Note 18 — Chapter II · SIENA AND THE CONTINUING OF THE MEDIÆVAL STYLE

The whole matter of the Rucellai Madonna is well discussed by Douglas in his edition of C. & C., Vol. I. Appendix to chapter VI. Andreas Aubert, Cimabue, p. 138 ff., and Curt Weigelt, Duccio, both agree that the Rucellai Madonna is the picture called for by the contract of 1285, hence is by Duccio. Aside from many stylistic similarities to Duccio’s early Madonna with Franciscans in the Siena Academy, the exquisitely drawn bare feet of the Angels in the Rucellai Madonna amount almost to a signature for Siena’s greatest painter. H. Thode and O. Sirén hold that a picture designed and begun by Duccio was finished by Cimabue, Toskanische Maler, pp. 308–9, and note 41 to latter page. The hypothesis that Duccio was strongly influenced by Cimabue in this work seems simpler.