“The Healing of the Man born Blind” by Duccio

“The Healing of the Man Born Blind” by Duccio shows Christ in the center of the scene, and the blind man is shown twice in the composition.

The man is shown being touched by Christ on his eyes, and then the man is shown looking up with his sight restored and dropping his guiding stick on the right of the canvas.

The two episodes are linked visually by the blind man’s rod. This painting is an early example of how Italian artists began leading the move away from the traditions of Byzantine art.

Duccio started by making people’s faces, hands, and feet more expressive and realistic. Duccio introduced warmer colors and attempts at portraying the perspective of the background architecture.

This was one of the scenes on the back predella named Duccio’s ‘Maestà.’ The back predella illustrated scenes from Christ’s life and ministry.

The Maestà of Duccio is an altarpiece composed of many individual paintings commissioned by the city of Siena in 1308 from the artist Duccio di Buoninsegna.

This panel was initially positioned to the left of “The Transfiguration,” thus, the blind man was looking with his newly restored sight at a vision of Christ transfigured.

The ‘Maestà’ is a double-sided altarpiece in which the front panels show the enthroned Madonna and Child with saints and angels, and a predella of the Childhood of Christ with prophets.

The reverse of the panel has the rest of the cycle of the Life of the Virgin and the Life of Christ. A total of forty-three small scenes.

Duccio’s Maestà set Italian painting founded on Byzantine art towards more realistic presentations.

Duccio

Duccio di Buoninsegna was active in Siena, Tuscany, in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. He completed many important works in government and religious buildings around Italy.

Duccio is credited with creating the painting styles of the Sienese school.

The Healing of the Man Born Blind

Title: The Healing of the Man Born Blind
Artist: Duccio
Year: 1311
Medium: Tempera on wood
Dimensions: 45.1 x 46.7 cm
Museum: National Gallery, London

Duccio

Artist: Duccio di Buoninsegna
Born: 1255 – Siena, Republic of Siena
Died: 1318–1319 – Siena, Republic of Siena
Movement: Sienese school, Gothic Style
Notable Works:
- The Healing of the Man Born Blind
- The Annunciation
- Maestà

A Tour of The National Gallery

13th Century Paintings

“The Virgin and Child Enthroned, with Narrative Scenes” by Margarito d’Arezzo – 1264
“The Virgin and Child” by Master of the Clarisse – 1268
“Crucifix” by Master of Saint Francis – 1270

14th Century Paintings

Wilton Diptych – 1395
“The Annunciation” by Duccio – 1311
“The Healing of the Man Born Blind” by Duccio – 1311

15th Century Paintings

“Arnolfini Portrait” by Jan van Eyck – 1434
“The Battle of San Romano” by Paolo Uccello– 1440
“Venus and Mars” by Sandro Botticelli – 1483
“Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan” by Giovanni Bellini– 1501

16th Century Paintings

“Mystic Nativity” by Sandro Botticelli – 1550
“Virgin of the Rocks” by Leonardo da Vinci – 1506
“The Madonna of the Pinks” by Raphael – 1507
“The Raising of Lazarus” by Sebastiano del Piombo– 1519
“Salvator Mundi” by Andrea Previtali – 1519
“Bacchus and Ariadne” by Titian – 1523
“The Ambassadors” by Hans Holbein the Younger – 1533
“Mary Magdalene” by Girolamo Savoldo – 1540
“Saint George and the Dragon” by Tintoretto – 1558
“The Family of Darius before Alexander” by Paolo Veronese – 1567
“Diana and Actaeon” by Titian – 1569
“The Rape of Europa” by Paolo Veronese – 1570
“The Death of Actaeon” by Titian – 1575
“The Origin of the Milky Way” by Tintoretto – 1575

17th Century Paintings

“Supper at Emmaus” by Caravaggio – 1601
“Samson and Delilah” by Peter Paul Rubens – 1610
“Christ in the House of Martha and Mary” by Diego Velázquez – 1618
“The Judgement of Paris” by Peter Paul Rubens – 1635
“Aurora abducting Cephalus” by Peter Paul Rubens – 1637
“Equestrian Portrait of Charles I” by Anthony van Dyck – 1638
“Venus at her Mirror” by Diego Velázquez – 1651
“The Courtyard of a House in Delft” by Pieter de Hooch – 1658
“Self Portrait at the Age of 63” by Rembrandt – 1669
“A Young Woman standing at a Virginal” by Johannes Vermeer – 1670

18th Century Paintings

“Bacchus and Ariadne” by Sebastiano Ricci – 1713
“A Regatta on the Grand Canal” by Canaletto – 1740
“Mr. and Mrs. Andrews” by Thomas Gainsborough – 1749
“Eton College” by Canaletto – 1754
“An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump” by Joseph Wright of Derby – 1768
“Self-portrait in a Straw Hat” by Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun – 1782

19th Century Paintings

“Portrait of Doña Isabel de Porcel” by Francisco Goya – 1805
“The Emperor Napoleon I” by Horace Vernet – 1815
“Dido Building Carthage” by J. M. W. Turner – 1815
“Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows” by John Constable – 1831
“The Execution of Lady Jane Grey” by Paul Delaroche – 1833
“The Fighting Temeraire” by Joseph Mallord William Turner – 1839
“Rain, Steam, and Speed – The Great Western Railway” by J. M. W. Turner – 1844
“Cimabue’s Celebrated Madonna is carried in Procession through the Streets of Florence” by Frederic Leighton – 1855
“Madame Moitessier” by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres– 1856
“The Gare St-Lazare” by Claude Monet – 1877
“Bathers at Asnières” by Georges Seurat – 1884
“Sunflowers” by Vincent van Gogh – 1888
“Tiger in a Tropical Storm” by Henri Rousseau – 1891
“After the Bath, Woman Drying Herself” by Edgar Degas – 1895
“Boulevard Montmartre at Night” by Camille Pissarro – 1898