Csornay Boldizsár - Hubai Péter szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 96. (Budapest, 2002)
VICTOR M. SCHMIDT: A Duccesque Painting Representing St John the Baptist Bearing Witness in the Museum of Fine Arts
intensely listening to the left below in the Budapest panel. Second, Christ's blue mantle is covered with golden striations. In the Maestà, this feature only occurs in the Transfiguration (London, National Gallery) and in the post-Resurrection scenes (fig. 21 ), so as to indicate Christ's glorified state. Third, Christ's halo and the shape of the cross in it have painted contours, whereas all the halos in the Maestà have incised decorations. However, even if the Budapest panel cannot have been part of the Maestà, it still may reflect a panel originally present there, as James Stubblebine suggested. This brings us, again, to a major problem in the reconstruction of that enormous altarpiece, namely that of the back predella (fig. 22). THE BACK PREDELLA OF THE MAESTÀ The Maestà was removed from the main altar of Siena Cathedral in 1506 and eventually sawn into several parts in 1771. Although most parts are still in the Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana in Siena, a number of panels, particularly those from the predella, ended up in various collections outside Italy. The reconstruction of the front predella is less of a problem, because a complete sequence of panels has survived, consisting of scenes from Christ's Infancy with prophet figures in between. 9 The preserved scenes of the back predella are: the Temptation on the Temple (Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana), Temptation on the Mountain (New York, Frick Collection), Calling ofSts Peter and Andrew (Washington, National Gallery of Art), Wedding at Cana (Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana), Christ and the Woman of Samaria (Madrid, Museo Thyssen), Healing of the Man Born Blind and the Transfiguration (London, National Gallery), and the Raising of Lazarus (Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum). If one assumes, as would seem logical, that the back predella had the same width as the front, then one has to postulate one scene now lost. The most obvious candidate would be the Temptation in the Wilderness. The other two Temptations have been preserved and it would be very exceptional indeed if only two out of three Temptations were depicted originally. This implies that there was no room for such an important scene as the Baptism. In fact, some scholars have argued that this scene, rather than the Temptation in the Wilderness, is the one supposedly lost. 10 According to Stubblebine and Sullivan, however, the predella included both scenes. To accomodate all scenes they were forced to assume that two of them were actually located on the short sides, and that an additional eleventh scene was located at the back. Stubblebine argues that this scene 9 Annunciation (London, National Gallery); Isaiah. Nativity, Ezekiel (Washington, National Gallery of Art); Adoration of the Magi, Solomon, Presentation in the Temple, Jeremiah, Flight into Egypt, Hosea, Massacre of the Innocents, Malachi, Christ in the Temple Disputing with the Elders (Siena, Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana). 10 White, J., Duccio. Tuscan art and the Medieval workshop, London 1979, 76; Deuchler, F., Duccio, Milan 1984, 74; Bellosi, L., Duccio. La Maestà, Milan 1998, 18.
