maestà

Bartolomeo Bulgarini's Maestà (c. 1370) at the Museo Archeologico e d'Arte della Maremma in Grosseto presents the enthroned Madonna in majesty, a subject of supreme importance in the Sienese artistic tradition. The Maestà format, immortalized by Duccio's revolutionary altarpiece for Siena Cathedral, became a defining subject for generations of Sienese painters who produced variations of the enthroned Virgin for churches throughout Tuscany. Bulgarini's version for a Maremman patron demonstrates the radiation of Sienese artistic influence into the surrounding territories controlled by or allied with the republic.

Tempera and gold on panel in the Sienese Maestà tradition with the enthroned Virgin and Child. Bulgarini's mature technique features substantial figural modeling, rich pigmentation with prominent ultramarine and gold, and elaborate punchwork decoration on halos and background areas.