One of the courses that I'm teaching at the moment is on painting in Siena; it was created in response to the imminent exhibition in London: Renaissance Siena: Art for a City. However, unlike the London show which is covering 1460-1530, definitely the least inspiring period of Sienese art, I'm looking at the whole school, from its inception back in the thirteenth-century up to artists such as Sodoma who worked with Raphael at the birth of the high Renaissance. One of the most intriguing problems that I've encountered in the early weeks of the course has been the issue of the dating and placing of a number of images of the Madonna, a central icon of Sienese history and culture. In fact, you could trace the whole evolution of the school simply by looking at images of Mary and the Christ child alone- over 50% of works painted in the city were of them.A good example of an important Madonna is Guido da Siena's Madonna and Child (above), probably painted in the 1270s, but inscribed 1221 on the panel. Why the later dating then if the panel has an earlier date upon it? Well, that's where the problem of dating early Sienese painting comes in. Look at this image of an unknown painter's Madonna and Child, rejoicing in the unforgettable name of the Madonna degli occhi grossi (Madonna of the large eyes). 
This picture was probably painted in 1250, 29 years after the Guido, but look at its unsophisticated style compared to the Guido panel which was, supposedly, painted before it. One solution is that the date on the Guido Madonna could refer to the death date of St Dominic- the painting is located in a church in Siena named after him. What is also interesting and significant is that Guido's Madonna and Child is numbered amongst a group of paintings of this subject which were re-painted in later years. As Diana Norman says in her Painting in Late Medieval and Renaissance Siena, the modelling of the face of Guido's Madonna resembles Duccio's Madonna in, arguably, the most important painting ever produced in Siena- the Maestà.
This picture was probably painted in 1250, 29 years after the Guido, but look at its unsophisticated style compared to the Guido panel which was, supposedly, painted before it. One solution is that the date on the Guido Madonna could refer to the death date of St Dominic- the painting is located in a church in Siena named after him. What is also interesting and significant is that Guido's Madonna and Child is numbered amongst a group of paintings of this subject which were re-painted in later years. As Diana Norman says in her Painting in Late Medieval and Renaissance Siena, the modelling of the face of Guido's Madonna resembles Duccio's Madonna in, arguably, the most important painting ever produced in Siena- the Maestà.A theory among scholars and restorers is that the re-painting was due to patrons wanting a less Byzantine kind of art and a more Gothic one. Take another panel of the 
Madonna (left), this time by Coppo di Marcovaldo, a 13th century Florentine painter working in Siena. This hints at the Byzantine formula: strong curve from ear to chin; patterning of the Madonna's robe instead of natural falling drapery. But the Madonna's face has been 
softened, almost certainly due to -re-painting, sometime in the 14th century. An x-ray of Coppo's painting from the EDITECH in Florence betrays changes, although exact motivation for these cannot be pinpointed. There is a definite alteration; the original image looms up which gives some indication of what it must have looked like in its undoctored form. The lead white pigment was used liberally by Coppo to emphasise the underlying structure of the face. As scholars have surmised, this stylistic updating may have been in response to Duccio's Maestà, which really defined a completely new vision of the Maddona in Siena.
Madonna (left), this time by Coppo di Marcovaldo, a 13th century Florentine painter working in Siena. This hints at the Byzantine formula: strong curve from ear to chin; patterning of the Madonna's robe instead of natural falling drapery. But the Madonna's face has been 
softened, almost certainly due to -re-painting, sometime in the 14th century. An x-ray of Coppo's painting from the EDITECH in Florence betrays changes, although exact motivation for these cannot be pinpointed. There is a definite alteration; the original image looms up which gives some indication of what it must have looked like in its undoctored form. The lead white pigment was used liberally by Coppo to emphasise the underlying structure of the face. As scholars have surmised, this stylistic updating may have been in response to Duccio's Maestà, which really defined a completely new vision of the Maddona in Siena.Although I tend to concentrate more on the later Renaissance rather than this earlier period, I'm glad that I took up the challenge to teach a course on this kind of painting- it's proving very rewarding and popular. I only wish this kind of art was going to be in the forthcoming National Gallery exhibition instead of the likes of Beccafumi who doesn't represent Siena's finest hour, by any stretch of the imagination.
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