GUIDO DA SIENA

This painting belonged to a polyptych depicting twelve scenes from the life of Christ. The polyptych was dismembered at the beginning of the nineteenth century and the panels are now dispersed to various collections. The scenes are the following:

1. Annunciation (University Art Museum, Princeton)

2. Nativity (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

3. Massacre of the Innocents (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

4. Adoration of the Magi (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

5. Flight into Egypt (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

6. Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

7. Kiss of Judas (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

8. Flagellation (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

9. Christ Crucified (Museum Catherijneconvent, Utrecht)

10. Crucifixion (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

11. Deposition (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

12. Entombment (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

It is assumed that the Coronation of the Virgin in the Courtauld Galleries, London, formed also part of this polyptych.

This panel consists of three scenes, the Transfiguration, the Entry of Christ into Jerusalem, and the Resurrection of Lazarus.

The left panel of the altarpiece depicts the Transfiguration. The feast of the Transfiguration (6 August) was not celebrated by the medieval Latin church and is therefore not often shown in early Italian painting. This panel is one of the two rare examples, the other being the very damaged thirteenth-century fresco on the east wall of the north transept in the Upper Church of San Francesco, Assisi.

This painting belonged to a polyptych depicting twelve scenes from the life of Christ. The polyptych was dismembered at the beginning of the nineteenth century and the panels are now dispersed to various collections. The scenes are the following:

1. Annunciation (University Art Museum, Princeton)

2. Nativity (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

3. Massacre of the Innocents (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

4. Adoration of the Magi (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

5. Flight into Egypt (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

6. Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

7. Kiss of Judas (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

8. Flagellation (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

9. Christ Crucified (Museum Catherijneconvent, Utrecht)

10. Crucifixion (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

11. Deposition (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

12. Entombment (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

It is assumed that the Coronation of the Virgin in the Courtauld Galleries, London, formed also part of this polyptych.

This painting belonged to a polyptych depicting twelve scenes from the life of Christ. The polyptych was dismembered at the beginning of the nineteenth century and the panels are now dispersed to various collections. The scenes are the following:

1. Annunciation (University Art Museum, Princeton)

2. Nativity (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

3. Massacre of the Innocents (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

4. Adoration of the Magi (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

5. Flight into Egypt (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

6. Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

7. Kiss of Judas (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

8. Flagellation (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

9. Christ Crucified (Museum Catherijneconvent, Utrecht)

10. Crucifixion (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

11. Deposition (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

12. Entombment (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

It is assumed that the Coronation of the Virgin in the Courtauld Galleries, London, formed also part of this polyptych.

This painting belonged to a polyptych depicting twelve scenes from the life of Christ. The polyptych was dismembered at the beginning of the nineteenth century and the panels are now dispersed to various collections. The scenes are the following:

1. Annunciation (University Art Museum, Princeton)

2. Nativity (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

3. Massacre of the Innocents (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

4. Adoration of the Magi (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

5. Flight into Egypt (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

6. Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

7. Kiss of Judas (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

8. Flagellation (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

9. Christ Crucified (Museum Catherijneconvent, Utrecht)

10. Crucifixion (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

11. Deposition (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

12. Entombment (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

It is assumed that the Coronation of the Virgin in the Courtauld Galleries, London, formed also part of this polyptych.

This painting belonged to a polyptych depicting twelve scenes from the life of Christ. The polyptych was dismembered at the beginning of the nineteenth century and the panels are now dispersed to various collections. The scenes are the following:

1. Annunciation (University Art Museum, Princeton)

2. Nativity (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

3. Massacre of the Innocents (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

4. Adoration of the Magi (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

5. Flight into Egypt (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

6. Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

7. Kiss of Judas (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

8. Flagellation (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

9. Christ Crucified (Museum Catherijneconvent, Utrecht)

10. Crucifixion (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

11. Deposition (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

12. Entombment (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

It is assumed that the Coronation of the Virgin in the Courtauld Galleries, London, formed also part of this polyptych.

This painting belonged to a polyptych depicting twelve scenes from the life of Christ. The polyptych was dismembered at the beginning of the nineteenth century and the panels are now dispersed to various collections. The scenes are the following:

1. Annunciation (University Art Museum, Princeton)

2. Nativity (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

3. Massacre of the Innocents (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

4. Adoration of the Magi (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

5. Flight into Egypt (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

6. Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

7. Kiss of Judas (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

8. Flagellation (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

9. Christ Crucified (Museum Catherijneconvent, Utrecht)

10. Crucifixion (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

11. Deposition (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

12. Entombment (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

It is assumed that the Coronation of the Virgin in the Courtauld Galleries, London, formed also part of this polyptych.

This painting belonged to a polyptych depicting twelve scenes from the life of Christ. The polyptych was dismembered at the beginning of the nineteenth century and the panels are now dispersed to various collections. The scenes are the following:

1. Annunciation (University Art Museum, Princeton)

2. Nativity (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

3. Massacre of the Innocents (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

4. Adoration of the Magi (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

5. Flight into Egypt (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

6. Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

7. Kiss of Judas (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

8. Flagellation (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

9. Christ Crucified (Museum Catherijneconvent, Utrecht)

10. Crucifixion (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

11. Deposition (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

12. Entombment (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

It is assumed that the Coronation of the Virgin in the Courtauld Galleries, London, formed also part of this polyptych.

