Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350 at the National Gallery is a remarkable achievement

The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew by Duccio (1308-1311). National Gallery of Art, Washington

I had been looking forward to the National Gallery’s exhibition Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350 for several reasons.

First, it was many years in the making. Its curator, Professor Emerita Joanna Cannon of the Courtauld Institute of Art, had been working on it for a decade or so. Duccio, one of the exhibition’s featured artists and one of the greatest Italian painters of the middle ages, had a major show in Siena in 2003.