Museo d'Arte Sacra della Val d'Arbia

Buonconvento, L'Antico Borgo sulla via Francigena manortiz

Buonconvento, l'Antico Borgo lungo la via Francigena
Buonconvento (dal nome latino Bonus Conventus) nel suo spirito di comunità felice, è un piccolo borgo costruito sull’antico tracciato della Via Francigena. Adagiato e cresciuto grazie alla fertilità dei fiumi Arbia e Ombrone, è ancora luogo di accoglienza, come lo era in passato per i pellegrini e viandanti diretti a Roma.
E’ ricordato nei libri di storia fin dal 1191 con il passaggio del Re di Francia Filippo Augusto e, successivamente, per l’infausta sosta dell'Imperatore del Sacro Romano Impero, Arrigo VII di Lussemburgo, che ahimè qui trovò la morte nell'agosto del 1313.
Fu borgo ricordato anche dal Boccaccio nella quarta novella della nona giornata del Decameron per la sventura capitata al poeta senese Cecco Angiolieri.
Si respira ancora un’atmosfera senza tempo, uno stile di vita, un ritmo scanditi dal rintocco dell’orologio della torre medioevale del Palazzo del Podestà fra i vicoli e “chiassi” che siarticolano suggestivi, nel borgo storico.
Illustri letterati di ogni tempo sono transitati su questa terra e nei loro appunti di viaggio hanno ricordato questo delizioso scorcio di Toscana. Ci preme ricordare, fra i tanti, i versi del grande poeta Luzi: “Passata Siena, passato il ponte d’Arbia, è lei, terra di luce che sempre, anche lontano, inseparabilmente mi accompagna…”
Il turista potrà immergersi in un paesaggio ancora incontaminato, caratterizzato da valli e colline, ornate da file di cipressi, variamente coltivate a viti oppure spolverate dalle foglie d’argentei ulivi, tantoché sembra un dipinto dei Macchiaioli. I piccoli boschi si incendiano di colori nell’autunno. La campagna è ancora punteggiata da poderi ben conservati, con i caratteristici mattoni rossi, oppure con facciate in pietra, con portici e loggiati, gioielli di architettura rurale.
Così peraltro ebbero a percepirlo secoli fa anche i pittori della Scuola senese che, nella loro purezza formale prossima all'astrazione, ne fecero ripetute citazioni raffigurandolo nei rilievi inceneriti, desertici, a volte appena striati.
Tra i monumenti principali ricordiamo: La Pieve di Santa Innocenza a Piana, i Musei Comunali di Arte Sacra della Val d’Arbia e della Mezzadria Senese, i palazzi in stile Liberty fra i quali spicca villa La Rondinella, la chiesa SS. Pietro e Paolo. Nei dintorni del borgo sorgono quattro castelli di proprietà privata che in particolari occasioni vengono aperti per le visite al pubblico: Castelrosi, Castelnuovo Tancredi, Bibbiano e La Torre a Bibbiano.
(dall’Archivio comunale di Buonconvento)

Duccio di Buoninsegna, An Italian Painter - Sienese Gothic Style

Duccio di Buoninsegna (c. 1255–1260 – c. 1318–1319) was an Italian painter. Sienese Gothic Style



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Paintings by Duccio

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Duccio di Buoninsegna (c. 1255–1260 – c. 1318–1319) was an Italian painter active in Siena, Tuscany, in the late 13th and early 14th century. He was hired throughout his life to complete many important works in government and religious buildings around Italy. Duccio is credited with creating the painting styles of Trecento and the Sienese school and also contributed significantly to the Sienese Gothic style.

Although much is still unconfirmed about Duccio and his life, there is more documentation of him and his life than of other Italian painters of his time. It is known that he was born and died in the city of Siena, and was also most active in the surrounding region of Tuscany. Other details of his early life and family are as uncertain, as much else in his history.

Where Duccio studied, and with whom, is still a matter of great debate, but by analyzing his style and technique art historians have been able to limit the field. Many believe that he studied under Cimabue, while others think that maybe he had actually traveled to Constantinople himself and learned directly from a Byzantine master.


The Nativity with the Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, 1308–1311, National Gallery of Art
The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew (from the Maestà) c. 1308–1311.
Rucellai Madonna (1285),
Maesta (1308–1311)
Madonna with Child – Tempera and gold on wood, Museo d'Arte Sacra della Val d'Arbia, Buonconvento, near Siena
Gualino Madonna – Tempera and gold on wood, Galleria Sabauda, Turin
Madonna with Child and two Angels (Also known as the Crevole Madonna; c. 1280) – Tempera and gold on wood, Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana, Siena
Madonna with Child enthroned and six Angels (c. 1285) – Also known as the Rucellai Madonna / Madonna Rucellai – Tempera and gold on wood, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy (on deposit from Santa Maria Novella)
Crucifix – Tempera on wood, Odescalchi Collection, Rome, formerly in the Castello Orsini at Bracciano
Crucifix (Grosseto) (1289) – Church of San Francesco, Grosseto
Madonna of the Franciscans (c. 1300) – Tempera and gold on wood, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena
Triptych: Crucifixion and other Scenes c. 1302–08 Royal Collection Trust
Assumption and Crowning of the Virgin – Stained glass window, Siena Cathedral
Maestà – Tempera and gold on wood – Kunstmuseum, Bern, Switzerland
Madonna and Child – Tempera and gold on wood, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (formerly in the Stoclet Collection, Brussels, Belgium)
Madonna with Child and six Angels – Tempera and gold on wood, Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia, Italy
Polyptych: Madonna and Child with Saints Augustine, Paul, Peter, Dominic, four angels and Christ blessing (also known as Dossale no. 28; c. 1305) – Tempera and gold on wood, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena
Polyptych no. 47: Madonna and Child with Saints Agnes, John the Evangelist, John the Baptist, and Mary Magdalene; ten Patriarchs and Prophets, with Christ blessing – Tempera and gold on wood, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena
The Surrender of the Castle of Giuncarico – Fresco, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena

Famous Painting Masterpieces of Duccio di Buoninsegna - An Italian Artist

Famous Painting Masterpieces of Duccio di Buoninsegna - The Italian Artist Duccio


Duccio di Buoninsegna (1255 - 1319) was an Italian artist, active in the city of Siena in Tuscany, where he was born, in the late 13th and early fourteenth centuries.

