Duccio di Buoninsegna ca. 1255 – 1319

The angel Gabriel (Maestà)

tempera on panel (30 × 18 cm) — 1308-11 Castle Huis Bergh, 's-Heerenberg

Duccio di Buoninsegna biography

This work is linked to 1 Thessalonians 4:16

Duccio's masterpiece the Maestà was sawn into pieces in 1711, in order to put it in more than one chapel. Several panels entered the art market. This panel with the archangel Gabriel ended up in the Netherlands, in Castle Huis Bergh. It was probably part of a row with panels on top of the altarpiece.

The angel is depicted in half figure, against a golden background. He is dressed in a blue gown with a red cape. In his hand he holds a thin stick: a sceptre, with a finial shaped as a fleur-de-lis, Mary's symbol. Such a sceptre was Gabriel's common attribute in early Renaissance art.

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