The Madonna of the Franciscans

The central Virgin is seated on a throne, wearing a dark blue mantle with a red dress showing at the neckline, and she holds the infant Jesus on her lap while four angels hover around above and to the sides. The figures stand against a gilded ground with a green patterned backdrop, and a group of kneeling figures occupies the lower left foreground, creating a balanced, hierarchical composition. The work uses luminous gold, refined linear outlines, and softly modeled faces, traits of Duccio’s late medieval Sienese style, with a sense of calm spirituality despite visible craquelure in the painted surface.