WHAT?  SIENA: The Rise of Painting 1300-1350

WHERE?  The National Gallery, Ground Floor Galleries, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN

WHEN?  Now until 22nd June  

WHY GO?  To soothe the soul with art.  Step into the dark lower floor galleries and feel the light. This glorious exhibition of Italian ecclesiastical art provides a spiritual buzz, especially apt as it opens well ahead of Easter.

It celebrates the cultural importance of Siena and a golden moment in art, with imagery portraying miracles from the bible that everyone will know.  From The Wedding at Cana to The Temptation of Christ in the Temple, Sienese artists humanised holy figures portraying faces expressing pathos, joy, pain or despair unlike previous religious iconography which was flat and lifeless.

Colours are rich and robes opulent, often glowing with golden threads. 

The artists highlighted are barely known outside expert inner circles, names like Duccio, Simone Martini and the brothers Lorenzetti were commissioned to paint altarpieces, murals and paintings for churches, cathedrals and private patrons all over Europe. 

Their artistry and craftsmanship are celebrated with precious loans from galleries around the world reuniting altar panels to their full glory.  

A highlight is Duccio’s Maesta, said to be one of the most complex altarpieces ever produced. Panels have been re-assembled for the first time with loans from Madrid, Fort Worth, New York and Washington: an ambitious feat of art curation.  

When it was completed in 1311, Maesta was paraded through the streets of Siena where people, unable to read or write, could follow the bible stories through its glorious imagery.   

Touching stories like this unfold throughout; this truly is an uplifting treat of an exhibition.

IN THE KNOW  The accompanying catalogue offers an excellent guide while, Siena: The Life and Afterlife of a Medieval City, (£14.99)  is the book to delve into for the sad consequences of how this thriving cultural city was struck by the Black Death in 1348 and never quite recovered .

Siena lost almost half its population in just seven months but thankfully the artworks survived as a reminder reigniting the city’s former glory.