The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew
Duccio1308-1311
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Washington, DC, United States
Like Duccio di Buoninsegna (Sienese, c. 1250/1255 - 1318/1319) _The Nativity with the Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel_, this small panel was part of the _Maestà_, one of the most important masterpieces in the history of Western painting. The monumental _Maestà_ was a two-sided altarpiece that dominated the main altar in Siena’s cathedral for nearly two centuries. Within the vast black-and-white striped interior of the church, it would have glittered in the colored light that washed down through stained glass. Completed in less than three years, the _Maestà_ was a huge undertaking, for which Duccio received 3,000 gold florins—more than any artist had ever commanded. Although he must have had substantial help from his pupils and workshop assistants, the design and execution indicates that Duccio exercised control over the whole project. Moved to a side altar in 1506, the altarpiece was sawn apart in the 1770s and individual panels subsequently dispersed. This makes it impossible to determine its dimensions with certainty, but it must have been about 15 feet wide, with the gables rising to as much as 17 feet high. In all, there were probably more than 70 individual scenes (seeThe Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew).
This panel was located on the back of the altarpiece, where the imagery was devoted to Christ’s Passion and his mission as teacher—apt subjects for the rear panels, which would have been seen only by clergy standing behind the altar. Here we find Jesus calling his first disciples. He approaches two fishermen at work on the Sea of Galilee: Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew. Their net is full when Jesus says to them: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:18).
This panel is one of the highlights of Duccio’s accomplishments and likely one of the last created, displaying all the lessons learned over the years of painting the _Maestà_. The figures are sensitively human, their gestures expressive, their draperies lyrical yet describing the bodies beneath. Duccio’s setting is evocative of nature, yet reminds us, with the gilded sky, that capturing the physical world is not this painter’s top priority.
- Title: The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew
- Creator: Duccio di Buoninsegna
- Date Created: 1308-1311
- Physical Dimensions: painted surface: 42.7 × 45.5 cm (16 13/16 × 17 15/16 in.) overall: 43.3 × 46.2 × 4.4 cm (17 1/16 × 18 3/16 × 1 3/4 in.) framed: 53.3 x 55.9 x 4.4 cm (21 x 22 x 1 3/4 in.)
- Provenance: NGA 1939.1.141 formed part of the rear predella of Duccio's double-sided altarpiece the _Maestà_, which was in the course of execution by October 1308 and was placed on the high altar of the Cathedral of Siena on 30 June 1311;[1] the altarpiece was removed from the cathedral in 1506, first stored by the Cathedral authorities, and then later displayed on the wall of the left transept, close to the altar of Saint Sebastian, but probably by this time the predella and gable panels had already been separated from it;[2] the altarpiece was moved to the church of Sant'Ansano in 1777, where its two sides were separated and returned to the cathedral;[3] in 1798 the gables and eight panels of the predella were reported as being housed in the sacristy of the cathedral, whereas the rest, including NGA 1939.1.141, must already have been in private hands;[4] Giuseppe and Marziale Dini, Colle Val d'Elsa (Siena), by 1879;[5] purchased 1886 by (Charles Fairfax Murray [1849-1919], London and Florence) for Robert Henry [1850-1929] and Evelyn Holford [1856-1943] Benson, London and Buckhurst Park, Sussex;[6] sold 1927 with the entire Benson collection to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[7] sold 1 October 1928 to Clarence H. Mackay [1874-1938], Roslyn, New York;[8] sold 1934 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[9] gift 1939 to NGA. [1] The documents are published in Jane Immler Satkowski, _Duccio di Boninsegna. The Documents and Early Sources_, ed. Hayden B.J. Maginnis, Atlanta, 2000: 69-81, and in Allesandro Bagnoli et al., eds. _Duccio: Siena fra tradizione bizantina e mondo gotico_, Milan, 2003.: 577-579. [2] See Alessandro Lisini, “Notizie di Duccio pittore e della sua celebre ancona,” _Bullettino senese di storia patria_ 5 (1898): 24-25. According to this author, in 1506 the altarpiece "venne confinata in certi mezzanini dell'Opera [del Duomo]...e per introdurvela fu necessario di togliere tutte le cuspidi e gli accessori" ("was stored in certain passages in the Opera del Duomo...and to enter there it was necessary to cut off all the pinnacles and accessories"). This latter term presumably comprises the predella. Lisini stated that only "sulla fine del secolo" - i.e., at the end of the sixteenth century - was the painting brought back to the cathedral. In Giovanna Ragionieri's opinion, however, the altarpiece had already been returned to the cathedral in 1536 and installed near the altar of Saint