Where Duccio's Maestá in the Siena Cathedral offers a complex iconographic programme containing narrative Christological and Mariological cycles to encourage spiritual devotion, Simone Martini's scheme incorporates religious concepts with civic ideology.
Madonna as the Principal Councillor of Siena
The Virgin Mary is depicted in the guise of the queen of the city, who will personally assist at meetings of the council and inspire the city's authorities to make wise decisions. Regal qualities of the Virgin as a secular ruler are emphasized by her detailed crown and richly decorated garments of her and her companions gathered under an expansive canopy.The Virgin's portrayal as a queen presiding over her court's assembly is analogous to the assembly of the Sienese councillors, who make decisions under watchful eyes of further significant biblical figures and personifications of religious concepts depicted in roundels within a painted border.
Portrayed with scrolls, the four Evangelists, Old Testament prophets, the Doctors of the Church and personification the old and new law holding scrolls with Ten Commandments, Seven Sacraments and its octagonal halo of inscrbed Christian virtues inspire the city's policy makers to govern in accord with the law of God, who is depicted at the centre of the upper border. The just political rule is further evoked by the biblical text: 'Love justice, you who judge the earth' held by the Christ Child standing on the mother's lap in an act of blessing. The inscription on the Virgin's throne stating that she will protect her city and the land that she rules, serves as an approval of Siena' policy of territorial and economic expansion.
Political and Military Success Personified in the Portrait of Guidoriccio da Foliagno
This theme is developed on the opposite west wall of the Sala del Consiglio, depicting an equestrian portrait of Guidoriccio da Foliagno, Siena's Captain of War, whose military victories had acquired Siena new territories. His portrayal against the background of conquered towns, however, is not a personal or private monument.
Since the decorative scheme of the Sala del Consiglio was designed to celebrate territorial acqusitions of the city, Norman suggests that the west wall painting should be read in symbolic terms and in relation to the opposite Maesta, both of which are linked by a series of city's emblems. Therefore, Guidoriccio's portrait is to be understood as personification of Siena's political and military achievements.
Siena Identifies with the Holy City of Jerusalem
Another aspect of interconnectin of the religious with the secular is identifying medieval cities with Jerusalem, which was regarded a heavenly place and the centre of the world and, therefore, usually placed at the centre of maps. Diana Norman says that Ambrogio Lorenzetti contributed to the west wall programme by adding a map of Siena's territory painted on a wooden circular disc, Mappamondo, in 1345 with Siena most probably depicted at its centre and thus associated with Jerusalem.
Similar feature can be found on the reverse of Duccio's Maestá, for instance in The Entry to Jerusalem, where the Holy City assumed the appearance of fourteenth century Siena. In particular, the Temple of Jerusalem resembles Siena Duomo. In both, the Siena Cathedral and Palazzo Pubblico, Sienese civic ideology adopted the concept of the city being the second Jerusalem.
From the decorations of the walls of the Sala del Consiglio it is clear that policy of territorial expansion meant economic success for the Commune under the divine protection of the Virgin.
Sources:
- Diana Norman: Siena, Florence and Padua: Art, Society and Religion 1280-1400, Yale University Press, 1995
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