This painting belonged to a polyptych depicting twelve scenes from the life of Christ. The polyptych was dismembered at the beginning of the nineteenth century and the panels are now dispersed to various collections. The scenes are the following:

1. Annunciation (University Art Museum, Princeton)

2. Nativity (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

3. Massacre of the Innocents (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

4. Adoration of the Magi (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

5. Flight into Egypt (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

6. Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

7. Kiss of Judas (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

8. Flagellation (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

9. Christ Crucified (Museum Catherijneconvent, Utrecht)

10. Crucifixion (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

11. Deposition (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

12. Entombment (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

It is assumed that the Coronation of the Virgin in the Courtauld Galleries, London, formed also part of this polyptych.

This painting belonged to a polyptych depicting twelve scenes from the life of Christ. The polyptych was dismembered at the beginning of the nineteenth century and the panels are now dispersed to various collections. The scenes are the following:

1. Annunciation (University Art Museum, Princeton)

2. Nativity (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

3. Massacre of the Innocents (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

4. Adoration of the Magi (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

5. Flight into Egypt (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

6. Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

7. Kiss of Judas (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

8. Flagellation (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

9. Christ Crucified (Museum Catherijneconvent, Utrecht)

10. Crucifixion (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

11. Deposition (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

12. Entombment (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

It is assumed that the Coronation of the Virgin in the Courtauld Galleries, London, formed also part of this polyptych.

This painting belonged to a polyptych depicting twelve scenes from the life of Christ. The polyptych was dismembered at the beginning of the nineteenth century and the panels are now dispersed to various collections. The scenes are the following:

1. Annunciation (University Art Museum, Princeton)

2. Nativity (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

3. Massacre of the Innocents (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

4. Adoration of the Magi (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

5. Flight into Egypt (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

6. Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

7. Kiss of Judas (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

8. Flagellation (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

9. Christ Crucified (Museum Catherijneconvent, Utrecht)

10. Crucifixion (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

11. Deposition (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

12. Entombment (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

It is assumed that the Coronation of the Virgin in the Courtauld Galleries, London, formed also part of this polyptych.

This painting belonged to a polyptych depicting twelve scenes from the life of Christ. The polyptych was dismembered at the beginning of the nineteenth century and the panels are now dispersed to various collections. The scenes are the following:

1. Annunciation (University Art Museum, Princeton)

2. Nativity (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

3. Massacre of the Innocents (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

4. Adoration of the Magi (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

5. Flight into Egypt (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

6. Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

7. Kiss of Judas (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

8. Flagellation (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

9. Christ Crucified (Museum Catherijneconvent, Utrecht)

10. Crucifixion (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

11. Deposition (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

12. Entombment (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

It is assumed that the Coronation of the Virgin in the Courtauld Galleries, London, formed also part of this polyptych.

This painting belonged to a polyptych depicting twelve scenes from the life of Christ. The polyptych was dismembered at the beginning of the nineteenth century and the panels are now dispersed to various collections. The scenes are the following:

1. Annunciation (University Art Museum, Princeton)

2. Nativity (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

3. Massacre of the Innocents (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

4. Adoration of the Magi (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

5. Flight into Egypt (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

6. Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Mus�e du Louvre, Paris)

7. Kiss of Judas (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

8. Flagellation (Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg)

9. Christ Crucified (Museum Catherijneconvent, Utrecht)

10. Crucifixion (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

11. Deposition (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

12. Entombment (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena)

It is assumed that the Coronation of the Virgin in the Courtauld Galleries, London, formed also part of this polyptych.

On top of the painting Christ Blessing and Two Angels are represented.

In thirteenth-century Siena several lay organizations existed whose members regularly attended masses, participated in religious processions, prayed together and sang hymns or “laude”. One kind of confraternities, the “Laudesi” took their name from their custom of singing laude. These were frequently written in honour of the Virgin and Laudesi companies therefore often used a painted image of the Virgin and Christ Child as a focal point of their collective act of singing. The most imposing examples of thirteenth-century Sienese paintings that survive today have been associated with them, including Guido da Siena’s panel painting of the Virgin and Christ Child Enthroned, which is the only certain work of the artist.

The picture bears the date 1221. but this has been the subject of much controversy as stylistically the painting seems to belong about half a century later. It has been suggested that the inscription may have some commemorative purpose, the significance of which is now lost, rather than being a record of the date of execution.

Although the painting is majestic in effect and follows Byzantine conventions of iconography, the figures are more natural in posture, to some extent relaxing the stiff linear patterns which had been conventional in central Italian painting up to that time. The throne too is set in a deeper picture space, which adds to the realism of the figures.

On the basis of this picture a number of other panels, most of which are in the Siena Pinacoteca, have been assigned to Guido or his school. Despite his great obscurity, he is regarded as sharing with Coppo di Marcovaldo the honour of founding the Sienese School.