The Sestano Altarpiece.

Bartolomeo Bulgarini's Sestano Altarpiece (c. 1350) at the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Siena is a major work by one of the most important Sienese painters of the mid-fourteenth century. Bulgarini was long confused with other artists until modern scholarship established his distinct identity and impressive oeuvre. Working in the powerful tradition established by Duccio, Simone Martini, and the Lorenzetti brothers, Bulgarini maintained the Sienese school's characteristic emphasis on elegant linearity and rich color while developing his own distinctive approach to figural solidity and spatial arrangement.

Tempera and gold on panel in a multi-compartment altarpiece format. Bulgarini's technique features the rich, saturated pigments and meticulous gold tooling of the Sienese tradition, with figures displaying a substantial volumetric presence that distinguishes his work from the more purely linear Sienese manner.