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Madonna and Child with Nine Angels

ca. 1315
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 952
This panel and another in the Lehman Collection portraying the Crucifixion (1975.1.2) formed a diptych (two panels hinged together so they could open and close) and would have been used for private devotion. The radiant beauty of the Virgin’s court, enhanced by the ornamental detail, contrasts with the tragic drama of the Crucifixion, thus offering the worshipper two very different images on which to meditate. These panels reveal Segna di Buonaventura’s appropriation of the language and motifs of his master, Duccio. The greatest Sienese painter of the fourteenth century, Duccio’s emotionally expressive figures, complex spatial structures, and subtle use of color had a formative influence on generations of artists.
The Madonna and Child enthroned is sometimes thought to reflect Duccio's lost altarpiece of 1302 for the Palazzo Pubblico of Siena, while parts of the "Crucifixion" echo the center panel of a portable triptych in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts that was designed by Duccio and painted by the master with workshop assistance. While neither panel of the diptych is in any way a copy, both attest to the enormous popularity of Duccio's work.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Madonna and Child with Nine Angels
  • Artist: Segna di Buonaventura (Italian, active Siena by 1298–died 1326/31)
  • Date: ca. 1315
  • Medium: Tempera on panel
  • Dimensions: Left wing, overall, with engaged frame, 15 1/8 x 10 5/8 in. (38.4 x 27 cm); right wing, overall, with engaged frame, 15 x 10 5/8 in. (38.1 x 27 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.1.1
  • Curatorial Department: The Robert Lehman Collection

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Diptych with engaged moldings, Poplar. Linen over panel and moldings. Gilt; dull orange bole., Italian, Siena
Diptych with engaged moldings
Italian, Siena
1310–25
The Crucifixion, Segna di Buonaventura Italian, Tempera on panel
The Crucifixion
Segna di Buonaventura
ca. 1315
Christ Blessing, Segna di Buonaventura Italian, Tempera on wood, gold ground
Christ Blessing
Segna di Buonaventura
ca. 1311
Madonna and Child, Segna di Buonaventura Italian, Tempera on wood, gold ground
Madonna and Child
Segna di Buonaventura
ca. 1320
Saint Benedict, Segna di Buonaventura Italian, Tempera on wood, gold ground
Saint Benedict
Segna di Buonaventura
1320s

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