Much about his early life and family is uncertain; but there are records that say he was married with seven children. Although there is a lot still unconfirmed about Duccio and his life, there is more documentation of him than of other Italian painters of his time and earlier. A large part his life must be reconstructed from the evidence of works that can be attributed to him with certainty, and from the evidence contained in his stylistic development.

There are many times that he had debts and fines, leading historians to believe that he had a difficult time managing his life and his money. His artistic talents were enough to overshadow his lack of organization as a citizen, and he became famous in his own lifetime. In the 1300s Duccio became one of the most favored and radical painters in Siena. He is considered to be the father of Sienese painting and along with a few others the founder of Western art. He was hired throughout his life to complete many important works in government and religious buildings around Italy. Duccio is credited with creating the painting style of Trecento and the Sienese school, and contributed significantly to the Sienese Gothic style.

Duccio began to break down the sharp lines of Byzantine art, and soften the figures. He used modeling (playing with light and dark colors) to reveal the figures underneath the heavy drapery; hands, faces, and feet became more rounded and three-dimensional.

Duccio's style was similar to Byzantine art in some ways, with its gold backgrounds and familiar religious scenes but also different and more experimental. Duccio's paintings are warm with color, and inviting. His pieces held a high level of beauty with delicate details, sometimes inlaid with jewels and almost ornamental fabrics. Duccio was also noted for his complex organization of space. Characters were organized specifically and purposefully. In his Rucellai Madonna c. 1285 the viewer can see all of these qualities at play. Duccio was also one of the first painters to put figures in architectural settings. He began to explore and investigate depth and space. He also had a refined attention to emotion, not seen in other painters at this time. The characters interact tenderly, and softly with each other, it is no longer Christ and the Virgin, it is mother and child. With this he flirts with naturalism but his paintings are still awe inspiring. Duccio's figures seem to be out of this world and heavenly; existing elsewhere with beautiful colors, soft hair, gracefulness and draped in textures not available to mere humans. His influence can be seen in the work of many other painters, including Simone Martini and the brothers Ambrogio and Pietro Lorenzetti.

Paintings by Duccio

The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew (from the Maestà), c. 1308-1311.
Madonna with Child and six Angels, c. 1300-1305.
Madonna with Child - Tempera and gold on wood, Museo d'arte sacra della Val d'Arbia, Buonconvento, near Siena
Gualino Madonna - Tempera and gold on wood, Galleria Sabauda, Turin
Madonna with Child and two Angels (Also known as the Crevole Madonna; c. 1280) - Tempera and gold on wood, Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana, Siena
Madonna with Child enthroned and six Angels (c. 1285) - Also known as the Rucellai Madonna / Madonna Rucellai - Tempera and gold on wood, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy (on deposit from Santa Maria Novella)
Crucifix - Tempera on wood, Odescalchi Collection, Rome, formerly in the Castello Orsini at Bracciano
Crucifix of San Francesco in Grosseto (1289), - Grosseto, Church of San Francesco
Madonna of the Franciscans (c. 1300) - Tempera and gold on wood, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena
Assumption, Burial and Crowning of the Virgin - Stained glass window, Siena Cathedral
Maestà - Tempera and gold on wood - Kunstmuseum, Bern, Switzerland
Madonna and Child - Tempera and gold on wood, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (formerly in the Stoclet Collection, Brussels, Belgium)
Madonna with Child and six Angels - Tempera and gold on wood, Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia, Italy
Polyptych: Madonna and Child with Saints Augustine, Paul, Peter, Dominic, four angels and Christ blessing (also known as Dossale no. 28; c. 1305) - Tempera and gold on wood, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena
Polyptych no. 47: Madonna and Child with Saints Agnes, John the Evangelist, John the Baptist, and Mary Magdalene; ten Patriarchs and Prophets, with Christ blessing - Tempera and gold on wood, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena
The Surrender of the Castle of Giuncarico - Fresco, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena
Maestà with Episodes from Christ's Passion - Tempera and gold on wood,- Duomo, Massa Marittima, Italy

ENG - Fondazione Musei Senesi | Crete Val d'Arbia

If the territory north of Siena, coming out of Porta Camollia, has always been oriented, and not just geographically, towards Florence, the land to its south, the land that looks towards Rome, is decidedly Sienese: villages and castles that once made up the Republic of Siena, which stretched on this side all the way to the sea at Talamone and to the borders of Lazio. Here the Republic of Siena reigned more or less uncontested at least until the republic fell to Florence in the middle of the sixteenth century. Siena's influence over this area was not only political and economic, but also cultural. Sienese architects and artists brought their innovations, as well as the great tradition of which they were bearers still in the fifteenth century, to their work on fortresses, palaces and churches, enriching picturesque villages and towns like Buonconvento, where Henry VII, sung by Dante, died; Asciano, a focal point immersed in the lunar landscape of the ravines of the Sienese clay fields; the abbey of Monteoliveto Maggiore, its cloister embellished with frescoes by Sodoma and Signorelli; the castles of San Giovanni d'Asso, and the thermal springs and travertine of Rapolano Terme.