Madonna and Child Enthroned with Ten Saints: Maestà

Taddeo Gaddi's Madonna and Child Enthroned with Ten Saints (Maestà) is among his most ambitious surviving altarpieces, combining the sacra conversazione format with the heavenly throne setting that characterized major Italian church altarpieces in the mid-fourteenth century. Gaddi, as Giotto's leading successor and the principal painter in Florence for nearly two decades after his master's death in 1337, produced numerous major altarpiece commissions for Florentine and Tuscan churches. This Maestà demonstrates his synthesis of Giotto's spatial depth with the gold atmosphere and precise surface decoration expected of major devotional commissions.

The large panel employs egg tempera and gold leaf, with the enthroned Virgin and attendant saints arranged in a hierarchical symmetrical composition. Gaddi's volumetric modeling of figures and spatial recession of the throne architecture reflect Giottesque innovations, while tooled gold halos and decorative punchwork maintain Gothic splendor.