artist's works, before flood or earthquake damage, and before and after recent restorations.