Full title | The Healing of the Man born Blind |
---|---|
Artist | Duccio |
Artist dates | active 1278; died 1319 |
Series | Maestà Predella Panels |
Date made | 1307/8-11 |
Medium and support | Egg tempera on wood |
Dimensions | 45.1 x 46.7 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1883 |
Inventory number | NG1140 |
Location | Room 52 |
Art route(s) | A |
Collection | Main Collection |
This painting is from the back of the predella (the bottom tier) of Duccio’s Maestà – a double-sided, five-tiered altarpiece made for the high altar of Siena Cathedral.
It shows Jesus healing a blind man, an episode told in John’s Gospel. Jesus is shown wiping a mixture – made from mud and his own spit – over the man’s eyes. The man carries a stick to guide his steps; when he, shown again at the far right of the picture, washes his face in the nearby pool, he drops his stick and looks up, cured.
Duccio had help from a team of painters to complete the work. He drew the figures and sketched in the architecture but one of his assistants finished off the architecture using a ruler to incise straight lines, which can still be seen if you look closely.
This painting comes from the back of the predella of the large, double-sided altarpiece made for Siena Cathedral, known as the Maestà.
Jesus, in a vivid blue robe edged with a fine gold line, places his finger over the eyelids of a man who clings to a stick made from a simple tree branch. The stick shows that he is blind – he uses it to guide his steps. This episode in Jesus’s ministry is told in the Gospel of John. Jesus and his disciples came across a blind beggar. He made a paste from earth and is shown here wiping it across the man’s eyelids. Jesus then told him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam; after doing this, he was, according to witnesses, able to see again. At the right edge of the panel Duccio shows the man again, by the pool. He has laid down his stick, which he no longer needs.
The figure of Jesus stooped over the man divides the scene into two. Behind him are his disciples, huddled together. The elder disciples, perhaps Peter and Paul, are at the front of the crowd. Only the tops of the heads of those behind are visible, emphasising how dense the crowd is and giving the image a sense of depth.
The detailed architectural structures of the background – with open doors and windows, archways and semi-enclosed courts – also add depth and complexity to the scene. The turreted towers and beamed ceilings reflect the architecture of a medieval city like Siena, rather than Roman-occupied Jerusalem where the event was believed to have taken place centuries earlier. Duccio has set one of Christ’s greatest miracles in the home town of the people who would have seen the painting, bringing it to life for them.
The pool of Siloam is represented as a small street fountain; green water gushes from the mouth of a sculpted lion’s head. This detail is found in other, earlier, Italian versions of the picture and also in a Byzantine manuscript; it is possible this image was drawn from a Byzantine manuscript. These versions also show the man twice, usually being healed and then washing his eyes in the pool. Here, the man instead looks up and raises his hand in amazement or reverence. The scene next to this one on the predella was The Transfiguration – when Jesus was filled with divine light. The blind man in this scene would have looked up towards the the transfigured Christ, acknowledging the source of his healing but also recalling Jesus’s words to his disciples as he healed the man: ‘While I am in the world, I am the light of the world’ (John 9: 5).
Infrared reflectography, which reveals the drawing beneath the paint, shows that two artists worked on this scene. Duccio himself probably drew the figures and sketched in the architecture but it seems to have been drawn more precisely by a different artist – one of Duccio’s assistants. If you look closely, you'll see fine indentations along the edges of the buildings and their features. These were made with a sharp pointed tool and a ruler to ensure their straightness and accuracy. Part of the blind man’s face, including both eyes and nose, has been restored.
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Maestà Predella Panels
These three small panels come from the altarpiece known as the Maestà (‘Majesty’), made for Siena Cathedral. It is the only surviving signed work by the city’s leading artist, Duccio di Buoninsegna. These paintings formed part of the predella, the lowest part of the altarpiece.
The Maestà was painted on both sides: The Annunciation comes from the front predella, while the Healing of the Man born Blind and the Transfiguration were originally placed next to each other on the back of the predella. The predella itself was shaped like a rectangular box, with images on both sides, providing support for the large, double-sided picture.
When the picture was completed in 1311 it was carried in a festive procession across the streets of Siena to the cathedral, where it was placed above the high altar. There it became the focus of the Siena’s devotion to the Virgin Mary, who was considered the protector of the city.
These small square panels come from one of the largest and most ambitious altarpieces ever made. It is the only signed work by Duccio di Buoninsegna, the leading artist of medieval Siena, who created it with the help of a workshop of assistants. The entire work measured five square metres, was painted on both sides and comprised five tiers of images including 54 minutely detailed narrative scenes.
The altarpiece is known as the Maestà (‘Majesty’) after its main image of the Virgin with the Christ Child seated on a marble throne, which was surrounded by rows of saints and angels, including – in the most prominent positions – the patron saints of Siena. The reverse of this image showed 26 scenes from Christ’s Passion – his trial, torture and death. The Crucifixion occupied a central position and was double the size of the other scenes.
The three panels in the National Gallery come from the predella, the lowest level of the altarpiece. The Annunciation is from the front and so would have been beneath the image of the Virgin, while The Healing of the Man born Blind and The Transfiguration come from the back, which showed scenes from Jesus’s ministry. It was probably what is known as a ‘box predella’: the images were painted on either side of a low rectangular box-shaped structure which provided some support for the immense double-sided altarpiece above it.
The Maestà was commissioned by the cathedral authorities, many of whom were members of the city’s council. It was an important statement of Siena’s civic pride as well as the focus of its religious devotion to the Virgin Mary, its protectress. Siena was known as the Civitas Virginis, the city of the Virgin. According to legend, in 1260 the keys to the city had been dedicated to her on the eve of a battle against the nearby city state of Florence, in return for her protection. The ceremony took place before the cathedral’s high altar which most probably bore an image of the Virgin, framed by two candles which burned day and night. The Maestà was commissioned to adorn a new high altar which was under construction from the late thirteenth century when the cathedral was being rebuilt. At around the same time, in 1287, Duccio designed a circular stained glass window showing the death, assumption and coronation of the Virgin.
On 9 June 1311, this magnificent work was carried in procession through the streets of Siena from Duccio’s workshop to the cathedral, where it was installed above the high altar. Surviving documents record how the procession was headed by the city’s bishop, Ruggero da Casole, who was followed by the city’s clerics and officials. The ceremonial procession was accompanied by musicians and lit up with lamps and candles.
There are different ideas as to the location of this high altar and why the altarpiece was double sided, but it is likely that the congregation had access to both sides. By 1506 the Maestà had been removed from the high altar and in the late eighteenth century it was sawn in half, causing damage to the Virgin’s face. Some fragments were sold and are now scattered across international collections; a few are now missing. The majority of it remains to be seen in the Museo dell'opera del Duomo in Siena.



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