Maestà

Simone Martini : Maestà , fresco in the Palazzo Pubblico , Siena, 1315-1321

Maestà [ma.eˈsta] ( Italian ; from Latin maiestas ) means "sublimity, rulership". The term is used in art for the representation of the enthroned Madonna with the baby Jesus . In contrast to the Sedes sapientiae , the Madonna is often surrounded by angels and saints .

Such representations were particularly common in the second half of the 13th century and in the 14th century as frescoes (wall paintings) or as panel paintings on wooden altar panels ( retables ). Famous examples are in Siena once considered the main altar of the Cathedral created Maestà by Duccio (now in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo) and the Maestà by Simone Martini in the Palazzo Pubblico . Well-known examples of Cimabue can be found in the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi and in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence ( Maestà di Santa Trinita ). Giotto's Madonna Ognissanti in the Uffizi also belongs to the Maestà type. Also Ambrogio Lorenzetti painted several significant examples, u. a. the Maestà of Massa Marittima (c. 1335), where he expanded the host of saints and angels to include three theological virtues .

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  Cimabue : The enthroned Virgin Mary with angels and St. Francis , fresco in San Francesco , Assisi

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  The Maestà of Duccio , tempera and gold on wood, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Siena , 1311

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  Ambrogio Lorenzetti : Maestà of Massa Marittima , tempera and gold on wood, Museo di Arte Sacra, Massa Marittima , ca.1335

literature

• August Rave: Corpus Christi in Siena: The Maesta of Simone Martini in the Sala del Mappamondo = Werner's art history 3. Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft , Worms 1986. ISBN 978-3-88462-503-3

Web links

Commons : Maestà  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Maestà. In: Beyars.com. Retrieved August 30, 2017 .