Duccio di Buoninsegna (1255-1319) was the most influential Sienese artist of his time and one of the key figures in the development of European painting. Duccio is considered to have had a major influence on the formation of the International Gothic style. He is considered to have influenced Simone Martini and the brothers Ambrogio and Pietro Lorenzetti among others.

His works include the Rucellai Madonna (1285) for Santa Maria Novella (now in the Uffizi) and the fabled Maestà (1308-11), his masterpiece, for Siena's cathedral. Originally carried through the streets of Sienna in a religious ceremony, the multipaneled Maesta represented a major step forward in painterly style and narrative storytelling through visual art.

His Madonna and Child, painted on a wood panel around the year 1300, was purchased in November 2004 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City for more than 45 million dollars, the most expensive purchase ever by the museum.

Selected paintingography

• Crevole Madonna . c. 1280. Tempera on wood. Museo dell'Opera del Duomo , Siena, Italy.
• Rucellai Madonna . c. 1285. Tempera on wood. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy. Deposited in the Basilica di Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy.
• Madonna of the Franciscans . c. 1300. Tempera on wood. Pinacoteca Nazionale , Siena, Italy.
• Triptych (The Holy Virgin and the Christ Child with St. Dominic and St. Aurea ). c. 1300. Tempera on panel. The National Gallery, London, UK.
• Polyptych No. 28 (The Holy Virgin with the Christ Child and Four Saints ). c.1305. Tempera on panel. Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena, Italy.
• The Maestà, an elaborate series of paintings including a famous The Last Supper.