Duccio: From the Maesta
Still reading (re-reading) essays by Zbigniew Herbert.
Duccio really was, the mysterious painter whose date of birth is uncertain and of whom little is known other than that he died famous and in debt. His magnum opus, the Maesta, is just being renovated. I stand as if before golden stained glass in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, facing a panel of thirty-six small paintings that constitute the Maesta in verso. The room is small and dark, yet it contains a source of light. The radiance of the work is so extraordinary that even in a cellar it would shine like a star.
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