Disputation with the Doctors

This tempera on panel painting by Duccio di Buoninsegna, dating to around 1308–1311, is part of the Maestà altarpiece for Siena Cathedral and depicts the biblical Disputation with the Doctors. The composition places a group of scholars in a loggia with slender columns and alternating red and green voussoirs forming a shallow perspective, centering on a raised figure on a dais. The palette is warm and restrained—ochre, red, blue, and green—enhanced by the patterned tiled floor and the graceful, elongated drapery and faces that reflect Duccio’s Gothic-influenced style.