Altarpiece:
The Healing of a Blind Man
Duccio di Buoninsegna ca. 1255 – 1319
tempera on panel (43 × 45 cm) — 1308-11
John 9:6 - When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
The gospels tell several stories of blind men who are healed by Jesus. John devotes his entire chapter 9 to a blind man in Jerusalem. Mark describes a healing in Bethsaida in 8:22. In 10:46 he tells of the healing of one Bartimaeus in Jericho. Matthew even has Jesus heal two blind men in one occasion: 20:29-34, while leaving Jericho.
That makes it hard to tell which healing Duccio choose to depict in his Maestà. It probably is one man shown in two states: blind and healed (he throws away his stick).
The panel used to be part of the predella of Duccio's masterpiece. He was probably assisted by several artists in his workshop.
Next to this panel was the panel with the Transfiguration. That probably explains why the healed man looks upwards.
>>> Maesta (Duccio)
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