Sebastian. See Giovanna Ragionieri, in _Duccio: Siena fra tradizione bizantina e mondo gotico_, ed. Alessandro Bagnoli et al., Siena, 2003: 212. [3] See Pèleo Bacci, _Francesco da Valdambrino, Emulo del Ghiberti e collaboratore di Jacopo della Quercia_, Siena, 1936: 185-186. The author did not mention the gables and predella; these had probably been separated earlier from the rest of the altarpiece (see the previous note). After the separation of the two sides of the main panel, the front with the image of the Madonna and Child enthroned in majesty surrounded by saints and angels was hung in its former place in the left transept, and the narrative scenes of the back were hung in the opposite transept. [4] See Bacci 1936, 187. Vittorio Lusini specified that, apart from the twelve scenes of the gable, eight panels of the predella were present in the sacristy at this time, i.e., one more than the predella panels now preserved in the Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana del Duomo in Siena. The identity of this eighth scene is uncertain, but presumably it was different from those that reappeared in private hands in the second half of the nineteenth century. See Vittorio Lusini, _Il Duomo di Siena_, 2 vols., Siena, 1911-1939: 2:77. The seven predella panels now in the Siena cathedral museum represent the Adoration of the Magi, the Presentation in the Temple, the Massacre of the Innocents, the Flight into Egypt, and Christ among the Doctors from the front predella, and the Temptation on the Temple and the Wedding at Cana from the rear predella. James Archer Crowe and Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle, around the mid-nineteenth century, were only able to see six predella panels in the sacristy of the cathedral: the much damaged _Temptation on the Temple_ and the eighth panel of unknown subject were no longer there. See Joseph Archer Crowe and Giovan Battista Cavalcaselle, _A New History of Painting in Italy from the Second to the Sixteenth Century_, 3 vols., London, 1864: 2:44 n. 1. Curt H. Weigelt discovered _Temptation on the Temple_ in the storerooms of the Opera del Duomo in 1909, whereas the eighth panel has so far not been identified. See Curt H. Weigelt, “Contributo alla ricostruzione della Maestà di Duccio di Buoninsegna nel Museo della Metropolitana di Siena,” _Bullettino senese di storia patria_ 16, no. 2 (1909): 191-214. The predella, its many panels now divided among various museums in the world, was probably disposed of by the Opera del Duomo during the eighteenth century, and was at first privately owned in Siena. [5] The painting was exhibited in Colle Val d’Elsa in 1879 as the property of Giuseppe and Marziale Dini, together with three other predella panels: _The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew_ framed together with the _Raising of Lazarus_, now in the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, and the _Temptation on the Mountain_ (Frick Collection, New York) framed together with the _Christ and the Woman of Samaria_, now in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid. [6] Fern Rusk Shapley (_Catalogue of the Italian Paintings_, 2 vols., Washington, D.C., 1979: 1:172 n. 2) quotes the following annotation written by Benson in his personal copy of the catalogue of his collection: “In 1886 I gave a commission to C. Fairfax Murray to spend £ 2000 for me in Italy. These 4 Duccios were part of the spoils.” This information was supplied by Benson’s grandson, Peter Wake, in a letter of 2 February 1976, to Anna Voris (in NGA curatorial files). [7] See Tancred Borenius, “The Benson collection,” _Apollo_ 6 (1927): 65-70, and Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Special Collections, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: reel 206, box 351, folders 2 and 3; reel 207, box 352, folders 1 and 2 (copies in NGA curatorial files). [8] Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Special Collections, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Series I Business Records, New York Sales Lists 1922-1928. The painting was in the Mackay collection in Roslyn, New York (Royal Cortissoz, “The Clarence H. Mackay Collection,” _International Studio_ 40 (December 1929): 120), whereas the _Raising of Lazarus_ together with the _Christ and the Woman of Samaria_ were bought by John D. Rockfeller, Jr. for his collection in New York, and the _Temptation on the Mountain_ was acquired for the Frick Collection, also in New York. Not long after its acquisition, financial difficulties obliged Mackay gradually to sell off parts of his collection, and Duveen Brothers, Inc. assisted him in this effort (see Edward Fowles, _Memories of Duveen Brothers_, London, 1976:157, and the Duveen Brothers Records, reels 336–339). The NGA painting had been offered—unsuccessfully—to Samuel H. Kress in 1932 (see Colin Simpson, _The Partnership. The Secret Association of Bernard Berenson and Joseph Duveen_, London, 1987: 236). [9] Shapley 1979, 1:172. See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2094.
- Rights: CC0
- Medium: tempera on panel
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