A.D. 1000 - 1400
(3 displayed of 87 in collection)
Portrait of Jnanatapa Attended by Lamas and Mahasiddhas (ca. 1350; Eastern Tibet, Kham, Riwoche monastery) This portrait was created for Riwoche monastery in eastern Tibet, a branch of Taklung monastery. The central figure and the assembled abbots are not directly named on the painting. Nonetheless, two inscriptions allow a lineage identification: the epithet Jnanatapa (“heat of wisdom”) appears on the painting’s veil, a name denoting a famous Indian mahasiddha, the spiritual fathers of Tantric Buddhism. The second is the identity of presiding deity above the central figure, named as Avagarbha. The importance of these two clues is revealed by their presence in the official history of Taklung monastery, which tells that the first abbot of Riwoche monastery was an incarnation of “the peerless mahasiddha Jnanatapa” and that his Tantric teacher was Avagarbha, a Bengal siddha. Hence, this portrait is intended to invoke the spiritual lineage of Taklung and Riwoche monasteries through the person of mahasiddha Jnanatapa.
The Last Supper (ca. 1325-30; Ugolino da Siena) Ugolino da Siena was the most original and accomplished follower of Duccio di Buoninsegna, the greatest Sienese painter of the fourteenth century. Among Ugolino's most important commissions was the multi-panel altarpiece for the high altar of Santa Croce, the Franciscan church in Florence. This painting of the Last Supper formed part of the predella (the lowermost horizontal component) of the now dismembered altarpiece. A reconstruction of the altarpiece's original appearance is possible through an 18th-century drawing, which indicates that the "Last Supper" panel was the left-most of seven predella panels. The altarpiece's central panel, which depicted the Madonna and Child, is now lost. Ugolino's large workshop included his father and two of his brothers, who were also painters. Ugolino's point of departure was Duccio's rendition of the same scene in the "Maestà" altarpiece for Siena cathedral, but he has reorganized the composition along lines similar to the work of Giotto, who also worked in Santa Croce. That a pupil of Duccio was hired to provide an altarpiece for a major Florentine church attests to the fame of the Sienese master's work. In this scene, Christ, at the far left, informs his disciples that one of them will betray him, a prophecy fulfilled by Judas, who appears without a halo at Christ’s right. Ugolino’s exploration of spatial perspective is evident in details such as the coffered ceiling and the table settings. This panel and six others—Arrest of Christ (National Gallery, London), Flagellation (Gemäldegalerie, SMPK, Berlin), Way to Calvary and Deposition (both National Gallery, London), Entombment (Gemäldegalerie, SMPK, Berlin), and Resurrection (National Gallery, London)—comprised the predella of the altarpiece on the high altar of the church of Santa Croce, Florence. Saints John the Baptist, Paul, and Peter (all Gemäldegalerie, SMPK, Berlin) are from the main register; Saints James the Greater and Philip, Saints Matthew and James the Lesser, and Saints Matthias and Clare (all Gemäldegalerie, SMPK, Berlin), Saints Simon and Thaddeus and Saints Bartholomew and Andrew (both National Gallery, London) are from the intermediate upper register.
The Adoration of the Magi (ca. 1390; Bartolo di Fredi) Bartolo di Fredi was the most important painter in Siena in the second half of the fourteenth century. Accommodating the vertical composition, the overlapping figures of servants, kings, and horses are densely assembled around the Virgin and Child. The panel, which has been truncated at the top, originally included the procession of the Magi in the upper zone (a fragment of which is preserved in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon). Two headless camels and the legs of two attendants and a dog in the upper left corner offer evidence of the once amplified narrative.